Fluidity is the most complex part of Search Engine Optimization. Google updates its algorithm several times a year. Even SEO experts who dedicate their entire life’s work to understanding rank criteria still end up scratching their heads at the end of the day. To help keep you from constantly refreshing Google’s update page, we put together this list of key SEO techniques to outshine your competition.
Build up your backlinks
Backlinks are the heart of SEO. You really can’t have a solid SEO strategy and still ignore building high-quality links back to your website.
The reason?
Backlinks are a critical approach to building brand authority. And we have already determined that trustworthiness, authority, and expertise will be more important than ever. When a website, with already established reputable authority, links back to your website, the EAT factor is boosted, and therefore, Google sees your website as a valid answer for searchers.
The following are a few quick tips:
- Find unlinked mentions and turn them into links.
- Leverage social media by sharing valuable content and reaching out to others regarding backlinking to your own website.
- Mull over guest blogging.
- Focus on quality over quantity – the domain authority of the linker is more important than the number of links you have.
- Use online forums to share the content and reach out to the ones in your industry.
Do not forget images
A significant number of searches take place on Google Images. So, to conquer SEO, it is necessary to know the ways to optimize any images for search. Start by ensuring that any images you utilize are high quality and germane to the keyword. It should be clear to the audience what your content is about simply looking at the image.
Always ensure that you are compressing any images you utilize before uploading them to the website. Keep in mind that Google is seeking page speed as a ranking factor.
Image alt tags are also vital. This is the text alternative to images, and it is utilized by search engines to help associate keywords to the image. In addition, this is what comes up in the top left corner for a user if the image does not load. When creating the alt text, ensure to include relevant information and keywords when necessary. However, beware not to keyword stuff.
Focus on user experience
Honestly, when it comes to SEO, every strategy should somehow be in connection with improving user experience. That is what SEO is all about. In the upcoming times, this will be more important than ever before.
After all, the new focus on core web vitals is all about user experience. but on top of that, Google even bears in mind the bounce rate, dwell time, and click-through ratio. The objective is to have a user click on the result, spend time clicking on different pages, and spend at least three minutes on the website.
The following are a few factors to mull over when analyzing the user experience:
- Content quality – Do you have broken links, typos, or simply plain poor content?
- Interactivity – Do you have features on the website that get users to interact with the content?
- Page Speed – Does it take forever for the website to load?
- Navigation – Is it effortless for the audience to discover other pages on your website?
- Mobile-Friendliness – Does your website have a mobile responsive design?
By progressing in some of these areas, you will observe that the audience will start spending more time on your website. Therefore, Google will begin ranking your website and corresponding pages higher in Search Engine Result Pages.
All due to a good user experience!
Update old content
Though you may be busy creating fresh content, you can’t overlook updating the old content. This is one of the essential SEO techniques. If you are just publishing new content, the old content will fall off the map and turn out to be inappropriate. Since you probably invested a significant amount of time into those old posts, do not miss out on the opportunity they could offer.
Performing a link audit is one of the easiest approaches to going back and refreshing old content. Discover and fix any external links that are broken or outdated. This not just enhances the user experience, but keeps you from being fined by Google for having too many broken links.
Go back and update the internal links as well. As you create new content, do not forget to go back into pertinent old content and add links to these new posts. This lets Google know that there is a relationship between these pages, and will help Google index the new pages quickly while helping the posts rank higher for pertinent search queries.
Support multiple long-tail keyword phrases
With every algorithm update that Google releases, the search engine turns out to be more advanced. Now Google has announced that it can understand pertinent subtopics of a particular keyword. For instance, if we were to search “best SEO company in Toronto”, Google now understands that “SEO service providers” or “SEO services” are relevant subtopics. And, SERPs will display a wider range of results.
What does this mean for SEO? There will be a lot more competition for shorter-tail keywords. But if you use long-tail keywords, or more precise keywords with three words or more, you will have a higher possibility of seeing your domain on top results when you check website ranking for the relevant phrase and possibly related phrases as well.
It is impossible to keep up with every single Google algorithm update. Keeping track of these latest trends is helpful, but still difficult for a busy marketer. So, the biggest SEO technique to take into account at all times is to optimize for the audience.
This is the base of any good SEO strategy.
Dwarika Web Solutions is a leading SEO company that can help you outshine your competition. Feel free to contact us at +1 (855) 561-4557 to speak with a professional!