If you want your website to rank highly in organic search results, there are certain SEO basics you can’t afford to ignore. Your website is likely to remain invisible and all your efforts will go to waste if you do so.
Some essential SEO optimization could make a difference and significantly change how you rank in the search engines. Here are five of the SEO basics you must implement if you want to be successful.
- You can’t ignore keywords
The use of keywords is still a very important part of SEO, although the way they are being used is different from the way they were used in the past. Previously there was more focus on quantity than quality. Today Google’s algorithms will penalize the overuse of keywords, especially if they are out of context.
There is more focus now on spoken language queries. This means that pages with conversational content are likely to rank higher. It helps to use longtail keywords that are more conversational and like the way people speak. A Blogger Local post discusses top Kansas City SEO companies who will help you find keywords and use them in the correct manner.
- You can’t ignore link building
You still need inbound links to signal that your website is worthy of trust. The links that hold value today are those that are from authoritative, trustworthy websites. It is also important to use them in the right context, such as within a post containing similar information.
You should focus on getting links from websites with high domain authority and significant traffic. If you don’t have the time to do this, SEO for Growth is one of the best link building companies around designed to do this for you.
- You can’t ignore page speed
The speed of a website page is a more significant ranking factor than ever. Google’s crawlers don’t want to take forever to crawl a website page to rank it. They will only stay on a page for a specified time and if your page takes longer to load, it may not be ranked.
A slow-loading page also negatively affects user experience. Users don’t have the patience to wait if a page takes a long time to load and quickly move on to a faster loading one. Google’s PageSpeed Insights analyzes page speeds and offers suggestions for improvement.
- You can’t ignore mobile optimization
Mobile search outstripped desktop search years ago. Some experts believe desktop computers are no longer going to be used at all in the future.
If you haven’t optimized your website for mobile search yet, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to see if your website passes mobile-friendly check and use the suggestions to make improvements. If you’re using a mobile-responsive theme, it can adjust automatically to all sizes of screens.
- You can’t ignore high-quality content
You may have been able to get away with a short piece full of keywords in the past but that isn’t the case any longer. You need to provide people with the answers they are looking for. High-quality content that gives people valuable information has always carried weight when it comes to ranking and is more important than ever today.
There are various SEO practices you need to use when writing your quality content. Besides incorporating longtail keywords in the correct way, you need to write substantial content, and use a descriptive title and a meta description. Using internal and external links within your content is also important, as well as using headers and alt text on your images.