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How to improve SEO rankings

As we have explained in a previous blog, all companies with an online presence need a strong SEO strategy. SEO (short for Search Engine Optimisation) helps to generate traffic. Most companies rely on search engines, such as Google, to deliver customers to their website but do you know how to improve SEO rankings? Basically, if you want your business to be found, you need to prioritise SEO. After all, the higher your website ranks, the more traffic you’ll receive. According to  some surveys, the top search result on Google has a 33% chance of getting clicked. Conversely, around 75% of people never click on the second page of search results. So the time and money you spend improving your SEO rankings is always well spent.

However, it’s important to realise that SEO is constantly evolving. Keeping abreast – and even ahead – of these changes is one of the most challenging aspects of maintaining your website. The good news is that there’s a wide range of ways on how to improve SEO rankings and optimise your SEO strategy. Read on to discover some of the most important ones to implement.

how to improve SEO rankings SEO drawing in a thought bubble

Publish quality content

Original, optimised content will help to improve your online visibility, and to climb Google’s rankings. Dwell time (how long visitors stay on a page) is an important SEO analytical metric. So, if you want to know how to improve SEO rankings, there really is no substitute for valuable, relevant, regular content.

It stands to reason that useful, engaging content will attract more customers and tempt them to stay longer. It may even convince them to bookmark your website, which is another plus in terms of SEO. Remember that content, such as updating your blog, which is unique and relevant to the intent of keyword searches will rank highest. Duplication might seem like an easy win, but this is not how to improve SEO rankings. Focus instead on content that is authentic, and prioritise context and variety.

SEO on a computer how to improve SEO rankings

Want to know more on how to improve SEO rankings? Remember that quality is more important than quantity. However, if it’s done well, longer content will always incorporate more value and rank more highly. But writing reams that are irrelevant is completely pointless. Basically, if it’s not helpful, it won’t be read. Similarly, don’t present your visitors with a dense, unappealing wall of text. Break up your content with header tags, and use images and clear typography, so it’s easier to read and digest. Add variety with bullet points, numbered lists, bold type, colours and lots of line spacing.

Remember, you’ll need to update your content regularly as this is how to improve SEO rankings all the more. Your website should be always be informative, fresh and exciting. After all, this will keep visitors on your pages for longer. Content that’s updated regularly is also a key search engine metric for a website’s relevancy.

How to improve SEO rankings the importance of the keyword

Understand keywords

As their name suggests, keywords are a key element of SEO. These are words within your content that make it possible for visitors to locate your website via search engines. SEO keyword research should be an important and ongoing part of your SEO strategy. So make sure you regularly evaluate old keywords in your strategy on how to improve SEO rankings. And don’t rely too heavily on high-volume, competitive, “head” keywords. Experiment instead with long-tail keywords, which usually include more specific, targeted three and four word phrases. Customers are more likely to use these when they’re close to a point of purchase. So, when used correctly, they can be hugely valuable.

how to improve SEO rankings SEO lead shot

Improve your website usability

Website usability is a very wide-ranging topic, that embraces many different elements of website design. Broadly speaking, everything should be geared towards making your website user friendly, to give your customers the most positive experience possible.

The goal is to nurture user engagement. You need your customers to click, stay longer, view more and repeat their visits. If your site is difficult or unrewarding to navigate, this simply won’t happen. And your SEO rankings will suffer accordingly.

So first of all, make sure your website is effective. Can your visitors achieve their objectives? Is the information or product they need easy to find? The user experience should also be efficient. How quickly can your customer complete their task? Too many obstacles means they will give up and navigate away.

Learnability is another important aspect. Is it obvious how to use your website? Are the calls to action clear and clickable? If your visitors are struggling to use your website, they’ll become frustrated and you’ll lose them very quickly. Lastly, are you memorable (for all the right reasons)? How easy is it to find your website a second, third or fourth time? Repeat traffic often boosts search engine rankings. If your customers navigate away, then struggle to return, it’s bad for business on more than one level.

How to improve SRO rankings coloured SEO letters on white background

Prioritise your page load speed

Page loading speed plays a role in the website ranking algorithms of certain search engines. If your load is too slow, it’s a turn-off for visitors, and Google won’t like it either.

Luckily, there are lots of easy ways to optimise your page load speed. Clean up your coding. Don’t go overboard with plug-ins or redirects. And make sure you optimise your image sizes. Good quality images are a great way to boost your SEO. Photos can increase empathy, establish trust, and develop emotional connections. But if your images are huge, they will slow down your page, so make sure to resize or compress.

On the topic of images, don’t miss the opportunity to use appropriate keywords for your image file name and alt tag. Search engines can’t interpret images. However, alt tags circumvent this by providing a text alternative that they can read. So creating appropriate alt tags, titles, descriptions and captions is a simple way to improve search engine rankings.

how to improve SEO rankings search bar on Google

Learn to love links

External or outbound links are a great way to increase the credibility of your website. So include plenty of relevant hyperlinks to other sites and authority sources. Internal links are important too. These direct users to other pages of your website, and are useful for boosting dwell time.

A word of caution: check regularly to make sure your links work and are up to date. Broken links not only hamper your website usability, they can also damage your SEO rankings. Search engines interpret a large number of broken links as a sign of an old or neglected site. So use one of the many tools or apps available to keep your site free from the dreaded Error 404.

Be available

Don’t forget to include comprehensive contact information. It means your company is considered to be trustworthy, which may help improve your search rankings. It’s also a fast, easy way to create a good user experience, and ensure customers know how to reach you.

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