Top 10 Essential SEO Best Practices for Improved Marketing Results
Getting the most out of your digital marketing efforts can be tough if you neglect SEO best practices. To ensure your marketing strategies are bringing in optimal results, it’s critical that you implement the following top 10 essential SEO best practices. Doing so can help drive higher website traffic, more qualified leads and ultimately, increased sales.
1. Research Keywords & Optimize Your Site’s Content
The foundation of any successful SEO campaign is thorough keyword research. To increase the chances of your website and content being noticed, research and use keywords that are relevant to your main topic. Once you’ve identified the appropriate keywords, make sure they’re included in your content titles, descriptions, headlines and body copy. Not only should the keyword appear on the page but also in the page’s URL to ensure it’s properly indexed by Google.
2. Improve Your Page Load Speed
The average user doesn’t have the patience to wait more than three seconds for a website to load. Not only will slow loading pages send users fleeing to your competitors’ pages, but they’ll also hurt your search result rankings. Utilize on-page optimization techniques like minimizing the size of your HTML and CSS files, compressing images and optimizing meta tags to speed up loading time.
3. Create Compelling & Quality Content
Content is king. Search engine algorithms factor in the content of a website when determining rankings. Create informative, interesting and quality content that educates as well as entertains your target audience. In addition to blog posts, white papers, ebooks, video and graphics, be sure to include customer reviews and social proof whenever possible – it increases organic search traffic by up to 30%.
4. Utilize Link Building Strategies
One of the ways search engines determine website rankings is by analyzing the quality and quantity of links. High-quality links from reputable sites will improve your standings with the search engines while low-quality backlinks can throw up red flags. Utilize tactics like web directory listings, guest blogging and social networking to attract quality links and boost your SEO performance.
5. Use Schema Markup & Structured Data
Search engine users are more likely to click on a search result if they know what they can expect from the page. Utilize schema markup to maximize the amount of information Google and other search engines can glean from the page. Structured data such as lists, events, reviews and recipes all help give searchers a better idea of what’s on the page.
6. Employ On-Page SEO Practices
On-page SEO will help search engine spiders understand the content of the page. Not only is it important to use keywords throughout your content, but you should also include image alt tags, meta descriptions and page titles that contain relevant keywords. This allows search engine spiders to easily crawl your page and provide accurate results.
7. Monitor Mobile Usability
More than half of all web searches are performed on a mobile device. To rank highly and take advantage of this trend, ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Double-check your website on a variety of mobile devices to make sure it’s user-friendly and that all pages load quickly.
8. Utilize Social Media
Social media marketing is an important tool to reach new customers and generate leads. In addition to building a strong presence on networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, integrate social media share buttons into your website. This will make it simpler for visitors to share your content which can help to boost your website’s visibility with the search engines.
9. Track & Monitor Performance
To ensure your SEO best practices are working, track your website’s performance. Monitor website analytics and look for increases in organic search traffic and time spent on pages. A/B test to determine which titles, headlines and content formats are driving the most leads and conversions.
10. Make Sure Your Website Is Secure
A secure website is crucial to providing a favorable experience for users. Utilize an SSL certificate to ensure all pages and data between the server and the browser are secure. In addition, make sure the server you’re serving from is PCI compliant and uses the latest technological security protocols.
By following these 10 essential SEO best practices, your digital marketing campaigns will be better equipped to produce impressive results and drive greater sales. Make sure you track and monitor your website performance to ensure your SEO strategies remain effective and bring in the best advertising ROI. Ready to get started? Take action today and get ready to experience improved marketing results.
