What techniques can you use to improve search results?

Understanding SEO is essential if your company has any sort of online presence – which it should! When looking for information about a local business, 97 percent of searchers go online. When your website’s SEO is strong, it is more likely to rank higher in search results. The importance of ranking highly is self-evident: the first result in Google’s search results accounts for an average of 31% of clicks, and the top three results account for more than 75%. In this piece, we’ll provide more context for SEO as well as recommendations as to how to enhance your own.

What is SEO?

SEO is an abbreviation for search engine optimization. But what precisely does this mean? More concretely, SEO is a catch-all word for the approaches and strategies you might employ to boost your website’s exposure and rating in organic search results.

What does this imply? When you Google something, you will be taken to a results page. Results rank (there is only one result for each slot), but they also shift to try to “answer” your search query as best as possible. Organic search results are those that appear and are not advertising. Given that 90% of searchers bypass Google advertisements or other paid results, the importance of ranking well in organic search is self-evident.

Why should you improve your SEO?

The benefits of your company ranking well in Google are undeniable, but the opposite is also true; the impact of poor SEO speaks for itself. Clicks drop considerably as you move down page 1 of results, with position #10 receiving just an average of 3% of clicks, and drop even more dramatically once you get to page 2 — only 0.78 percent of Google searchers (that’s less than 1%!) click on page 2 results. While a prominent position can provide your business a significant boost, a low ranking in search results almost guarantees that internet searchers will not locate – and consequently will not frequent – your business.

After all, the goal of SEO is to increase visibility. Where you rank in search results completely determines your search traffic. If a potential client or employee searches for your company, or something relevant to your company or its offers, and you are not found, you are out of the running.

While the “why” may be straightforward, the “how” may be more difficult. While some SEO fundamentals remain constant – Google has put up this comprehensive guide for those just starting out in SEO – the tactics and strategies that are most effective for your website might vary. Keeping current with SEO best practises is just as vital as learning the fundamentals of SEO.

We’ve outlined 12 recommendations to assist you enhance your SEO in 2021 and boost your website’s ranking in search results.

1. Improve Your Website’s Health

First and foremost, ensure that your website is free of technical flaws that could jeopardise your SEO efforts. While some are more pressing than others, the accumulation of technical faults can have a negative impact on your website’s health and, as a result, ranking.

It can be intimidating to get into technical website changes, but here are a few places to start:

Make sure there is only one browsable version of your site: while setting your site’s domain, you will have four options,

Make sure that just one of these URLs is accessible, and that the remaining four redirect to your primary URL. Otherwise, Google may perceive them as distinct (and so duplicate) sites, perhaps resulting in a penalty. Google loves secure sites (sites that use https), so keep this in mind when deciding on your principal site – after all, https is the default for 81 of the top 100 websites on the web.

Check your site speed: website speed can not only have a negative impact on user experience and increase bounce rate (the percentage of visitors to a website who leave after viewing only one page), but it can also have an impact on your Google ranking, as Google can penalise sites with slow loading times. You can use Google’s Page Speed Test to determine the page speed of your website.

Install Google Search Console and Google Analytics: both of these tools are critical for increasing your SEO. Google Search Console can assist you in monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting your site’s visibility in Google Search results. Google Analytics may help you monitor the efficacy and returns on your advertising, as well as track your video, social media, and applications, as well as how consumers interact with your online presence.

Once you’ve addressed any obvious flaws that could jeopardise your site’s health, you can move on to other areas of worry or opportunity to strengthen your site even more. Once the fundamentals have been addressed, meta descriptions, title tags, domain names, and alt text are all valuable pieces to optimise for your website.

2. Keyword Relevance and Research: Determine What You Want to Rank For

It is critical to define what you want to rank for when optimising your website because Google results are mostly influenced by their relevance to search queries. Determining target keywords (KWs) creates linguistic goals for your website and content, and can provide more context for how to proceed with your SEO approach.

Beyond your company name, you will need to undertake industry KW research to establish which KWs you want to rank for. Determine topics or themes that are related to your company’s services or products, and then extract keywords from these topics. Suggested and related searches, as well as competitor results, can be useful resources for keyword research. When conducting keyword research, keep in mind search volume (the number of queries a specific KW receives per month), as this will be an important element in assessing the competitiveness of a specific keyword.

3. Consider Your Audience

Similarly to establishing the keywords for which you want to rank, you must consider your audience – the people who you want to appear in their searches! Consider what users searching for your product will look for, and include this into your content and overall approach.

There are numerous methods for determining what current and prospective clients are looking for. Social media, internet reviews, suggested and relevant searches, and a variety of other resources can provide you with useful information. However, it is also crucial to evaluate who your audience is in order to identify the best manner to deliver the information they seek. Examine which channels receive the most engagement – both yours and in general – to determine the best strategies to reach your target demographic.

4. Remember Local Search

Understanding and utilising local search to your advantage can have a significant impact on your search engine position. Local information accounts for 46 percent of all Google searches. To get the most out of your local search, make sure your website and Google Maps have up-to-date location information. Include your locality in material where appropriate, and focus on local keywords. Online business directories and reviews can also assist you optimise your website for local search results.

5. Consider Mobile Searchers for Your Website

Never overlook mobile searches. Mobile searches will account for roughly 62 percent of organic search by the end of 2020. Websites that are not designed or optimised for mobile searchers risk having higher bounce rates. With mobile devices accounting for such a sizable amount of search traffic, optimising mobile search and layout for your website is a requirement.

However, optimising user experience for mobile websites entails more than merely scaling for a phone screen. Avoid using too many pop-ups and redirects, and ensure that your website is easy to navigate and intuitive for mobile customers.

6. Answer Questions

Anticipating inquiries can have a significant impact on your search engine position. Estimated in 2017 that 8% of search inquiries are questions, but this figure is certainly greater currently and continues to rise. This is due in part to the increasing popularity of voice search – over 27 percent of searches are voice searches. Consider what your target audience could be searching for concerning your company, or what more general queries would lead them to you. What can you do to assist your audience? What can you say in response?

An FAQ page is a wonderful addition to your website. Not only can FAQ pages provide a clear destination for people looking for quick answers, but structured data FAQ sites can create a drop-down menu in search results, which can help increase your reach to users looking for answers.

7. Consider Other Elements of Page 1

Ranking results aren’t the only thing people see on page one, and taking advantage of what else they view can assist boost your overall visibility in results.

Suggested and Related Search: Suggested search refers to the terms that appear in the search bar when you type something into Google, while related search refers to the terms that appear at the bottom of a page under the results. Both can provide useful information about what

people are looking for when they search for your company or industry-related keywords, which can then be included into content or your website.

The knowledge panel is an information box that appears on the right side of Google Search results. The knowledge panel frequently includes basic information about your company – hours, address, social media, and so on – as well as Google reviews and images. By claiming your knowledge panel, you can ensure that the information highlighted there is correct.

People Also Ask (PAA): The People Also Ask box may not always populate, but it can inform content by giving you a feel of your audience’s commonly asked questions, or questions to which they may struggle to find an answer.

Featured Snippets: Featured snippets are the standout responses that appear in Google Search results and are growing increasingly popular. They, like PAA, do not always populate, but when they do, they can provide your audience with a rapid and accessible answer. When generating content, keep featured snippets in mind to enhance the odds of Google pulling from your material to populate these snippets, which can deliver quick and accessible answers to your audience while also establishing you as an authority.

8. Establish Yourself as an Authority with Quality Content

We’ve said it before (or maybe twice…), and we’ll say it again: content is king in SEO.

The goal of your content should be to inform your audience and to address or rectify a pain point — a specific problem or issue that present and future clients of your business are experiencing that you can address or remedy. Establishing yourself as an industry authority not only benefits your customers and increases your credibility, but high-quality material may also significantly enhance your overall SEO and ranking in search engines.

Although there are various elements to consider when creating outstanding content, it should generally be long (above 1,000 words, ideally over 2,500), distinctive, and instructive. Pick three to four primary themes connected to your business to educate your audience on to help select what your material should focus on. This is another area where frequently asked questions and customer searches can help shape what you put out there.

9. Use Content to its Full Advantage

Quality content takes time to create, so utilising it to its full potential will not only boost its effect but also ensure you get the most bang for your dollars. Sharing material on social media can increase reach and engagement, as well as the overall strength of an article. Using your written material to create video content is yet another effective approach to stretch a piece. In recent years, video has grown to become the most important media strategy for SEO.

It’s worth noting that embedding videos in material can boost the strength of both the written content and the video.

Updating old content might also boost your site’s overall strength. If a piece is ranking on page 2 and the topic has been updated or new developments have occurred, upgrading the piece can enhance its standing in results. Furthermore, you should check your material on a regular basis and eliminate, combine, or reroute items that are underperforming, as these pieces can really affect the general strength of your website.

10. Make Sure to Include Internal and External Links

Linking to and from your website can improve its overall SEO. There are two kinds of links: direct and indirect.

Interlinks: Interlinks, also known as internal links, are links on your website that go to other pages on your site. They connect your content and provide Google a notion of your website’s overall structure, as well as assisting Google in determining a “hierarchy” on your site. This hierarchy lends greater weight to the most essential pages and less weight to the less important pages, influencing which pages people see in search results. Determining a solid interlinking strategy – linking to high-performing content or notable pages – can aid in the improvement of your overall SEO.

Backlinks are links to websites other than your own, or links from other websites to your own. Backlinks to credible and reputable sources might boost your credibility when making factual or data assertions. Furthermore, acquiring backlinks to your site might have a significant impact on its ranking in search results. The ideal backlink profile comprises a diversity of backlinks from various sources.

Please keep in mind that connections to your material from your own social media serve as backlinks, so don’t forget to post stuff on social media!

Ideally, a mix of internal and external links (from a range of sources) can significantly boost your ranking in search results.

11. Utilize Social Media 

Social networking is an extremely powerful resource for enhancing your SEO, and when used properly, it can have a significant impact on your standing in search results. Building profiles on popular social media channels – you know the ones: Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, and so on – and linking them together can help create your presence on these platforms and raise the strength of these profiles (so you see them ranking in search results!).

Once your profiles are complete and linked, make sure to keep them current. Inactive social profiles will not help your efforts, so don’t overextend yourself.

Exploring social networks that are more suited to your sector or SEO approach can also provide more opportunity to expand your online presence. Participating in forums such as Quora or Reddit can also help you position yourself as an authority in your sector.

12. Know What to Avoid

There is a lot you can do to boost the SEO of your website, but there are also a number of SEO blunders you may make:

• Duplicate content refers to identical content that is hosted on more than one internet page. Google penalizes duplicate content, which can have a negative influence on your website’s overall success.
• Hidden links: These are links that a user does not see when they visit your page. Although it may be tempting to conceal some target links on a page, doing so might actually harm your website, negating any benefit the link may provide.
• Excessive pop-ups or advertisements: the user experience of your website is a huge impact on bounce rate. Excessive pop-ups or adverts increase the likelihood of a user abandoning your site due to displeasure.
• Too many keywords: While targeting keywords is an indisputably vital component of SEO, going overboard might result in site penalties. Websites that are overtly targeting keywords typically appear strange to users, which can have a detrimental influence on your site’s user experience.