| I was asked to provide some basic SEO Tips for the non-techie, so I narrowed it down to 10 fast easy ones that won't suck up all your time and frustrate you trying to be a techie when your time is better spent marketing. Hope this helps without being overly complicated or detailed.
1. Video. Search engines love video, they gobble it up, index it lickety split. It's easy to do short, quality content videos on specific niches, or how tos, or reviews etc. The more videos the better, and you DON'T have to appear on screen, it's up to you. You don't have to have studio lighting and perfection of a movie star, be yourself, talk about what you know.
2. Think like a VISITOR to your site, or a Prospective Customers What do people logically use to find what you offer? What words? What combination of words? What variations? Google does not require exact match key words, they are able to understand relationships/concepts based on blog/site/page content. What do words did you use to find your competitor's site? Use your brain, and if you really want to dig into this, there are lots of free tools you can use to analyze the best key words for your business.
3. Build your brand, your niche, your expertise Trust is important to your buyers, and also to Google, BING etc who put a value on AUTHORITY deemed sites as a gauge of trust. Authority is something that search engines use to weigh the merit of a website as being more valuable then another in terms of rich content. Put your time and effort into good key word rich specific content on lots of different platforms.
4. Social Media matters If you don't have social media accounts, get them! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In. Start there. Consider setting up personal accounts and separate company accounts Remember everything you post, is your footprint, a trail leading to you from all your postings, key words, content, pages, blog entries.
5. Mobile friendly sites are preferred.. Starting September 2020, Google switched to mobile-first indexing for all sites. They provide a Mobile-Friendly Test Tool so you can see how Google’s mobile search agent views your site.
6. SSL Certificates matter SSL (domain name validation) is important for your buyers AND are checked and validated by search engines. Be sure to have an SSL Certificate for your domain name, so you can use BOTH http and https for your domain name. Visitors to your site see the padlock in the browser indicating their data is secure when using your site. A purchased SSL Certificate is advised over anything that is free - remember free services are ad laden, their interest is their own not yours, AND they tend to just vanish into the night.
7. Site Redirects Be careful with redirects, too many and it may effect your SEO. Let your site be your site, if using ad trackers, redirects, do it with limits, or get separate sites/pages for different purposes.
8. Use ALT Image text Before posting your graphics be sure to include Alt Image Attributes. Images get indexed by Google and other search engines, and are also important to your visually impaired customers.
9. Internal site linking When you’re linking internally on your site, you don't have to link with your keyword terms internally. The content around the link is usually sufficient for key words / concept indexing.
10. Content has been - and CONTINUES to be KING That is one thing that has not changes in the every-changing rules of SEO. When it comes to content it should include key words but don't overdue it. Better to have detailed quality content that is informational and reader friendly, then sparse low-value content peppered with a repetition of key words. FAQ pages are a good way to get good quality content for SEO whle providing a service for your customers.
One final bit of advise.
If you don't already have a Google Analytics account get one, it's free and includes info on metatags and lots of helpful information direct from the source. While you are at it, get BING Webmaster Tools also to access new audiences, and other useful reports and SEO tips. Don't put all your marketing eggs in Google's basket.
Bottom line. Do the basics to help your SEO ranking, but don't forget about your customers. Keep it user-friendly, write for your customers primarily - they are your audience and your buyer - NOT Google. Post quality content often accross a variety of platforms with limited repetiion and you will do just fine.
Sandi Hunter along with George Kosch co-founded Worldprofit Inc, nearly 3 decades ago to help people start and grow their own online business. |