Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those terms that's thrown around in the business world, but can be illusive as to what it actually entails.
As defined by Search Engine Land,
"SEO is "the process of getting traffic from the "free," "organic," "editorial" or "natural" search results on search engines."
This is a critical component for any business, and for small businesses trying to get their name on the first page of search results, integrating strategic SEO tactics is a key way to achieve that goal.
But knowing which steps to take in order to maximize SEO efforts can be a challenge.
Here, we've listed the three lesser known SEO tips that will help propel your business website into higher search rankings.
1. Incorporate relevant terms
Your business has a set of defined keywords that you want associated with your brand and online ranking. However, there is another way to contribute to your SEO without being redundant and hammering your audience with these choice phrases.
Enter Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), which "is a way that search engines determine whether your content is really on-topic and in-depth or just spam." LSI provides other terms that garner the same kind of search results as your primary keywords. Used in conjunction with your keywords, these terms improve the proof of topic relevancy and that your website or page is in fact a valid source of information for the keyword.
Not sure how to find the correct LSI? At the bottom of a search query, there are suggestions under "Searches related to" the term you initially queried. Those are your desirable LSI as they're already associated with your keyword. Make note of these options and build them into your website text and content.
Weaving different words and vocabulary onto your site is important to keep readers' attention and to create an authoritative voice. LSI gives you that flexibility and conveniently contributes positively to your SEO.
2. Vary content types
In order to maximize your SEO value, you should seek to include a variety of content types on your business website. This means everything from text to videos to photos to infographics. Beyond the aesthetic reasons for varying what kinds of content is on your website, the different styles also add to the quality of your site.
Having the right mix of content means search engines can pull more from your data, which means higher search rankings.
Remember, though, quality is just as important as quality, so only publish comprehensive and thoughtfully-written pieces to your site.
3. User experience comes first
The entire purpose of SEO is to drive traffic to your website. If the site isn't user-friendly, then what's the point? Often SEO is thought of as highly technical, but it's the inherent and overlooked parts of your site that really make a difference.
Do everything in your power to improve load time and increase security of your website. Users quickly bounce when something takes too long to appear on a site. Broken images or buffering videos can signify a lack of professionalism and deter from your business's industry authority.
Optimize your images and compress your large video files so they take up less time and can load more quickly.
PhotoShop and Optimizilla are two image formatting resources. They reduce the image size and optimize the resolution, so they have faster load times.
Movavi is a video compression tool that significantly reduces file size and improves load time. You can also create zip files for your larger text documents or images to shrink the file size.
The same goes for URLs without "https" - viewers will hesitate to even click your website link if they see "http". Cyber security is a major concern for internet users today and a secure site should come before anything else. A simple way to enhance security is to get a SSL certificate, which authenticates your site's security, and immediately puts your viewer's mind at ease.
Search Engine Optimization is something every small business should integrate into their marketing strategy. With these tips, you'll be on your way to increased SEO ranking and serious site traffic.