If you have a website, you should know by now that your SEO ranking is imperative for gaining organic site traffic. We would know all about that as an SEO company.
Did you know that 70% of online searches lead to clicks on the first page of search results?
So, if you’re not appearing on the first page…you have a bit of a problem.
Businesses spend massive amounts of money every year to ensure that they have premium SEO rankings.
So how can you compete?
Well, the first thing you need to be aware of is that the Google algorithm is always evolving. And if you want to stay one step ahead, you’ll need to be adaptable, informed and have the right SEO mind-set.
Here are 5 easy SEO tactics that you can employ today!
#1: Voice Search Optimisation
With the rise of devices like Siri and Alexa, voice searches are becoming more and more popular.
New research shows that there are around one billion voice searches performed every month!
That’s definitely worth tapping into.
To many of us, voice searches seem unnecessary and maybe even silly. But some of the reasons why people prefer voice searches include:
- It’s easier to multitask
- Allows their hands to be free for other things
- Instant answers and info
You’d think that voice searches and typed searches work in very much the same way. But voice searches require a whole new strategy based on different keywords.
The major difference is that voice searchers ask longer, more conversational questions, and that’s what you need to keep in mind when it comes to voice search optimisation.
For example, a typed search is most likely to read “best pasta recipes”, while a voice search may be something along the lines of “What are the best pasta recipes?”
Most sites optimise for short, concise questions. But if you want to stay ahead of the curve, you’ll need to optimise for both!
Answer the Public has fast become a popular and trusted site that provides you with tools you can use to boost your voice search optimisation.
The site is very easy to use. All you need to do is enter a root keyword and the site will provide you with an intricate mind map of commonly voice-searched questions that relate to the keyword.
One of the mind maps we received when typing in ‘SEO’ as the keyword.
You can use these questions as a baseline for your content, and attempt to give direct answers to as many of them as possible within your text.
There are many other ways that you can optimise your content for voice searches, but the starting point is to realise just how important voice searches are.
#2: Tap into Mobile Users
Well for starters, you should definitely make sure that all of your web pages are not just mobile-friendly, but optimised for mobile use.
Not sure if your site is mobile-friendly or not?
Well, luckily Google has made it easy through their free mobile-friendly test. This test allows you to see the mobile-friendly results of each of the pages on your site.
Our positive mobile results
Once you have the results, you can make the necessary changes so that the mobile version of your site is fluid and easy to use!
#3: Local SEO
If your business is location dependent, or if there is a part of your business that has a brick-and-mortar premise, you should definitely be looking into local SEO.
What does local SEO mean exactly?
Well to put it simply, if you’re a web design company in Durban, you should not only try and rank for ‘web design’, but ‘web design Durban’ and other localised keywords too.
While you may offer your services to worldwide clients, there will still be many people in your town that would like their web design done by a local company, and this should apply to a wide variety of industries.
You’ll also need to ensure that your business address and telephone number are listed on your website, social media pages and a number of trusted directories.
You may also want to claim your business on Google My Business.
Try and encourage your local clients to leave reviews of their experiences working with you on local review sites, so that you can slowly start building up a trusted reputation within your community.
Ensure that you create a Google My Business Page so that visitors and customers can leave photos and reviews.
With this tool, you can also use the Knowledge Panel to upload info about your business that potential customers may find useful.
There is also a Q&A feature that was launched in 2017, which allows people in the area to ask public questions about your business.
Google has really made ranking well for local SEO very easy… that’s if you put in the effort.
#4: Decrease Your Page Loading Speed
We live in a very fast-paced world, and your web pages need to keep up.
Having fast-loading pages will help rank you higher with the current Google algorithm. That’s a fact.
If your page loading speeds are too slow, people won’t even bother waiting for the page to load, but rather bounce straight back to the Google Search results page, in search of something better and faster.
The average loading time for a site is 9 seconds, but is still considered rather slow and Google favours pages with loading speeds of 3 seconds or less!
But how do you achieve such efficient speeds?
One of the fastest solutions is to compress all of your images. If you’re not sure how to do this, try out a helpful tool like Smush.
Google’s Page Speed Insights will also help you find out what is causing your site to be slow. Once these problems are identified, you can fix them and speed up all of your pages.
#5: Personalise Your Site Content
Doesn’t it sometimes feel like adverts on certain sites are aimed directly at you?
That’s because they are…
This is one of the more technical SEO tactics to employ but it is definitely worth it!
Personalisation in terms of online marketing means creating fluidly changing adverts and landing pages that adjust according to who the viewer is.
Landing pages, adverts and pop-ups can change according to the viewer’s location, device, and whether they are a returning viewer or not.
So how exactly do you use this strategy?
We recommend using a tool like Unbounce, to assist you with dynamic text replacement.
Unbounce is very simple to use
Creating personalised content for your viewers should assist in keeping viewers on your site, decrease your bounce rate, and increase your site traffic.
Conclusion
Making use of the 5 SEO tactics we’ve mentioned in this article, should give you a good head-start in improving your SEO rankings.
To recap…
- Make sure you’re spending time on voice search optimisation
- Test your site for mobile-friendliness and fix any related issues
- Tap into local SEO
- Compress images to decrease loading times for web pages
- Personalise with dynamic text
Another very important factor to keep in mind is that Google’s algorithm is always changing and in order to keep ahead of your competitors, you’ll need to keep informed about changes and updates.
Don’t feel confident in handling SEO tactics yourself? Hand them over to us! Our SEO company, The Weblab has all the passion and experience needed to give your site a complete SEO makeover, which should quickly yield impressive results. Feel free to get in touch with us so that we can discuss the best SEO tactics for your business-
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