7 SEO Improvements You Can Make Right Now
If you search for “SEO improvements,” Google will generate about 26,200,000 results. Obviously, there is a lot of advice out there, but not all of it is actionable. That's why we thought it would be helpful to provide you with 7 specific improvements you can make to your site right now.
But First, What is SEO?
SEO, short for “search engine optimization,” is “the marketing science/practice of organically increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to a website by systematically improving its position on search engine result pages (SERPs).” From using SEO software to simply updating your website content, there are a myriad of actions you can take to improve your website's SEO.
1. Take Advantage Of FREE SEO Tools
There are a number of amazing SEO tools that you can use to help optimize your site. However, some of them have a hefty monthly or annual price tag. Thankfully, many of them have a free component or at least a free trial. It is crucial that you make the most of these tools as they can provide further insight as to how to increase your website’s search authority. Some of our go-to SEO tools include, but are not limited to:
Moz: 10 free keyword queries, 10 link queries, and 50 rows of data per month; MozBar, Moz Local Listing Score, free domain analysis, and MozCast
SparkToro: 10 searches per month, sampling of results only, single list, social contact data, and single user
Google Analytics: tracks and reports website traffic for your business
Search Console: measures your website's search traffic and overall performance
Lighthouse: an automated tool for improving the quality of web pages
Page Speed Insights: provides suggestions to decrease webpage loading time
Each of these resources offers both free and paid plans, with the main differences being the total number of keyword queries, campaigns, backlink queries, keyword rankings, and link tracking lists your account is allotted.
It's important to note that a lot of these SEO tools do have a significant learning curve. If you need help, reach out to an SEO agency like Ethos Copywriting that can help your team through the process.
2. Optimize Your Headers
When it comes to increasing your search authority, make sure your site is optimized. Optimization includes creating relevant H1 text, which is the webpage’s heading. H1 text should include keywords that are relevant to your products and services. The length of your H1 text should be 20-70 characters long.
Increases accessibility with content navigation
May be used in place of title tags by Google
Is correlated with higher rankings
Above all else, your H1 text should indicate to your readers what your page is about.
3. Fill Out Your Title And Meta Description
A browser title, displayed in the tab of your web browser and visible on the search engine results page, describes a webpage's content in 60 characters or less. Every page on your site should have a unique title relevant to its content, but be mindful of overusing keywords.
Position your keywords toward the beginning of your page titles and meta descriptions. Reason being, search engines typically cut titles down to 60 characters and meta descriptions down to 160 characters.
Like a browser title, meta descriptions should be unique to each individual page and include any relevant keywords.
4. Optimize Your Images
Image optimization is a key aspect of SEO that many people forget. In order to optimize your images to decrease webpage loading times and improve search ranking:
Add alt text (125 characters or less)
Compress image size
Reduce pixels
Follow platform guidelines
Save as a jpeg with a relevant file name
For more information on how to optimize your images, read The Part of SEO You Forgot: Image Optimization (Six Tips to Rank Higher).
5. Reach Out For Backlinks
Backlinks (or inbound links) are links to a specific web resource from another webpage. Ahrefs, a data-driven marketing toolset, claims that “66.31% of pages don’t have even a single backlink.” Despite that percentage, Andrey Lipattsev, Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, has stated that links are one of Google’s top three search ranking factors.
To obtain high-quality backlinks, you can:
Submit a guest article
Write testimonials
Contact journalists and bloggers
Create infographics
Build internal links
Donate to nonprofit organizations
Participate in online interviews
Join Directories
While backlinks are essential, it's critical that you go about link building methodically. When reaching out to other companies regarding backlinks, research their website’s domain authority and spam score using Moz. Domain authority (the higher, the better) determines how likely the website will rank on the search engine results page (SERPs), while spam score (the lower, the better) refers to the quality and relevance of the links.
6. Update Your Content
HubSpot has claimed to have “doubled the number of monthly leads generated,” in addition to increasing traffic to their site by 106%, by updating their old content. Reading back on your old content can provide an opportunity to:
Fix broken links
Discover grammar and spelling errors
Update with new stats and research
Add a paragraph or two
What’s more, going back to update your content will allow you to determine whether or not it is mobile-friendly, accurate, and still adheres to your company’s vision. Along the way, you may even discover new keywords that better pertain to the subject matter at hand, thus increasing website traffic.
7. Set Up Google My Business
Google My Business is a free tool that allows you to control your business’s profile on Google. For example, upon searching for “Ethos Copywriting” on Google, a column will appear on the right side of the screen listing the business’s location, hours of operation, reviews, and summary. While Google My Business highlights businesses in search results, the tool provides insights on your audience and local SEO.
When using a Google My Business account, you can adapt your business’s summary to highlight certain keywords in order to increase search ranking. Requesting a Google review upon the completion of a service is a great way to gain consumer trust and increase search ranking as well as website authority. Furthermore, consumers often desire content that is up-to-date and accurate—Google My Business has a feature that publicly indicates the last time your business’s content was updated.
Consult the Experts
If you’re looking for additional SEO strategies to manage your online media presence while increasing your website’s search ranking, reach out to our content marketing experts at Ethos Copywriting to learn about our consulting services.