Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is what builds a solid foundation for your website online. We all know that Google is not a human; SEO is the language it speaks. By optimizing your website following the best practices, you are essentially telling people what your website is all about, what your focus keywords are and what content is valuable. Google takes this information and analyzes how users interact with your website. That’s why SEO and user experience on your website go together like bread and butter. SEO is complex and takes practice. To help you out in starting your SEO strategy, here are 5 SEO tips to increase website traffic that you can do right now:
1. Dig deep into your Google Analytics data
Considering you have the right conversion tracking system set up, Google Analytics has everything you need to know when it comes to auditing your website. By closely looking at the data you can see where your users are exiting your website and where they are spending most of their time. You can also check your average session duration, and bounce rate which gives you insight into how interactive (or not) your website is to your users. If your bounce rate is in the 90s and your average session duration is just seconds, then you need to take a closer look to discover the loopholes in your website to improve them.
2. Choose the right keywords
Again, Google does not know what your website is all about unless you TELL Google. After doing keyword research, you should be able to identify which keywords generate traffic, and ideally conversions. If you are running Google Ads, then this data is what you need! Take a look at the keywords that are making your marketing dollars perform well, and integrate them on your website! It will also help your ad ranking and quality because content and relevancy to ads also matter to Google.
3. 301 Redirects
Have you verified your website through Google Search Console and ensured that you have no errors on your pages? Google considers your broken links when ranking your website, and if it is full of 404s, then your SEO will suffer. The last thing you want is for your 404s to be found on Google under your business’ name. This is not a good look! You can see any errors with your website under “performance” in Google Search Console. Take advantage of the data given to you!
4. Ensure that it’s mobile-friendly
Sorry, but I love Google Search Console! It will tell you whether your website is mobile-friendly or not. Be careful though, sometimes it may pass the eligibility test but may still look odd on a mobile phone. So after you ensure that it meets Google’s criteria first, take a look at your website on your phone, and then a friends phone. Sometimes texts are too small, and pictures not clear enough.
5. Publish fresh content regularly
SEO used to be a lot simpler when fewer companies had an online presence. With so much content available online now, SEO takes effort and hard work. If you are not continually updating your website, and publishing valuable content to it, then it will be tough to rank high. Digital marketing nowadays is complex. It is the combination of all the activities you can do for your website online. This includes mentions of your website on third party websites, citations on local directories, content, social media and more!
There you go!
Take actions to implement these 5 SEO tips to increase website traffic, you can see immediate results! Don’t forget; there’s always room for improvement.
