1. Search Engine Friendly Website
Keywords and keyphrases help boost your search engine results on Google and, possibly, outrank your competition. These fall into two basic categories:
Keywords that describe your company, industry, products, services, location, and benefits
Keyphrases that match relevant user search queries and answer their questions
Tools like Google Trends, Google Analytics, and UberSuggest can help you identify the keywords and keyphrases your content should target. Incorporate these terms organically (they should sound natural) into the title tags and text of your website pages and blog posts.
2.Create a Link Building Strategy
Backlinks are what they sound like: links that live on other websites and point users back to your content. They help search engines determine if your website is relevant to user queries. The quality of your links is based on the domain authority of their host website and is more important than the quantity.
You can earn links by creating content that others want to reference. Think articles, videos, and infographics that answer questions or provide fresh insights into a topic in your industry. You can also earn links by collaborating with influencers, inviting guests to your podcast (another excellent type of content), and sharing links from other sites.
Check out our guide to link building for a deeper dive into this core SEO strategy.
3. Focus on Meta Descriptions and Alt Tags
Meta descriptions are the text snippets that appear under site titles on your search engine results page (SERP). They help users decide whether to click on your site. Alt tags are essentially the name of the image. They support accessibility and make it easier for search engines to identify them (the prevalence of image search is rising).
- Meta description best practices
Write compelling meta descriptions, around 150 to 160 characters, that include the page keyword(s) and tell users about the benefits of the page. Avoid duplicate meta descriptions, quotes, and non-alpha characters (Google removes them).
- Alt tag best practices
Keep alt tags short (no more than 5 to 10 words) and try to include your keyword or keyphrase. Always use hyphens to separate words in image file names.
No SEO strategy is complete without a meta description for every web page and an alt tag for every image.
4. Have Short Titles and Page Names
These should follow the same standard for adding a subject line to an email. You want to make them short and informative. If a line is too long, it won’t read in the search engine. If someone can’t read the whole title in the search engine they will be less inclined to click on your site because they don’t know what the page is for. Stick to titling your pages with keywords to tie in all of your pages and information.
5. Make Content Easy to Read
While not a huge factor in search engine rankings, your website's readability can help visitors find what they are looking for faster. Good formatting guides through content (since most people scan text) and tells search engines what matters on the page. Keep it simple, however: clutter helps no one.
- Make titles short and direct, and limit paragraphs to three or four sentences.
- Sprinkle in quotes or statistics to support your claims.
- Use bold text and bullets to separate important content.
6. Build Trust with Cyber Security
A SSL certificate (secure socket layer) helps protect your website and customer data, and can build trust. It may also provide a slight boost on your search rankings because most search engines will tell users if a site is not SSL-secured. You can spot an SSL certificate when a URL begins with https.
For added protection and credibility, consider investing in cyber liability coverage. Why? A recent study by Selective and Appalachian State University found that only 20% of small businesses surveyed carry cyber coverage, even though 28% of data breaches are against small businesses.
Cyber security, like SEO, demands a proactive approach. For more information about cyber insurance, speak to a trusted advisor today.
Whether you outsource your SEO or do it in house (perhaps even yourself), make sure your site is optimized.
SEO can have a snowball effect: minor improvements every day through better keyword choices, meta descriptions, formatting, and link building can greatly increase your rank on search engines—and compel visitors to contact your business.
Check out this SEO guide for more details, tips, and strategies..