The New Year is almost upon us. If you’ve been putting off doing any search engine optimization (SEO) to your website, it’s time to get on it.
The most important thing to understand as you look at the checklist below is that SEO is now very different than it was a few years ago. It’s actually easier to maintain good SEO habits if you’re producing a quality website – they’re almost intuitive. SEO trends are less about tips and tricks and more about good, quality, informative content. With that in mind, let’s look at 5 ways you can work on and improve your website SEO for 2015.
1) REVIEW KEYWORDS
While keywords are not the end all/be all of SEO like they once were, they’re just as vital as ever. This means that you still need to do a little keyword research to see what words are more popular with your intended audience. When in doubt, simplify! Think “eye doctor” versus “optician” which receives 49,500 searches vs. 14,800 respectively. Just simplifying your words or phrased can mean a considerable uptick in potential traffic to your site!
2) THINK LIKE YOUR VISITORS
This tip is tied to your keywords in some ways. As in the example above, make sure you’re using the same words your target visitors are using so your pages are categorized correctly. Doing so will also ensure that your pages speak the same language your customers are speaking. Give people what they want. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving information or selling products… Appeal to the visitor you want.
3) GET SOCIAL
Social media has been tied to SEO for a long time, and the two elements will continue to be connected at the hip forever more. Make a point of being active on a couple of different social media outlets. In most cases, it’s unnecessary to be involved in every single avenue out there, but you should master a couple of them and really focus on reaching the audiences you build.
4) UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE
Some companies create a website with the expectation that it just keeps bringing in customers the way it did when it was first created. Think of it like fishing. You can throw the bait out there but unless you keep it fresh and keep making it attractive, you’re not going to catch anything.
In general, Google doesn’t rank old, outdated websites very highly. Here’s the deal: They can’t necessarily tell if the information on the site is old, they can only determine when it was last modified. (Did a lightbulb just go on?!) Clearly, this means the more regularly you touch your website the more current and active it appears to Google. The more it appears to Google, the more it appears in searches. Obviously, a website that appears in searches is a glorious thing.
5) GET GOOD REVIEWS
No matter if you’re working on a very local scale or in the global market, reviews matter. Google loves to promote reputable sites. That’s actually what they’re all about, so reviews weigh heavily with them. Figure out what to do to encourage people to review your website, company, products etc. And of course, you get good reviews by being a quality player.
Hopefully you look at this list and think, “well, that’s not so bad”, because that’s what we want you to think. Good search engine optimization should not be hard. It no longer needs complicated equations or lots of steps, and it NEVER required big payments to non-legit companies to get links or referrals. It’s about creating a quality website that matters as much to you as it does to those people who visit it.
