Search engine optimisation or SEO is a very broad subject area that can be quite complicated, at first glance.
In reality, SEO is somewhat complicated. Especially when you consider the constant algorithm updates, changes in ranking, and new marketing initiatives that are so many things for one to consider.
However, even if you’re new to this, there are several steps that you can and should take, in order to increase the visibility of your site in the major search engines.
From, optimising your webpages, to using analytics tools to map out the performances of your site, there are so many techniques accessible to you, which you can take advantage of, whether you’re a beginner or expert.
Below are 5 important SEO tips that you should be aware of, which should give you a leg up, for the next couple of years to come.
1. Don’t Use Flash
A lot of small business owners like to gravitate towards Flash, for their websites, as it’s a particularly easy and cheap platform to build it on. However, when it comes to ranking in the search engines, Flash sites always suffer. Primarily because the search engines don’t count links on Flash pages. Converting your Flash site to a WordPress site will instantly increase site visibility in all the major search engines.
2. Track Your Competitors
SEO experts are always keeping track of their competitors, as they understand the value of knowing what they are doing, at all times. But to do this, it requires a great deal of work, much more than just reading the content on these sites, and following up on social media platforms.
To do it right, the first thing you’ll need to do is invest in an analysis tool. There are several of them around, like SEMrush, the Domain vs. Domain feature, allows you to compare different domains against each other. All you have to do is select the keyword that you would like to research, and you will get a rundown of the sites by position, keywords, and much more, in the search engine listings.
By having some idea of what your competitors are doing, it’ll give you a much clearer understanding of what you need to do, for both your content strategy and inbound marketing efforts. When it comes to ranking on specific keywords, you know how much links you’ll need, and the quality that the content should measure up to.
3. Use Web Analytics
Once you’ve mapped out your search engine optimisation needs and goals, you can then commence with the tracking software or service.
There are many of them around, like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and other private solutions that you can adopt. Google’s services are free, which is why it’s probably best you start with one of them.
Crazy Egg is another tool that you can use, to show site visitors and other analytical data, like clicks and where they’re visiting, around your site.
Web analytics is one of the first things you should have in place. Before content, theme, and all the other components that will make up your site. You want to ensure that all traffic is monitored, from inception.
4. Build External Backlinks
When it comes to ranking on the first page of the major search engines, like Google, external links is an extremely important factor. Web pages that have the most pages linking to them, typically rank the highest in the search engines. Although that’s not the whole of it, it is a general rule.
Using a service like Ahrefs, you can find out the popularity of the various pages in the search engines. This service gives you domain stats, based on the number of links pointing to that site, and it also determines the authority of those links. So you can better determine site link strength.
Getting links to your site is only the first step, and in many cases, is simply not enough. You also want to earn links to your site and get targeted authority sites pointing to your niche.
If all your links come from cookie-cutter websites, then the improvement in the ranking of your site will be relatively small. This is because spammy sites pass less link juice, which in turn, means less benefit for your site. A link is like a vote of confidence for the search engines, which is why you want only the best, most credible sites linking back to your content.
When it comes to getting those backlinks, there are a number of things that you can and should do. You want to go out there, and be proactive, engage with people online, reach out to influential people. So that they can spread your content, and get the word out.
5. Continue Learning
The last tip is a universal one, which is to continue to learn. SEO is a forever evolving field, so there’s always new things to learn.
If you want to rank best in the search engines, then you need to know as much as possible about SEO. The more experience and knowledge you acquire on search engines, the closer you become to establishing yourself as an expert.
There are online courses, blogs and online communities and groups that you can be a part of. There are also professional organisations, you may want to consider. You want to dedicate yourself to this field of work, learning and practising, to keep yourself on top of the field.
AUTHOR INFO
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support website https://www.compuchenna.co.uk/
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