Gone are the days when just stuffing your website with keywords and key phrases was sufficient to push it to the top of the search engine ranking pages (SERPs). SEO techniques have evolved a lot since then with Google implementing algorithms that detect tricks employed by webmasters to boost their website’s ranking, and remove such sites from its index. Here are some seo hacks that you should incorporate to enhance the ranking of your website in 2018:
Using proper keywords:
You should try to find what keywords and key phrases people are using to search for goods and services offered by you. You are missing out a wide range of potential clients if you have only included the term “boots” on your website. Use alternative terms for that particular keyword that individuals might be searching for. Some examples include “shoes” and “footwear.” Including long-tail keywords such as “shoes for kids” or “best hiking boots” further increases the chances of your website appearing at the top of search results. Include the name of your city if you want to boost the local presence of your website. For example, “best hiking boots in [name of city]” increases the likelihood of your website appearing at the top, when individuals include the name of their city in their search term.
URLs that Google’s spider can follow:
Include links from your index page to other pages of your website. This allows the search engine’s spider to crawl through all of your pages and index them. As Google cannot decipher images, do not forget to include “alt” attribute (alternative text describing the image) on the images on your website. Using this attribute, apart from allowing Google to index it, also provides the images alternative information to visitors. This proves helpful if the image does not load.
Use Keyword Tool:
The Keyword Tool can be helpful in selecting appropriate keywords for the website of individuals not interested in running PPC ads. Enter words and phrases and the tool will inform how competitive the term is along with its monthly search volume. Using keywords having low competition and high search volume boosts your site’s SERP. You can also use this tool to find keywords similar to that of yours and including relevant ones on your site. Never stuff your website with keywords. Ensure that the keyword density is less than 2% to prevent Google from marking it as spam.
Content is king:
Google loves websites that contain informative and updated content, and give them a higher ranking. The best way to achieve this goal is to include a blog on your website and update it daily or weekly with content, specific to the products and services you are promoting. If necessary, hire a freelancer to create content for your website on a regular basis. Another advantage of updating content is that visitors to your website will keep on returning if they find that the content is informative and helpful for them. Ensure that the title of the content is catchy, and see to it that the content is broken into multiple small paragraphs.
Improve site speed:
Remove huge graphics from your index page, as this eats into the bandwidth of the visitor and increases page loading time, especially if the visitor is on a slow speed internet connection. Remember, most searchers will ignore your website if it does not load in a couple of seconds. Instead, include thumbnails of graphics of your products on the main page and include a link from it to the product page.
Utilize the power of social media:
Build your profile on popular social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Join groups that are relevant to your services and products and engage in friendly conversation with members of those groups. Start posting informative text in those groups, and include a link to your website with it. You can improve the number of footfalls on your website, once you have developed a significant number of followers interested in your services and products. You should also sign up with Pinterest and add images of stuff you are promoting, and include a backlink to them to increase traffic to your website.
Google loves videos:
Short explainer videos, particularly those hosted on YouTube and containing a link to your site, is another magnificent method of boosting your SERP. With more than three billion searches per month, YouTube is unarguably the second most popular search engine. You need to ensure that the initial part of your video is engaging enough to grab the attention of the viewers and force them to view the video in its entirety. If you are a part of the YouTube Partner program, and your website is connected with your YouTube channel, you can directly link your website from your YouTube videos with cards. Remember, Google cannot read videos. Therefore, include a written description regarding what your video is about. It is vital that you keep the main keyword as close to the start of the description as possible.
Make your website mobile friendly:
Nearly 70% of users nowadays depend on their mobile phones to access internet while on the move. You might be losing this traffic if your site is not mobile friendly. Instead of designing a separate mobile friendly page (many websites have links with the text “view mobile version”), rely on responsive design. This ensures that the content renders properly on all types of displays. Using standard fonts rather than fancy ones, increases the rendering speed of your site, as the browser does not have to download the font information. You can use “Think with Google” to determine the speed of your website and find out whether it is mobile friendly.
Employ backlinks:
Backlinks are still the most important aspect of website ranking. Avoid backlinks from link farms or from poor quality sites. Check for highly ranked blogs that accept guest posts, write high quality content related to that blog, and include a link from it to your website. These links play a huge role in boosting your website’s rankings.
