Why Have SEO For Your Website?
If you’re not familiar with the term SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
Basically, it’s things you can do to make your website get noticed by the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. But do you really need SEO for your website if you are directing potential customers to your website yourself?
If you only rely on your own methods to drive traffic to your website, it’s an expensive and time-consuming job. Using SEO for your website means that you’ll have relevant and targeted traffic coming to your website on autopilot and for free.
The world of SEO is no different than other things in the world today. Things that are hot today can be gone tomorrow. But there are some things in the world of SEO that still work as good now as they did when first put into use.
FREE Checklist: SEO For Beginners
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines on the internet use complex algorithms that send out “electronic spiders” to each and every website that is online. These web-crawlers check different things called indicators which determine the usefulness of the content on the website for the people who are searching for that content.
Included in the checks are backlinks, age of your website, traffic and how often you post content, just to name a few. The purpose of SEO for your website is to make sure the spiders find what they are looking for so that your website can rank higher than other websites in your same niche. The higher you rank on search engine results, the more likely that a user is going to click on the link and visit you. And the more visitors you get to your website, the more potential customers or subscribers you’ll get.
 Search Engine Optimization Basics
1. Use Keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases that somebody will type into a search engine like Google to find something online. Use terms that people use to search for topics that are related to your business in your headlines, text, and categories. That way it’s easier for your content to be found by the people looking for that kind of information. If they can’t find you, then it will ultimately affect your page ranking because you won’t have the traffic going to your website.
2. Fix Navigation Problems
Make sure a search engine can find each page listed in your menu on your site. If it can’t, then most likely your users won’t be able to find it either. If you rename a page, be sure to update the listing in your menu. Additionally, there should be a Contact Page that gives users a means (or two) to contact you with questions or concerns.
3. Post Fresh And Relevant Content
Content that engages users and encourages them to share it ranks high. Generally, this is high value content written by you or only for you. Duplicate content will lower search engine rankings. The SEO for your website will improve if you post content on a regular basis. After all, who wants to read a webpage that is years old and no longer relevant? Think about how well your webpages achieve their purpose. In other words, does the content on your page do what it says it will do? If not, it’s going to rank low.
To make your website work hard for you, your pages should have 3 key elements:
- Main content with text, images or video
- Links to supplementary content not directly related to the page’s main purpose
- Advertisements or some form of monetization such as internet affiliate marketing.
4. External and Internal Links
Search engines like websites that have links to other pages on the website, along with links coming in from other websites. These are known as backlinks. One practice that should be avoided is buying backlinks. This is where you pay a service to post your link in multiple websites – sometimes thousands at a time. Google will see a sudden influx of backlinks to your site and will know they’re not “real”. Not only do they not count toward your ranking, they detract from it.
Also ensure that you have no broken links. Links that lead to nowhere will send up red-flags. Why? Because it will not enhance the user’s experience if they click on a link and it errors out.
5. Positive User Experience
When you use a search engine and it sends you to a rubbish website, you’ll blame the search engine rather than website. So you’ll think twice about using that search engine again. That’s why the search engines want to provide the best possible service to their users. Google and the other search engines primarily make money from advertising. The more people that use a search engine, the more advertising it can sell.
If your website provides a positive user experience, the search engines will detect this and send more traffic your way. These factors include how long people stay on your website, which takes us back to having good quality content on your website. The less time it takes for a website to load, the better will be the user’s experience. If your WordPress website isn’t as fast as it could be, there are plugins you can add to to speed things up – like W3 Total Cache.
Also Google prioritizes sites that are responsive and can be easily viewed on mobile devices. This is because of the number of smartphone being used today to surf the web.
Free Checklist: SEO For Your Website
Without SEO for your website, you’re just hoping that Google and the other search engines will somehow stumble across your website, figure out what you’re writing about, and then hopefully send relevant and targeted traffic to your website. You’ve put a lot of work into your website so it makes no sense to just pray for luck where traffic and success is concerned. To boost your SEO marketing strategy download my free checklist, SEO For Beginners.