There is nobody who identifies himself or herself as an expert SEO professional and does not know how important Google is to make a business stand out from the crowd.
The Internet has grown a lot. In fact, it has grown so much that there is always the possibility that even a great company with amazing products or services will never get the attention it needs. But we are here to help.
Today we are about to take a look at ten SEO hacks to take your business to the next level! Fasten your seatbelts! It is going to be a life-changing ride.
1. Think About Your Keywords Twice
Yes. The importance of the topics based on which you create your content to drive more traffic is huge. But don’t forget that the heart and soul of your website are your keywords.
And you need to target the right ones because we guarantee that if you don’t, others will, and you will lose the attention your online business needs.
The basic tool you need to use is not some sophisticated, fancy, expensive software but our very own, free, alternative to Google Keyword Planner. This little pal here will help you find which keywords and phrases you need to target.
Don’t forget though that they need to be relevant to your products and overall content strategy. Also, you need to find the ones which have a low competitive rate.
However, if you believe that finding the right keywords feels like a real struggle –and sometimes it really does– you can always reach out the guys at The Gallas Company in Orlando. They include a great Competitive Keyword Analysis in their services which will help you grow even faster!
2. Create Trust With Your Audience
Many professionals in the SEO industry forget that every single online business has two audiences: search engines and humans. And humans need to feel like they trust someone who poses as an authority.
If you make your audience trust you, Google will trust your audience, and a new audience will trust Google when it puts you higher in their results. Bottomline: It is all about trust!
To create this feeling of security, all you need to do is create good content (and, of course, do some technical work to make Google process it). And that’s all. Really.
Sometimes, good content always matters!
3. Be Faster. And Faster.
As the Internet grows, we expect more from it. People want to watch a video and they want it in high definition. People want to buy goods and they want to do it in as few clicks as possible. They want to visit your website and they want it now.
Speed is a UX factor, which is also a ranking factor. So, the wait is over. Make your website load faster than ever. In fact, Google expects pages to load in under three seconds.
First and foremost, take Google’s page speed. The free software will analyze what makes your website load faster or slower and you will be able to optimize it. However, some of the basic factors that affect website speed include:
- Your server
- File types and sizes
- Plugins and modules
- CSS Delivery
- Redirects
- Header requests
- Mobile optimization and more
Sometimes, however, taking care of your website’s backend is just too much. If you need help, ask for it! A professional might get the job done for you much faster and much better.
4. Stay Relevant
People are not the only ones whose demands keep increasing. Google is getting harder and harder to convince too. As a matter of fact, if your content is not worth your audience’s attention, Google is going to penalize you.
So, in order to rank higher, you need to avoid clickbait, have a niche which will be as narrow as possible, and focus on creating good, relevant content in your niche. Again, do not try to trick Google. It is smarter than all of us.
5. Subdirectory or Subdomain?
There is a misunderstanding about subdirectories and subdomains. For all the newbies out there, a subdomain comes at this form: “subdomain.domain.com.” A subdirectory, on the other hand, looks like this: “domain.com/subdirectory.”
We recommend you use the second option simply because, this way, you will be able to increase your root domain’s authority. And your root domain should be your top priority.
Simple, right?
6. Video SEO
Saying that video content is important sounds like a given if you take into consideration that by 2021, video will account for over 82% of all consumer internet traffic.
In addition, YouTube is, in fact, the second largest search engine in the world right now –plus it is also run by Google.
We live in 2018 and crafting content does not just mean posting words on a blank webpage. Multimedia content is a great ranking factor and today, more than ever, there is a massive opportunity to reach new customers by posting optimized video content.
Need more details? Click here and learn how to create video content that ranks!
7. Change Your Backlink Strategy
Back in the day, people were just dying for some links to their website. They looked for blogs, forums, literally anyone to help them with their off-page SEO without caring about the type of the website that was linking to them.
To make it even worse, there are many examples of people who actually paid for links to their directories.
This was the time when people looked for link-building. Not link-earning.
In 2018, you don’t need to build links to your website. You need to earn them by high-authority, respected websites that value your content and find you a great resource. Exactly. It is a “quality over quantity” time!
So, here are a few tips on how you can create meaningful links to your website that will help you rank higher:
Contribute to Relevant Websites
Find a high-authority website that you can get access to. Write a great article and ask them to post it and put a link to your website in the end. This is the simplest and one of the most effective ways that successful online entrepreneurs use to this day.
Create Discounts
If you offer a business partner a special discount, you will, most likely, get both a referral link and a great connection you can make use of in the future.
Do You Have Lost Links?
Lost links are the ones that actually lead to nowhere. If you have removed a page or you have updated a page’s URL, you are getting no visitors because they are just seeing a 404 error page.
A simple trick is to redirect 404 error pages to your homepage where users will be able to scroll through your content.
Follow-Up!
This is one of the oldest tactics journalist use when they lose a scoop. If there is something that is really popular at the moment, try and investigate it further. Make valuable content even more valuable by providing something new.
Share it with your influencers and you will become an authority. Even if it is just for a day. Your new information will be instantly re-published by similar websites in your niche which will most likely link to the original source. You!
8. Local SEO is an Expert SEO Technique
If you are a local business owner, this one is for you. Why expand globally when you actually need targeted audiences that will create more efficient conversions than people overseas would?
Also, local SEO is much easier to work with but the local SEO ranking factors are not much different to the ones international businesses consider. Here are the steps:
- Associate a website with a Google My Business profile
- Create local content
- Get positive reviews from your happy customers
- Submit your business to online directories mentioning your full address
If you run a small business and you need more information on local SEO, we’ve got you covered, of course! Click here for more!
9. Focus on Voice Search for a Change
Voice search was something that was first introduced as a great SEO management tool a couple of years ago. However, its SEO value was increased last year when it became an actual trend.
Today, you see, many users prefer speaking over typing. But how does it affect your website?
Your keywords need to be more complex. When you are targeting keywords, do not only think the ones people would type but also those that users would actually say out loud.
Use conversational terms and create a strategy around long-tail queries which are more popular among voice search enthusiasts.
10. Mobile Search is Getting Much Bigger
When we are talking about web browsing today we are not only talking about computers, laptops etc. Like it or not, smartphones do dominate the landscape since 2016.
Having a mobile friendly website is not an option anymore. It is your priority. If you are still not convinced, you can always ask Google which has included responsiveness in the list of its ranking factors.
This is not new and we bet you’ve heard it before, but, as new devices with different functions come out, this is a wake-up call to stay up to date with all the latest mobile trends.
Do Your Research
You can read thousands of articles to become an expert SEO ninja but you need to do some research yourself too. Keep looking for all the latest trends or even all the free tools you can use online.
A great place to start is our very own toolbox. Click here for many free web tools that will help you take your SEO strategy to the next level.