Where on the Web is Your Site?

How far do you travel when you search online? The third page? The second? Or do you only look at the top five results?

Imagine if your website was on the 30^th or even the 15^th page of Google or Bing. It would rarely, if ever, see traffic. This is where SEO comes in. Sprinkle keywords strategically throughout your site (and create landing pages on the backend) and traffic to your website will increase! Keep reading for more tips and tricks to improve your site’s SEO!

Let’s Break it Down!

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Essentially, you place keywords or phrases throughout your website to improve your website’s visibility when people search for products or services that are related to your company to drive organic traffic. The tactfully placed words or phrases notify search engines’ algorithms that your page belongs in a search query.

By focusing on improving your website’s SEO, your site will rank higher in search engines. The higher it’s ranked, the more often people will come across your company. The more people who come across your company, the more ROI you will have. You can’t earn revenue or gain new customers if prospective customers can’t find you online. Over 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine!

Look a Bit Closer…

To understand where your website stands and to create a SEO campaign to improve your search results, you need to take a look at what is making your website pop up in the first place…the keywords! Are you using keywords that align with your target audience’s interests? A keyword or phrase explains to a search engine’s algorithm that your website is relevant. Read more about keyword optimization here!

Use tools like Semrush’s Keyword Research Toolkit or Keyword Magic Tool to optimize your keyword strategy. If you want to remove the stress of trying to optimize the keywords on your website by yourself, then partner with experienced marketing agencies for optimal search engine results!

Take it a Step Further!

Did you know your website has less than 3 seconds to make a first impression? Visitors quickly scan to ensure that they are on the right site and if they can find what they are looking for quickly. That means while SEO is required to increase traffic, providing a quality user-experience is also important to get visitors to stay on your site! Search engines give less visibility to websites that don’t provide a good user-experience. This is measured by bounce rate. If one person visits your website and doesn’t click on anything before leaving, it’s not a big deal. If many people are vising your site and leaving without clicking on anything, it becomes noticeable by search algorithms.                

SEO is a big part of increasing traffic to your website, but it is only the first step in ensuring you are providing your clients or customers with a positive experience when they visit your web page.

Common Mistakes to Avoid!

While SEO is a convenient and easy way to drive organic traffic, it also needs to be handled carefully to avoid common mistakes that can hinder your page’s visibility.

1. You want to avoid keyword stuffing. Search engine algorithms are smart and can recognize when you try to increase your ranking be shoving in as many keywords as possible. This will prevent your site from moving higher in rank.
2. Make sure to do the research! When you create content for your website, you want to use keywords that are relevant to your business to ensure you reach the right audience. This can also help keep your bounce rate low and visibility high.
3. Don’t ignore the META. While you are updating the SEO throughout your website, think about improving your META description. It is the small paragraph that pops up beneath your website link in a search engine that provides a snapshot of what your website is about. Make it concise and clear to reach your audience.
4. Keep updating! SEO is not a one-time thing. You should consider current trends, company goals, new technologies or services, and the needs of your audience. Adapt to the changes and keep your site and your SEO current to stay visible.

Something to think about?

Throughout this article the acronym SEO was mentioned 14 times, keyword was mentioned 15 times, visibility was mentioned 5 times, and search engine was mentioned 10 times. That is SEO. Tactfully placing keywords throughout your text in a way that seams natural to the reader.