If you are looking for some well crafted fluffy article on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), with a bunch of outdated tips, you might want to keep moving, because “this ain’t it”.
But if you’re looking for a list of do’s and don’ts for your business website, then keep reading. This post contains five (5) high-level tips that you need to consider and at some point work on to ensure success for your website.
Here they are:
Article Table Of Contents
- Know the Purpose of Your Website
- Fix any Technical Issues on Your Site
- Complete Adherence to SEO all “On-Page” Best Practices
- Implement a Plan to Address Other Ranking Factors
- Have Patience, SEO Takes Time
1. Know the Purpose of Your Website
Having a good understanding of the items below will go a long way in helping to resolve the other 4 recommendations:
- What is the overall purpose and objective of your site?
- Who is your audience and what are they looking for?
- What “Calls To Action” are you trying to Achieve?
- How do you measure success?
- How does your website support your business goals and objectives?
- How does your site positively impact the business’s bottom-line?
2. Fix any Technical Issues on Your Site
The first key to having success in organic search is being FOUND. In order to be found, search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing need to easily be able to crawl or scan your website. Below is a list of things to audit and address:
- Fix any broken links
- Make sure your folder & URL structure is SEO and search conducive
- Validate all page-load-elements, meaning that all behind the scenes files needed to render the page usable by a visitor work without issues.
- Make sure your site contains both an XML Sitemap and a Robots.txt file. Also make sure Google can get to them.
3. Complete Adherence to SEO all “On-Page” Best Practices
Ensure that all “On-Page SEO” factors have been addressed and remain a consistent part of your page creation process. This would include:
- Relevant SEO Elements (page titles, descriptions, headers, etc.)
- Adhere to “Best Practices” for SEO elements
- Relevant well written content
- Eliminate any duplicate content
- Reduce coding errors (“W3C Validation Service“) associated with web pages
4. Implement a Plan to Address Other Ranking Factors
The external sites that link to your website and how much social media engagement (likes, shares, etc.) you have, play a big part in boosting SEO ranking factors known as Domain and Trust Authority. After the things above have been taken care of, you will need to also, focus on the things below:
- Social engagement signals
- Increasing back links
Note: This is what generally determines who ranks in the top 5 spots for HIGH Volumes keyword phrases.
5. Have Patience, SEO Takes Time
The process of ranking, especially from an organic perspective is a marathon, not a sprint. That said; know that the process will take time. There will be some quick successes along the way, there will also be some things you do that will take time to be successful.
Holler Back at Me
If you are an SEO or search technician, what would you add to the list? Would you change the priority? Please share your thoughts. I promise not to take it personal.
Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rob-young/8667329327
