HERE ARE 10 STEPS TO GET YOUR SEO HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

 

SEO IS A EVER-EVOLVING TASK AND THERE ARE TONS OF TIPS OUT THERE, BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO READ THROUGH 100’S TO DIG OUT THE GOLD, THE FUNDAMENTALS THAT GET BURIED BY THE “NEW” BIG THINGS.

I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU MY TOP TEN FUNDAMENTAL ACTIONS FOR SEO IN ONE SPOT!

BEFORE I DO ANYTHING TO IMPROVE SEO, I RUN A SPEED TEST ON THE WEBSITE THAT I AM GOING TO OPTIMIZE. YOU CAN FIND SEVERAL PLACES TO RUN FREE SPEED TESTS BUT I REALLY LOVE TO USE DEVELOPER.GOOGLE

 

ACTION STEP 1. REMOVE ANYTHING THAT SLOWS DOWN YOUR WEBSITE.
I AM SURE YOU CAN RELATE TO THE FRUSTRATION OF WAITING FOR A SITE TO LOAD AND THAT CAN BE A HUGE TURN OFF FOR PEOPLE WHO WOULD POTENTIALLY CONVERT.
LET’S BE HONEST, HOW OFTEN DO YOU WAIT FOR A SITE TO LOAD BEYOND 4-5 SECONDS?
SPEED IS A CRITICAL FACTOR IN SEO

 

IF YOU SPECIALIZE IN A CERTAIN AREA(S) AND YOU HAVE RELEVANT INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN SHARE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE THEN I HIGHLY RECOMMEND LINKING OUT TO OTHER BLOGS. SOME PEOPLE THINK THIS IS BAD BECAUSE YOU ARE DIRECTING PEOPLE OFF OF YOUR SITE, BUT LINKING OUT TO OTHER SOURCES IS CRITICAL TO GROWTH.
WHY? IT HELPS YOUR READERS, THIS IS GOOD CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. IT ALSO SENDS TRACKABLE TRAFFIC AND MAKES YOUR SITE MORE VALUED.

 

ACTION STEP 2. BUILD LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES WITH RELEVANT CONTENT

I RUN ACROSS THIS ALL THE TIME. KEYWORD STUFFING;
DON’T DO THIS! MANY THINK THAT IF THEY STUFF THEIR CONTENT FULL OF KEYWORDS IT WILL HELP IT RANK, AND IT WILL TO A POINT, HOWEVER, IT NEEDS TO MAKE SENSE AND BE READABLE. YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR READERS TO HAVE TO STOP AND OVERTHINK WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT OR WORSE, GET BORED AND LEAVE.

 

ACTION STEP 3. WRITE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE FIRST, AND GOOGLE SECOND.
GOOGLE IS JUST AN AI THAT SCANS YOUR CONTENT, THEY ARE NOT THE ONES WHO ARE GOING TO BUY FROM YOU OR ENGAGE WITH YOU. 

 

NOW LET’S E.A.T. NOT FOOD BUT SEO. E.A.T. STANDS FOR EXPERT, AUTHORITATIVE, TRUSTWORTHY.  THIS IS SO IMPORTANT AS SEARCHES INCREASE AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS AT THE TOP FOR RANKING.  PROVIDING VALUE IN SEARCHES IS WHAT GOOGLE IS AFTER. 

 

ACTION STEP 4. CONVINCE OTHERS TO LINK TO YOU.
WHEN YOU ARE SHARING VALUABLE CONTENT AND LINKING OUT TO CREDIBLE RESOURCES WHEN APPLICABLE, THIS WILL ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO LINK BACK TO YOUR SITE, AND THIS WILL PROVIDE AN EFFECTIVE LINK BUILDING STRATEGY. ALSO, TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR COMPETITORS AND SEE WHO IS LINKING BACK TO THEM AND REACH OUT TO THEM AND OFFER A BETTER, MORE VALUABLE BLOG TO LINK TO.

 

READY TO SET GOALS? ONCE YOU SET GOALS YOU WANT TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM TO TRACK YOUR PROGRESS AND OPTIMIZE THOSE GOALS.

 

ACTION STEP 5. SET UP WEB ANALYTICS.

I PERSONALLY USE GOOGLE ANALYTICS, BUT THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS OUT THERE FOR YOU. FEEL FREE TO USE WHICHEVER ONE YOU LIKE.  I WOULD NOT EVEN SEND MY FIRST PERSON TO A WEBSITE OR LANDING PAGE WITHOUT THIS SET-UP. (I DO NOT EVEN RUN FACEBOOK ADS WITHOUT THIS SETUP, JUST SOME EXTRA FOOD FOR THOUGHT)

ALWAYS TRACK YOUR SUCCESS 

I OBSESS OVER THIS PROCESS AND IT IS USUALLY THE MOST OVERLOOKED AND NEGLECTED PART OF THE SEO PROCESS. THE META DESCRIPTIONS ARE THE FIRST SECTION THAT PEOPLE SEE WHEN GOOGLE PRESENTS YOUR PAGE IN RESPONSE TO A SEARCH.

ACTION STEP 6.  OPTIMIZE EVERY PAGE’S META DESCRIPTION WITH UNIQUE AND RELEVANT DESCRIPTIONS.
DO NOT DUPLICATE META DESCRIPTIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE PAGES! 

QUICK QUESTION. WHICH DO YOU THINK IS MORE SEARCHABLE?
1X1IMPRESSION,COM/DIGITAL-MARKETING
OR
1X1IMPRESSION,COM/BLOG56743456400574407404FSDF47ESDGS4G 

WHICH ONE DO YOU THINK WILL RETURN MORE RELEVANT SEARCHES?
OBVIOUSLY, THE ONE THAT IS SIMPLE AND CLEAN. 

ACTION STEP 7. USE SIMPLE, CLEAN, AND READABLE URLs
URL STRUCTURE REFLECTS ON YOUR SEO RANKING BUT ALSO HELPS TO ENSURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PROSPECTS LANDING ON YOUR SITE. (SIDE NOTE: IT MAKES YOUR LINKS EASIER TO SHARE)

 

SINCE WE ARE IN THIS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE, YOU SHOULD CHECK THE PAGE STRUCTURE AND MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO ERRORS.
EVERY PAGE SHOULD BE FORMATTED PROPERLY TO RANK. YOU WANT TO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE H1 HEADERS ON THE TOP OF YOUR PAGE, MAKE SURE THE TITLES ARE INFORMATIVE AND NOT TOO SHORT, AND CHECK THE VALUE AND LENGTH OF YOUR CONTENT.

ACTION STEP 8. INCREASE CONTENT LENGTH
IT IS NOT A VERY WELL KEPT SECRET THAT GOOGLE FAVORS IN-DEPTH CONTENT.

I HEAR ARGUMENTS FROM BOTH SIDES. SOME PEOPLE WILL ARGUE THAT READERS WANT SHORT TO THE POINT CONTENT, BUT WITH A COUPLE SEARCHES YOU WILL QUICKLY FIND THAT THE TOP RANKING ARTICLES ARE COMING IN WITH 2000+ WORDS.
IF YOU CAN NOT PROVIDE VALUE THROUGHOUT A SPECIFIC ARTICLE DO NOT DESTROY IT BY FIGHTING TO GET TO 2000 WORDS BUT TRY TO MAKE IT A PRACTICE TO PROVIDE ENOUGH VALUE TO GET YOU THERE.  

 

IMAGES; NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE UTILIZE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEO THEIR IMAGES. WHEN YOU GOOGLE SOMETHING YOU WILL SEE ON TOP WHERE IT SAYS
ALL  IMAGES  VIDEO SHOPPING NEWS MORE
GOOGLE HAS DEDICATED AN ENTIRE SECTION OF IT’S SEARCH RESULTS TO IMAGES.

ACTION STEP 9. USE RELEVANT KEYWORDS IN IMAGES.
THIS IS NOT PERMISSION TO KEYWORD STUFF. RELEVANCE OUT WEIGHS CREATIVITY IN THIS AREA. SO FIRST MAKE SURE IT IS FORMATTED PROPERLY (REFERENCE ACTION STEP ONE), THEN NAME IT. MOST PEOPLE JUST UPLOAD AN IMAGE THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS “img_1247”. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU ARE A COFFEE SHOP AND OFFER SEVERAL TYPES OF COFFEE, YOU CAN HAVE COFFEE_1, COFFEE_2, ETC. BUT WHAT YOU WANT IS CARMEL_MACHIOTO_COFFEE, FRENCH_PRESS_COFFEE, COLD_BREW_COFFEE. I TYPICALLY GO EVEN FURTHER AND ADD A SHORTENED BUSINESS NAME BEFORE THE DESCRIPTION TO CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN AS WELL.


THIS STEP TIES IT ALL TOGETHER! 

ACTION STEP 10. P.Q.C.C.  (PUBLISH QUALITY CONTENT CONSISTENTLY)

THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK. THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN A STALE WEBSITE. THIS WILL AFFECT YOUR FRESHNESS SCORE. DISCIPLINE YOURSELF, AND MAKE SURE THIS IS A PRIORITY, IF THIS IS NOT YOUR AREA OF GENIUS THEN HIRE SOMEONE TO DO IT FOR YOU.

BONUS TIP: MAKE SURE YOUR SSL CERTIFICATE IS CURRENT. WHEN IT COMES TO SHARING YOUR INFORMATION WITH A BUSINESS, YOU WANT TO BE SURE YOUR INFORMATION IS SECURE. YOUR AUDIENCE EXPECTS THE SAME THING.