If your company’s website is not visible in Google, it may as well not exist at all. A high position in the most popular search engine is one of the most effective elements of online marketing. However, increasing the website’s visibility doesn’t happen overnight and is usually a longer and more complex process. But don’t worry – there are some ways to do it effectively. One of them is hiring an experienced SEO agency, although there are also some things you can try to do yourself.
Take care of the website’s speed and mobile-friendliness
Today, SEO is neither black magic nor something incomprehensible. 70% of success lies in a well-optimized website. First of all, it should load quickly and be maximally mobile friendly. That’s one of the most important aspects of what Google analyzes while evaluating your page. You can actually use Google tools to check your site’s speed and whether it is mobile-friendly or not. If the results aren’t up to the mark, Google will provide you with valuable suggestions. For example, maybe some pictures are too large which makes the website load extremely slow. At that point, it’s possible you’ll need an IT specialist’s help to implement the suggested alterations onto the website.
Provide valuable content
If you want to get ahead of your competition on Google rankings, you need to provide good quality, regular content. Provide valid, up-to-date, interesting information, giving readers what they’re looking for and they will seek you out more often and stay longer on your website. These indicators feed the Google algorithm and tell it that you are relevant and respected in your industry.
Preparing or commissioning content should not be difficult. For a start, you and your team know a lot about your area of work. You can start off with a list of questions that customers regularly ask; each answer can be the focus for a new piece of content. Another good content generation method is to reflect what’s in the news that bears some relevance to your industry. For example, if you’re in the fashion business, then the sky is the limit for discussions of the latest trends and what celebrities are wearing. An in-depth article about a hyped topic can give your website a true kick and build up to its visibility.
Your content needs to be unique and engaging. Do not copy. Google can identify copied text and will downgrade it. And in any case, your own voice, knowledge and experience will create something more authentic and of greater value.
Coming up with a list of SEO friendly terms and keywords will also help to strategically improve your position. There are tools, including the Google search console that can help you with this. But it can be complicated and time-consuming. It’s another area where hiring a SEO specialist often makes sense.
Most of all – publish your content on a regular basis. Let the Google robots visit your website more often and increase your chances of getting higher in the ranks.
Titles and meta descriptions are a must
The foundations of good SEO are on-site optimization. This is basic house-keeping of your site; working through a checklist. Each page should have target keywords or phrases. Check if these keywords are included in titles, meta descriptions, headings, and page content. If not, it’s high time to take care of all of them. But remember that overdoing it won’t do you good either. Too many keywords make the text sound unnatural and they won’t help your SEO. If your site is built on WordPress then the Yoast plug-in provides a great check that you are optimising all of these factors to the correct level.
Promote your page online
Off-site SEO is all about promoting your site in other ways. Make sure that all new onsite content is promoted through relevant social media channels. Try to get other more credible and respected sites to link to yours. If a trusted site links to you, the Google algorithm passes some of its authority over to your website. If people talk about your services, Google assumes you’re getting more popular and that you should have a higher position.
Sounds scary? Well, it’s all manageable if you have time, at least a little bit of will and motivation. But if you would rather spend your time focusing on what you are best at, it may be time to hire an SEO agency to transform your online visibility and sales.