10 tips for search engine optimization
What is SEO?
Seo means “Search Engine Optimization”. When users search for something specific, they will use specific keywords. For this reason, SEO should be an important part of marketing and our online presence. A good and successful SEO strategy will result in a place (preferably first place) on the first page of Google search results. Here are 10 tips on how to boost your organic traffic through a good SEO strategy.
1. left
Link building is a fundamental part of a good SEO strategy. Link building is about quality, not quantity. It is therefore important that the sites you link to have high-quality content. You can link to websites within your industry, influencers, or other knowledge about the topics you work with.
2. Write to your target audience first
Many blogs use the “old SEO” where keywords drive search results instead of creating engaging and valuable content. So forget about Google and search engines when you write. Create content that helps people instead. When your content helps people, search engines will reward the website because it follows the user’s journey on websites.
3. Software
Once you have clarified your goals for SEO, it’s important to track your results. That way you’ll know if your changes are working or if you need to adjust further – or do something else entirely. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are easy to connect to your website and will help you measure your SEO results. There are also private software providers that can help with SEO tracking that may better suit your needs.
4. Meta descriptions
A meta description is the first thing you see when you’re on Google search results. It tells the viewer and Google what your website contains. In general, Google doesn’t like duplicate content: that’s why we advise against having multiple pages with the same meta description. For example, there is a big difference between a page about your business and the services you offer your customers.
5. Social media
Social media is an important part of your SEO strategy. At the same time, social media gives your customers (or potential customers) a stronger social signal. Shares, likes, comments, pins, etc. all have an effect on your SEO ranking on Google. That’s why we recommend that you:
- Link your social media on your website – and that your social media channels link to your website.
- Create valuable content. It’s important that you upload content that is shareable across your social media channels. Remember to make content shareable and make them publicly visible – especially on Facebook.
- Encourage your viewers to share your posts. You could run a competition where the condition for participating is to share the post and leave a comment. This will get a lot of shares and general interaction on your social media. This can lead to a better SEO ranking, expand your social media reach and reach more potential customers.
6. Keywords in images
Images are important for your SEO – Google has even dedicated an entire section of their search results to images. Therefore, we recommend adding alt descriptions to your images. They will also be read out if a user asks for the page to be read out. In addition, the alt description will be shown if your image is not displayed on the website. In images, relevance is more important than creativity. So instead of naming your image of red rubber boots “click here to buy rubber boots”, Google is happier with the description “red rubber boots”. You may also want to add a smaller description of the image if it’s uploaded to the website – without bombarding it with your chosen keywords.
7. Focus on one topic
Search engines’ biggest job is to find what a user is looking for on the web. If a website is about recipes, it shouldn’t have information about phones. If you are an expert in a specific field, your website should be about that. Lean on what you can contribute – it also gives you a more credible web presence and makes your site more unique.
8. Grammar
Misspellings and bad/incorrect grammar have a big impact on your website’s SEO score. Users of your website are human and we are generally quick to judge. At the same time, we’re in a hurry and we don’t want to have to read through an entire text if we’re looking for something specific. If the sentences are long, difficult to read and understand, we often lose the reader very quickly. Google doesn’t have a dedicated algorithm for detecting bad grammar and sentences. But they do have algorithms that detect bad user experiences. If users quickly dismiss and click away from the page again, Google will see it as a red flag and your website will not be seen as trustworthy or worthy of a top spot in search results. You can also risk being “penalized” by Google and other search engines if your website contains the same keyword too often, such as: “I like blue sandals. Blue sandals are great. Leather is the best material for blue sandals”.
9. Reduce loading time
According to Google market research, mobile users will leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom are tools that test page speed. Both will give you detailed information on how you can improve page speed. For example, it could be the images that take too long to load. Redundant plug-ins can also slow down the site.
10. URL address
A URL is a form of address on the internet. Search engines use the keywords in a URL as well as the keywords in the text on the page. If your website uses dynamic URLs, they will often contain a lot of numbers and don’t explain what the page is about. You can replace them with static URLs in the website backend, where you can change the URL to contain the most important keywords. It’s a good idea to separate the words with a hyphen to make it easier to read. These 10 tips are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO, but it’s a good place to start. Your search engine rankings won’t change overnight – it takes a little patience and time to see the results of your SEO efforts. If you want to boost your traffic on top of having optimized your site with SEO, the option is PPC advertising. Read more about what PPC advertising is and what kind of PPC can be good for your business.
