Without utilizing SEO practices on your website, you’re selling your success short. Google is basically the God of the Internet as they have completely transformed the online marketing industry with their consistent algorithm updates, tactics and tools used to engage viewership and traffic to your website. Now, the thing that surprises many people is that there are 2 different kinds of SEO; onsite SEO(content) and offsite SEO (link building) – and between the two, there is on that is taking the spotlight as one of the most significant marketing practices.
What’s the Big Deal?
While Google is constantly changing what’s the ‘best practice’ in the industry, SEO as a whole has always remained on top; alternating between onsite and offsite. Currently though, onsite SEO has taken the lead which means that you should be putting the link building lower on your priority list and placing higher importance on content put on the front page of the site. Offsite SEO comes with a lot of penalties, and ways to take advantage of the tools which is likely why it is taking a seat in the passenger side. By Google raising importance on Onsite SEO, they can eliminate those individuals out there who manipulate the rules and regulations to get higher rankings, and reward those who genuinely practice Google’s online marketing regimes.
The Tips & Tricks
It is no secret that you can spend hours on end optimizing your website to coincide with Onsite SEO, without seeing a huge change in traffic and ultimately, the success of your website. This is because there are two kinds of people who utilize this industry-winning marketing regime; those who understand SEO, and those who really don’t. Of course, you want to be the prior to ensure that your invested time is well worth it in the end.
The Power of Keywords:
You cannot go too far with Onsite SEO without knowing your keywords. You need to know what people are searching online for, and with that, you are able to create content formed around what people want; making your website a valuable source of information. So, start your SEO practices by determining what your website is talking about, and how people are going to go about finding such information; or in other words, what will they type into the search engine to find the content you are offering. Those are keywords.
What’s Your Content Say:
Once you have your keywords down and have implemented them into your content, naturally (super vital), you need to make sure that your content is saying exactly what people are looking for. Does your content answer the questions of the keywords? For example; if you have a travel website and use the keyword ‘things to do’ but never actually answer the question, your SEO marketing game isn’t on point. It all goes back to utilizing keywords naturally while also providing the audience with what they’re looking for. A better example is to think about company website pages, such as a ‘service’ page. While the website may list the services, the actual keyword isn’t necessarily being used appropriately, thus, not actually working. To enhance the use of keywords and also answer the desires of the audience, the company will create individual pages for each service provided. It just elaborates the content. Some other important places to input your keyword(s) include; the title, meta description, headings, and image alt tags. Again, just be sure to input the keywords naturally.
Keep It Speedy
One major component of Onsite SEO is the speed of your website and many people completely ignore this issue that can drastically decrease your Google ranking and SEO status. It’s not brain science though; when a site runs slow, people are less likely to use it as it isn’t as fulfilling. Use a website like webpagetest.org to ensure that your loading times are sufficient; not only for your audience and Google, but for your own success as well. Another vital thing to look for on your website is error pages; as that certainly puts the speed of your website and audience at a halt. Log into your Webmaster Tools and see if any of your pages have 404 errors. Many people have no idea that they’re site is full of dead ends, and Google isn’t a fan.
The rules of Google Onsite SEO may change frequently, but they’re extremely easy to follow and the benefits are incredible and will thoroughly increase your ranking and overall success of your site. Now, if you have considered manipulating the rules to enhance your SEO rankings, think again. Google is the God of the Internet again; and they will find any faults and penalize your website accordingly. Stick to these simple and easy to apply tips and your marketing regime will be smooth sailing.