You finally have your company's website up and running. All you need to do now is sit back and wait for visitors to flock to your site. Learning how to improve your SEO can mean the difference in significant web traffic.
But how do you go about ranking higher on Google SERPs? Let's go over some crucial tips and ways to increase site rankings and maximize visibility.
What Can You Do to Improve Search Engine Optimization?
Take comfort in that SEO is a continuously evolving phenomenon. With each Google update, SEO experts, content writers, and small businesses must adapt to a new digital landscape. Here are some essential ways to improve search engine results.
Create a Site that Delivers What People Want
This should be your number one goal. Anyone can do some cursory keyword research, compile terms that apply to their entire site, and create content. However, to improve your site for SEO purposes, you need to deliver on content. Your business needs to answer industry questions, provide solutions, and point users in the right direction.
Pillar Pages
Pillar pages are content hubs where you can link pages back to a particular topic. For example, this article could link back to a pillar page on SEO or digital marketing.
If you have a pillar page dedicated to something like baking, pages that link back to that pillar may be things like:
- Mistakes to Avoid in the Kitchen
- The Best Cookware
- Best Cake Recipes
Creating a pillar page and linking everything together is an art form in and of itself.
Google Featured Snippets (Answer Boxes)
If you've ever searched on Google, you're likely familiar with the Google featured snippet box. The snippet box is a way to make things convenient for the reader.
To get a better idea, let's do a quick Google search for 'how to win featured snippets.'
You can see that the answers that Google chose for its snippet are clear, concise, and informative.
Google combs its web listings, determining what web content fits in best with the search. Google snippets are a fantastic way to boost your site's SEO to the very top of the Google SERPs. It bypasses a lot of competition, allowing you to use relevant and informative content to go about 'winning the snippet.'
Make a Monthly Content Plan
With running a business, keeping on top of best SEO practices or the newest Google update can be a tall order. However, carving out some time to go over a monthly content plan is essential to success.
Outline content you want to create, post, and optimize going forward. After posting the content, you're going to want to optimize further. Do this by engaging in keyword research, site auditing, and examining the top pages of Google SERPs.
Use the Best SEO Tools
There is a staggering amount of valuable resources and tools to help boost SEO. Let's look at a few of the most prominent tools in the field.
- SEMRush - SEMRush is a reliable, well-known resource for optimizing pages for SEO. SEMRush offers site auditing and an excellent SEO plugin tool for Google Docs for content writing.
- Ahrefs - Ahrefs has a great UX/UI and is an unmatched keyword research tool. Users can narrow down searches in multiple ways. The sheer control you have over SEO aspects through this tool is second to none.
- Moz - Moz offers great SEO tools like site auditing, rank tracking, and backlink analysis. Moz also has a fantastic blog for all things SEO.
- Answer the public - this site is perfect for SEO research. You type in a keyword and see what the Internet is asking about it. These are invaluable looks into the minds of your customer base.
Link Building
Internal Linking
Internal linking is a simple yet effective way of boosting SEO. You simply link to other pages on your site. Choose relevant pieces of content and link to a page that references that material or topic.
Anchor Text
Part of great internal linking is providing strong anchor text. This guides the site user towards other pages. You want anchor text in hyperlinks to be as relevant as possible for the pages you're linking to for optimal CTR.
Diversify Your Backlinks
Backlinks are types of links from one page to another. Having a considerable amount of backlinks to and from your site exhibits popularity and usefulness. Google uses backlinks as a tool and metric to measure a website’s success, allowing for more success in the Google SERPs.
Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
While you're busy creating a perfectly optimized site for Internet browsers, have you considered making your site ideal for mobile browsers?
Focusing on only one browser type can alienate users and give them an unfavorable view of your website and business.
This means making your site better through structuring, effective use of metadata, and proper mobile optimization.
Final Thoughts on How to Improve Your SEO
Whether it's through featured snippets, robust link-building, or any number of the best tools, you have numerous SEO building blocks. Improve search engine rankings by creating straightforward, concise, and informative site content.
Keep in mind that SEO is an ever-improving field, and things change all the time. This means that your site could always be better. Keeping these things in mind, you can quickly boost SEO overnight.