When was the last time you heard the term SEO? If you know nothing about how to generate traffic to your website or blog then this abbreviation no-doubt sounds like meaningless jargon.
But in fact, search engine optimization is easy to understand. It is simply a process to ensure that websites and blogs stand out from the crowd. It is also a great way of improving the image of your brand online. This is imperative in a word where the internet has billions of pages and users. And there are many logical things you can do to improve your SEO without having to spend money or time researching complex algorithms.
Here’s SEO for dummies and everything you need to know about what is SEO.
On-Page SEO Rewards Great Copy
The first thing to note about SEO is that it rewards great writing. Crafting great content with great links is part of on-page SEO. This is not writing that is overly complex and full of big words. It is copy that is simple, concise and clear. You can improve your SEO by improving your writing skills. Write in manageable paragraphs of no more than three sentences. Stick to one idea per paragraph and try to stick to the concept of making a point, backing it up with evidence and then explaining how the evidence relates to the point. Use lots of headings and subheadings. Try to break meatier paragraphs up into smaller sections using numbered lists and bullet points.
If you want some tangible facts about how to improve your writing for SEO then try putting your text through programs like Grammarly or Hemmingway. These will provide you with a report that has suggestions such as removing too many adverbs or reformatting some sentences to remove instances of passive voice.
These services can also give you an idea of the reading age of what you’ve written. You want the average reader to be able to understand what you’ve written: you don’t want users to click off because your blog post is too dense. Google rewards well-written posts. Moreover, if a blog post can make a point in a clear concise way then those that read it are more likely to share it which will increase the traffic.
Reward Your User By Using Lots of Links
Links are SEO 101 and are another part of on-page SEO. You need to include links to other posts on the site as well as external links. An external link should be to an authoritative news site rather than to other blogs or companies.
Different sites will be relevant to different topics. If you are writing about money or business then Forbes is always a good site as it includes lots of great advice from industry experts and news articles on changes to tax legislation.
If you are writing about design then sites like Good Housekeeping could be a great site to add-in or if you are writing about a recent event then news articles on CNBC or CNN could work well. Remember not to spam your viewers. You don’t want to cram lots of links in on irrelevant articles. The point of a link is to allow the reader to read more about a topic or area that you don’t have time to go into detail in your text. They are designed to help your users understand the topic and to make it easy for them to look up terms they don’t understand.
On-Site SEO: Don’t Make Mobile Users Work For Your Site
When we think about websites the first image in our minds is no doubt a website displayed on a desktop or a laptop. But it is becoming increasingly uncommon for a user to view a website for the first time on the big screen.
More people now scroll the web on their cell phone when they are bored or are waiting in line for something such as a hospital appointment or bus. Websites must, therefore, be optimized for mobiles. And a website copied straight from the desktop and opened on a cell phone will often be fiddly to use. There will be too much text on display for a small screen and the user might have to zoom to click some of the menus. This kind of user experience will lead to many users clicking off your site.
You need to ensure you have two versions of your site, a mobile version, and a desktop version. The mobile version must only include the basic details that the user needs to know. Big corporations have now started employing UX designers who specialize in creating a comfortable user experience as a result of Google algorithms that reward good design and mobile-friendly sites. This is a crucial part of on-site SEO, different from on-page SEO. It is about making sure your site looks and works well for your users.
What is SEO? A Great Tool To Get Noticed
In the internet age where we are loaded with information on a daily basis SEO is a great way of standing out from the crowd. By following a few simple guidelines to the way you write you can get noticed more easily and drive traffic to your site.
Write in manageable paragraphs in a friendly and informative way, do some research into what topics and keywords are driving traffic and include lots of great useful links. Then build a site that is easy to navigate and is mobile-friendly and you are well on the way to increase your traffic. If you are interested in learning more about local SEO services then be sure to check out our services to see if we can help you or your business today.