SEO, or search engine optimisation, is all about getting your website and specific pages within it to appear as high as possible on search engines, namely Google. There are several ways this can be done, but generally speaking, it’s a mixture of lots of different tactics that work in tandem together.
SEO is a long game which means you don’t tend to see results straight away. It can take a long time to get your website to rank for high volume keywords, especially in the top three or four positions on the first page. If you want to capture site traffic, this is where you need to be, but it’s highly competitive. Getting there is tricky and staying there is even harder, but there are some ways you can please the algorithm and keep your seat at the top of the table, so to speak.
Continually add content to your site
Adding content to your site shows Google that you’re still relevant. If you haven’t added any new content to your website in weeks, months, or even years, there’s a good chance that what’s on there is outdated, and Google will pick this up. Search engines favour fresh, relevant, and new content. Even if your product offerings don’t change, you can add content via a blog to show that your site isn’t stagnant and there are people behind the scenes working to ensure users find the most helpful and up-to-date content.
New content also gives you the chance to target more keywords. The more keywords you target, the more rankings you can get. On top of this, the more frequently you target certain keywords, the better your chances of ranking for them and retaining those rankings.
Update existing content regularly
As well as adding new content, it’s a good idea to routinely update existing content. By optimising content you already have, you can further show Google that you’re relevant. If your existing pages already rank pretty well, updating and optimising them every now and then is useful for helping to maintain positions.
Strategically place keywords
Google and other search engines dislike keyword stuffing and have a heavy emphasis on writing human-led content rather than content that is written to rank, but if you don’t insert some keywords here and there, you won’t rank. It’s a convoluted battle but one that can be easily won if you are strategic with keyword placement.
Secure one or two keywords per piece of content and weave them into the URL, meta title, meta description, and a heading. It might not seem like much, but this is a tried and tested method of getting your content to rank for keywords without being penalised for keyword stuffing or spam.
Have a good link strategy
An often overlooked part of SEO is linking. In order to prove to Google that your site is genuine and authoritative, you need to get third-party websites to link to your site. You need to be careful in the sites you choose, making sure to secure backlinks from sites with a good domain authority and trust flow. Doing so will help your own website domain authority and trust flow, and this will have an impact on your rankings in SERPs.
Don’t forget to link internally, too. Ideally, every page should have a CTA with a relevant link to the next step (e.g. contact page), but if you reference another aspect of your site and service offering, link to it to help build authority to those pages.
Check your website health often
Many people forget that technical SEO plays a role in rankings. If you see a sudden drop in rankings, it could be because there is an issue with your site such as slow load speeds leading to a high bounce rate. Keeping your site free of bugs, 404 errors, broken links, and slow loading issues will improve the user experience, and this, in turn, will have an effect on your rankings and help you stay at the top.
Summary
SEO is an ongoing, never-ending process. Lots of things can affect rankings, including the issues stated above, but another aspect is algorithm changes. Google regularly updates its algorithm which can see sites lose a lot of their rankings because they no longer conform with the algorithm preferences. Getting a digital marketing agency on board can help to mitigate algorithm risk factors because their SEO experts will be able to anticipate what’s changing and prepare your site for it.
With this in mind, it’s a good idea to have an agency on side if you notice a sudden drop in rankings, or if you’re struggling to get rankings at all.
