Last week’s blog focused on the building blocks of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We discussed some basic concepts like relevance via keywords, proper labeling using metadata, and the importance of site security, speedy load times, and good site organization. All of these topics deal with on-page SEO, and you have direct control over them. However, there are other components of SEO over which you don’t have direct control. Things like your perceived authority and trustworthiness in your industry, how much time visitors spend on your site, backlinks, and even social media activity impact your website’s search ranking. As you already know, smart marketing shouldn’t leave this much to chance. So let’s take a look at these influential items and discuss how each can be harnessed for better SEO. My husband frequently says, “control the controllable.” I’m not sure if wiser words have ever been spoken, at least when it comes to SEO. As I’ve mentioned before, your on-page SEO has an impact on the rest of the SEO equation. A quality website goes a long way in establishing trust and authority, and is also vital to providing a good experience for your visitors, thus impacting how long they hang around. It will even help with backlinks; reputable organizations and individuals will be far more willing to link to your site if it’s high quality. But, if you want to make sure that you are doing all you can to better your search engine results, here are a few suggestions that can help you control what you can. Establishing Trust and Authority Trust is earned and authority is established over time. Below are some basics for building both.
Give Your Visitors a Reason to Spend Time on Your Site, and to Come Back Getting people to click through to your site is good, keeping them there is better, and getting them to come back is best.
Use Social Media Effectively Social media isn’t just social anymore. Your organization’s activity on social media affects your search ranking, so you want to make sure that you are using it well.
Cultivate Backlinks to Your Site Backlinks will drive traffic to your site and will also establish trust and authority.
There are many more ways that you can boost your SEO, but these are some of the tried and true tactics for achieving better search ranking. SEO is a marathon, so unless you want to pay for advertising on Google, don’t expect quick changes. You should track your results though, just to make sure that things are going in the right direction. Google Analytics is a great tool to keep track of how well your SEO strategies are working. If you don’t have an account, get one. It’s the best way to measure results and make sure you’re on track.
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Unlocking the Secrets of How Your Website Content Can Help Your Search Rankings
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important topic for any business owner who has a website. If you rely on your website for leads and sales (and who doesn’t?), good SEO is vital. At first glance, SEO might seem complicated. Terms like keywords and metadata sound like a secret language used by digital marketing gurus and website developers to confound everyone else. And although there is a science and a required skill set necessary for implementing good SEO, it isn’t as complicated as you might think. Even if you choose to contract for SEO, which in many cases is a smart business decision, you still need to understand what SEO is and why it’s important. Read on to unlock the secrets of search engine optimization. When I was in 5th grade, I had two teachers who insisted that we as students label everything, write clearly and concisely, and above all, stay organized. Little did I know that Sr. Paul and Mrs. Butler were teaching us the basics of search engine optimization long before the Internet was even imagined. Honestly, if you have these basic skills, you are 50% of way to driving traffic to your website. SEO experts agree that good website content is one of the most important building blocks in ranking on the first page of a Google search. There are obviously many other factors that contribute to high search rankings; things like click-through-rate, time visitors spend on your site, and backlinks are all important. But, you have control over your content, and one could argue that if your content is great, the other factors will automatically trend in your favor. So what is good content? Below is a list of things that Google uses to assess the quality of your content:
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