April 25, 2024
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5 min read
In the digital age, having a website is akin to owning a storefront in the world's largest marketplace. However, creating a website is just the beginning.
The next crucial step is driving traffic to it, particularly through Google Search, the world's most popular search engine. If you've built your website on your own and are struggling with low traffic volumes, this guide is tailored for you.
Here, we'll explore actionable strategies to enhance your website's visibility and ranking on Google, helping you attract more visitors and, ultimately, convert them into loyal customers.
At the heart of increasing your website's visibility on Google lies a solid understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is a multifaceted discipline that encompasses a range of practices designed to improve your website's position in search engine results pages (SERPs).
When done correctly, SEO can significantly increase organic (non-paid) traffic to your site, enhancing your online presence and potential for customer engagement.
Here's how to get started:
An SEO audit is the best place to begin, in order to identify areas of improvement on your website. An audit can help you uncover issues like crawling and indexing problems, duplicate content, poor mobile responsiveness, and poor keyword targeting. All of these can negatively impact your SEO.
If you do not have experience then I would recommend setting up Google Search Console. This tool will not only provide insights into your website's organic performance it will provide insights into areas that require optimization.
Begin with identifying the keywords and phrases that potential visitors might use to search for your content or services.
These keywords should be relevant to your website's content and that will match user intent.
Utilizing tools like Google's Keyword Planner or SEMrush can help you discover these keywords, understand their search volume, and gauge the competition.
An easy rule to remember is that each page should be targeting a single priority search term, with many different supporting search terms.
Consider your URL hierarchy and determine if your site is set up for success. This will help prevent keyword overlap across your site.
It's crucial to align your content with the intent behind user searches. User intent can be informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional.
Tailoring your content to meet these intents can improve your site's relevance and value to your audience, which Google recognizes and rewards in search rankings.
Also, consider how your pages are structured. For example, category pages should be structured differently from product pages.
This is where user intent is important, as users who land on these pages will have different expectations and it’s important to evaluate if you are meeting those needs.
Also read: A Beginner’s Guide to Wix SEO
2. Publish High-Quality Content
Content is the lifeblood of any website and a critical component of successful SEO. Google's algorithms are designed to prioritize websites that provide valuable and engaging content.
Here's how you can ensure your content stands up to these standards:
Your content should offer real value to your audience, answering their questions, solving their problems, or providing insights they can't find elsewhere.
The relevance of your content to your target audience's needs and interests is key to attracting and retaining visitors.
The internet is dynamic, and what's relevant today might not be tomorrow. Regularly updating your content keeps it fresh and relevant, which Google appreciates.
This could mean updating your blog posts, revising product descriptions, pricing, or adding new pages to reflect current trends or information.
Integrating various forms of content, such as images, videos, infographics, and podcasts, can make your content more engaging and shareable.
These multimedia elements can also be optimized for SEO, with descriptive file names and alt text for images, and transcriptions for videos and podcasts.
Google values original content. Copying content from other websites not only exposes you to potential copyright issues but can also result in Google
penalizing your site in search rankings. Strive to produce unique content that reflects your voice, expertise, and insights.
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in search engine results. It's not just about content but also the HTML source code of a page (meta tags, headings, etc.).
Here’s how you can optimize your on-page SEO:
Each page on your website should have a unique title tag and meta description that includes the primary keyword for that page. These elements are crucial because they tell search engines and users what to expect from the webpage.
Keep title tags under 60 characters and meta descriptions around 155 characters to ensure they display correctly in search results.
Use headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content effectively. Your main title should use a single H1 tag, and subsequent sections should use H2, H3, etc., depending on their hierarchy.
This structure not only makes your content easier to read but also helps search engines understand the importance of each section of copy.
The chosen priority keyword for each page should be incorporated into the URL, page title, headings, and content. However, avoid keyword stuffing, as it
can negatively impact your SEO. Instead, focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.
Images enhance the user experience but can slow down your site if they're not optimized.
Compress images to reduce file size without compromising quality and use descriptive file names and alt attributes to help search engines understand and rank the content of your images.
Also read: Wix Studio vs Editor X: Navigating the Transition and Understanding the Differences
Site speed is a significant ranking factor for Google. Faster websites provide a better user experience, leading to higher engagement rates and lower bounce rates.
Google uses the mobile performance of a website to reflect how a website will perform in both desktop and mobile rankings, therefore it’s vital that you understand what users experience when accessing your site from a mobile device.
Here’s how to improve your site’s load time:
Large images can slow down your pages significantly. Use tools like Adobe Photoshop or free online tools to compress images without losing quality.
Remove unnecessary characters from your website’s code (like whitespace, new line, and comments) to reduce its size and improve load time. Tools like UglifyJS for JavaScript and CSSNano for CSS can help.
This can include removing unnecessary plugins and javascript. For example, now that Universal Analytics has been retired it’s worth removing the tracking code that provides zero value.
Leverage browser caching to store elements of your website on users’ devices after the first visit. This means that on subsequent visits, pages load much faster because the browser doesn't need to download every element again.
Internal linking is a critical but often overlooked component of SEO strategy. It involves linking from one page on your website to another page on your website.
This practice has several benefits:
Internal links help users navigate your website more effectively, leading them to relevant information and keeping them engaged longer.
Search engines view links as votes of confidence or endorsements. Internal links distribute this 'link equity' throughout your website, helping to boost the ranking potential of other pages.
By linking to a particular page often, you signal to search engines that the page is important. This can help increase its authority and rankings.
A well-structured internal linking strategy helps search engines crawl your site more efficiently, ensuring all your important pages are indexed. This can start from a well-thought-out navigation bar and then moving into making sure that similar-themed blog posts are linked.
Backlinks — links from other websites to yours — remain a significant ranking factor and therefore are a must if you have recently launched a new site. They act as a vote of confidence from one site to another, indicating to search engines that your content is valuable and authoritative.
Here's how you can earn quality backlinks:
A favourite tactic that has proved valuable for many agencies. This involves hand-reviewing the backlink profile of selected competitors to identify if there are linking opportunities that can be leveraged.
For example, you can discover websites linking to competitors but not linking to your site, and generate new content ideas based on content that has attracted a large number of links.
Tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush all provide tools that can extract backlink data.
The foundation of earning backlinks is to create content that others find valuable enough to link to.
This could be original research, comprehensive guides, infographics, or posts that offer unique insights on industry trends.
Write articles for other websites in your industry. Not only does this position you as an authority, but it also allows you to gain backlinks from reputable sites. Ensure the content you provide is of high quality and adds value to the host website’s audience.
This involves finding broken links on other websites and suggesting your content as a replacement. Tools like Ahrefs and Moz can help you find these opportunities.
It's a win-win: you provide value by helping the site fix a broken link, and you get a backlink in return.
Engaging with influencers or bloggers in your niche can lead to backlinks if they mention your content or business on their platforms. However, focus on building genuine relationships rather than outright asking for links.
Also Read: Link Building: 5 Quick Win Activities
Finally, it's essential to track your website's performance and the effectiveness of your SEO strategies.
Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor all of the important organic traffic data, that can be supplemented with keyword ranking. Aim for reviewing the data each month and setting targets.
Once you have a benchmark established along with several months of historical data it will become easy to interpret the data and make changes.
If you work with an agency you can expect bespoke reporting dashboards and daily keyword ranking data.
Having the basic information at your disposal will help you make informed decisions.
Increasing your website traffic through Google Search is a marathon, not a sprint.
It requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to learn and adapt.
By understanding SEO basics, producing high-quality content, optimizing your site's on-page and technical SEO, and growing your backlink profile, you're setting the foundation for a website that not only ranks well on Google but also provides value to your visitors.
Remember, the goal is not just to increase traffic but to attract the right kind of traffic that will engage with your content and contribute to your site's success.
This was a guest post from our friends at CodeMasters, a Hamilton based full-service digital agency serving a diverse range of clients both locally and internationally. If you would like to collaborate on content with us, please email info@sparkandpony.com.
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