Almost everyone who owns a website understands the importance of search engine optimization (SEO). The majority of website traffic comes from search engines, and using SEO correctly can help you get a good return on your website investment. There are many variables to consider when developing an SEO strategy to help your new website rank higher in search results. Victorious can be counted on to give you the attention you deserve.
So—where do you start?
1. Target your keywords for best SEO.
The first step in any successful SEO strategy, as followed by SEO agencies such as Smart Whistle Marketing, is to define the keywords for which you want your website to rank in search engines. Choose words that are relevant, have a lot of traffic, and are easy to remember. There are some excellent free tools available to assist you in selecting keywords, and we recommend Free Wordtracker and Google Adwords because they are both feature-rich and not overly complicated for beginners. Take a look at one of our SEO webinars if you want to learn more about keyword targeting.
Okay, so now you’ve chosen your keywords, what are the next essential elements to your SEO?
2. How to use title tags: SEO best practices.
The title tags on your webpage tell search engines what your page is about. It’s critical that your title tags describe your webpage, include keywords, and have a consistent format.
3. How to use header tags: SEO best practices
A heading is an H1, H2, or H3 tag in your website’s HTML that aids search engines in denoting page structure, defining which information on the page is most important, defining what is in the content of each section on a page, and building relevance for your keywords.
4. The importance of meta descriptions for SEO.
Meta descriptions serve as a kind of “teaser” for your visitors by setting the blurb in the search engine results. It’s best to keep your description between 155 and 160 characters long, include your keyword, and make sure it accurately describes your page’s content.
5. Image SEO: alt tag and title tag optimization.
An alt tag informs a search engine about the content of your images. This is beneficial for SEO and essential for your site’s accessibility. Alt tags are an important way for visitors with disabilities or those who use screen readers to interact with the content on your page.
6. What’s the best keyword density SEO for better ranking?
The number of times a keyword appears on a webpage in relation to the other words on the page is known as keyword density. This is an important step in your SEO strategy because it helps you build relevance around your keywords by confirming that what you say in your headings and title tags corresponds to the content of your page. In general, keep your keyword to about 2-7 percent of the content on any given page.
7. How to optimize your anchor text strategy for SEO.
The anchor text in a hyperlink is the visible, clickable text that tells search engines what the next page is about. This is a crucial step in increasing clickthrough rates (informing a user about what’s on the next page gives them the confidence to click).
Website Redesigns: Improve Your SEO & Website ROI
We understand that SEO may appear complicated, but it is a critical component of a successful website redesign. It’s unlikely that you’ll see much of a ROI for your website if you redesign it but don’t implement any SEO strategies, and don’t forget that measuring the results is one of the best ways to tell if your new SEO strategy is working. Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools are two free tools we recommend for this. Take a look at our post on “Getting Started with Web Analytics” for more information on how to use Google Analytics to measure the success of your SEO.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of website development. You can have a beautiful website with excellent content, but your efforts will be for naught unless people – lots of people – visit the site. That’s where SEO comes in, and it’s critical to start thinking about it before you start designing.
Designing with optimization in mind will help your site rank higher in search engine result pages: put in the effort during the design stage and you’ll see results right away.
Here are our seven suggestions for doing so:
User Experience (UX) (User Experience)
Your website must be SEO-friendly as well as user-friendly, which means that it must engage visitors in a positive experience in addition to looking good. Designing an easy-to-navigate website is one way to ensure this. Provide users with a simple menu and links; if it takes more than a few seconds for them to find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave and go to another site.
Another important consideration and priority is content hierarchy (determining what is most relevant to site visitors). Links can be extremely useful in this situation. Internal linking boosts traffic from one page to the next on your site, and those strategically placed multiple clicks can help you rank higher in search engines. Keep external links to a bare minimum, as there’s no guarantee that someone will return to your site after visiting another.
Keywords
In a nutshell, keywords are crucial to SEO. And it’s not like it’s a big secret. Finding words that directly apply to your company’s product or service and using them in your site content is actually quite simple and straightforward. If you do this when you’re first designing your website, you’ll save yourself a lot of time later on.
If you’re having trouble finding keywords on your own, a keyword generator application will do it for you, and you can then use the words in your content. But don’t just throw keywords in at random just to have more. This type of keyword overloading will be detected by Google and other search engine algorithms, and it will not benefit you; in fact, it may cause you to fall further down the search rankings as a result.
Content keywords are just one of the many reasons why website content is so important in SEO. Yes, your website should be keyword-rich, but do so in a meaningful way. Your content should be fresh and updated on a regular basis as well. Up-to-date content is recognized and prioritized by search engines, so use keywords strategically and stay current with current news articles and original postings.
Blogs are a fantastic way to do this. A blog can provide up-to-date information about your product or service, as well as links to other pages on your website. Blogs also add a personal touch, which can help readers feel more connected to your company and promote future contact more naturally.
URLs that are search engine friendly
A good URL is short, descriptive, and easy to read, as well as SEO friendly. Your URL is likely to be the first thing a potential customer sees. It’s also the first thing Google looks at when determining where your site will appear in a search.
It’s just as important to use keywords and key phrases in URL creation as it is in the overall website content. However, avoid keyword repetition; it is both distracting and a red flag for a search engine algorithm. Also, special characters and symbols should be avoided. Maintain the general meaning of your URL by keeping it as short as possible.
Site loading time
Did you know that Google uses site speed as a ranking factor? That’s right, if your pages take too long to load, you’ll likely be pushed down in an online search. And if someone is waiting too long for a page to load on their computer or mobile device, they will most likely move on to another site. This is especially true for mobile users, who are accustomed to receiving immediate results.
Check how long it takes for your website to load, and then see how it performs as you navigate from one page to the next. Your site could be slow for a variety of reasons, including too many graphics or plug-ins, large graphic files, or poor server performance. Too much traffic, ironically, can slow down a website, much like a traffic jam on a highway: too many people trying to get to the same place at the same time.
Attractiveness
The user experience relies heavily on visual appeal. Both in terms of content and appearance, you want your users to be drawn to your website. You don’t want to overwhelm them with flashy, over-the-top style or too many distracting elements, though.
In most cases, a simple and unified site design is the best option. Put yourself in the shoes of your website’s potential visitors. When you first visit a website, what do you like to see? What are your pet peeves? Consider the elements that are most likely to keep you on a given page. Another thing to remember is to create visual content that is associated with your brand, whether it’s through your logo or custom images (photos or graphics) that reappear on the website. These can influence your SEO ranking in addition to being appealing to visitors.
Optimization for mobile devices
It’s great to devise a strategy that places you in the top tier of a search engine, but once the user arrives, your website must deliver. Because an increasing number of users are accessing your site via a mobile device – and that number is expected to rise – it’s critical that your website is mobile-friendly. Because mobile-friendliness is now a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm, now is the time to make your website mobile responsive.
Social media is also important for mobile optimization and should be included in your SEO strategy. Mobile devices are the most popular way to access social media platforms, and you can share content from your website on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms. This is shared with your followers, and every time they Like, Retweet, or share your content, it helps you rank higher in search engines. Furthermore, the increased interest in your website leads to increased traffic.
The suggestions we’ve provided should help you strike a productive balance, but if you’re still unsure about the concept of web design, read The Beginner’s Guide to Web Design. This guide condenses a wealth of useful information into a simple, easy-to-understand format that can help you improve your web design skills. If you want to take it a step further, contact us to learn more about how we can assist you in expanding your digital presence.
Need help with getting your business found online? Stridec is a top SEO agency in Singapore that can help you achieve your objectives with a structured and effective SEO programme that will get your more customers and sales. Contact us for a discussion now.