search engine optimization
In order for your website to be ranked higher when your content is relevant to a user’s search, your website content must be optimized for search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can wildly increase your website traffic and therefor your revenue. The best part is, SEO can be done completely for free.
These simple content changes can be made in as little as one day and improve your search engine ranking quickly.
Small SEO improvements that make a big impact:
Post Title
It’s preferable to use your keywords or key phrase in your post title, but if it’s not catchy and doesn’t seem natural, skip the keywords for the actual post title. For the SEO title, make sure you start with your keywords, so search engines see the optimized keyword title.
Permalink
Your permalink is basically the URL that leads directly to that post. You want to keep it short and sweet, but make sure it clearly states the subject, uses keywords, and avoids stop words like “to, is, or the”. This tip should only be used on new posts, as changing published posts will cause an error when someone visits the old permalink. If you have to update the permalink, make sure you set up a 301 redirect from the old link to the new one.
Meta Description
The meta description is the blurb that shows up in the search engine results, under your title and URL. You should definitely use your keywords in the meta description and change your meta description from the default. It will usually default the beginning blurb of your post if you have not updated it. If you’re using the Yoast SEO plugin, it will tell you if you go under or over the recommended length and if you’ve used your keywords. Typical recommendation is under 150 characters.
Body
You want the body of your posts to be written naturally, as if you were speaking in a casual conversation. You do want to make sure you use your keywords or key phrase a few times throughout the body, but make sure it seems natural, not forced. If possible, try to use your keywords toward the very beginning and very end of your post body.
Heading 2 (H2) Tags
Search engines pay attention to your headings. In WordPress there are 6 different heading types (H1-H6). The H1 tag is for your post title and shouldn’t be used elsewhere. The H2 tag is a subheading and is the first type of tag that search engines check after your post title (H1 tag). Search engines continue to crawl through the headings in order 1-6. So, if possible to do so in a natural way, use your keywords in your H2 tags.
Image Titles
When uploading an image to your website, make sure you name it using a description of what the image is or what it will be used for. Use keywords when possible. Do not leave it the generic “IMG_0100” or whatever name it was originally assigned. Search engines use the title to understand what the image is
Image Alt Text
Always provide a short description of the image in the Alt Text, using keywords when possible. You can use the same description as the Image Title if it’s not possible to get more descriptive, but again, remember this is how you tell search engines what your image is.
Interlink Content
Interlinking means providing links to other content on your website. This will help you keep users on your site and using your relevant content, as well as improving search engine rankings. It’s better for SEO to actually put these links in your post content as opposed to using plugins that recommend similar posts for you. Some studies show those plugins can actually negatively affect SEO. Plus, when you do it manually, you control the content and can direct traffic where you want.
Backlinks
Backlinks are links that lead to your website from other websites. The best way to get backlinks that matter with search engine ranking is by guest blogging and building relationships with relevant influencers. This is something that may take time, but in order to get started, we recommend focusing on having great content so that other sites trust sending their viewers to you and so your content is something they’ll want to share.
Now that we’ve covered improving content for SEO, check out these free tools to help you keep your content at the top of the search engine game.
Website Tools:
Keyword Tools:
Toolbar Insights:
Ahrefs SEO Toolbar For Chrome or Firefox
Next, read our blog post 10 Tips To Grow Your Business With Social Media
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