Improve Your SEO Using These Simple Tips
When many people think of the term SEO, or search engine optimization, they focus on the aspect of keywords. Even though using the right keywords is certainly important, there are other ways that you can improve your website and your overall SEO.
The algorithms in use weigh more than just the keywords you are using;
- they also consider the amount of time a visitor tends to stay on your site
- the number of pages that are viewed
- they look at the bounce rate
- they check whether you have broken links
- they see what inbound and outbound links you have.
Time On Site
When you can get users to stay on your page longer and to interact with your content, it can help to improve your SEO. The way to get people to do this is by improving the usability and user experience of your site. Everything should be as user-friendly as possible.
The following are some of the ways that you can improve the usability of your website, which will ultimately help you to improve your SEO.
Relevant, Quality Content
The term content is king might sound cliché, but it is entirely true. If you want to have a popular and highly trafficked site, you need to have quality content. Good and useful content will keep visitors on your site longer so they can read and engage with the information you are providing.
The ideal length of content can vary based on the type of site you have and your niche. In some cases, content that is between 400 and 500 words is more than enough. However, there has been a trend for longer content as of late.
Having 1,000 words or more provides you with more space to create usable and interesting content. It will also give you more opportunities to work in keywords and keyword phrases naturally to the text.
The longer content – if it is good content – will keep people on the site longer, as well. As mentioned, this can be good news for your SEO.
There are certain things you will want to keep in mind when it comes to the content regarding length.
All your content should be broken up with headings and subheadings. You can also utilize numbered lists and bullet points to help break up the text. People do not want to read giant walls of text, and they won’t. Break it up with smaller paragraphs, lists, and headings.
Fast Loading Pages
People today want things instantaneously, and this is certainly true when it comes to reading content online. They dislike waiting for pages to load, and if you happen to have a page that loads slowly, they might just steer clear of your website.
However, visitors are not the only ones who are concerned about the page load speed for your website. Search engines, such as Google and Bing also consider the speed at which a page loads in their algorithms. They do not like sending their users to slow sites, so it has the potential to push your SEO ranking down.
One of the easiest ways to make sure that your site loads quickly is to optimize all your images. You can further optimize your images to work for your SEO by:
- using keywords in your image’s file name, title, caption, and description.
- Also reduce the number of plugins that you have running on your site to help it run faster. (if you are not using Umbrella CMS)
Consider Using Video
While your written content will likely remain the focus of your site, you will also want to consider using video. Video tends to be a powerful medium, and it is affordable for just about everyone to utilize today. Adding video to your site can help to increase interactivity on the site, and it can help to keep people on your website longer.
Videos tend to be liked by the search engines, as well, which will help your SEO. They can be a fantastic way to add to your content, and to provide more interest for your site. The topics for the videos can be similar to those of the usual blog content.
Since videos can take up a substantial amount of space, you might want to consider uploading them to a site such as YouTube, that can host the video. You can then add the video to your site easily.
Social Media
Social media is a fantastic way to help boost your SEO, as well. You can and should post links to your web and blog content on your social media sites. These links will help with SEO, and they can help more people to find you. The more people who are sharing your content on social media the better.
Keep in mind that social media should be about more than just advertising your own content if you want it to work for you. You should also engage with fans and followers on the site and answer questions if they have them. In addition, post about other elements related to your field, even if you were not the one to write about them.
Remember Mobile
Today, many people are accessing websites through their mobile devices. They are reading and watching content, and that means your site needs to be mobile ready. The site should look and work well no matter how someone is viewing and interacting with it. Websites and blogs that are not optimized are going to suffer in the rankings.
Listen to Visitors
If visitors to your site leave comments about ways that you might be able to improve, whether it is the layout or the type of content, do not dismiss them out of hand. They are viewing the site through a different lens than you, and they may see problems that you don’t. Look for constructive feedback that could help your site to become better and more usable for your visitors.
Would you like to improve your SEO and bring your site to the next level? Working with Umbrella CMS’s blog extension and the WebTextTool.com integration, it will be easier than ever.
