Your customers or clients expect to find your business online, even if you don’t sell products or services directly from your website. How do you make sure they can find you? By investing in an ongoing search engine optimisation (SEO) plan for your website.
How important is SEO?
In a word — very!
Optimising your website for search engines like Google makes it more likely that your site will rank higher on its search engine results page (SERP). The higher you rank in SERPs, the more visitors your website gets. And more visitors can mean more business.
How do I get my site to rank higher in SERPs?
SERP ranking is determined by a search engine’s algorithm. Every time we search online, the search engine sorts through the billions of available websites, pages, and other content in its index, and the algorithm calculates which pages are the most relevant and (hopefully) useful result for that search.
To rank highly — ideally in positions 1 to 3 on the first SERP — your goal is to make sure your website impresses both the visitor and the search engine’s algorithm. The good thing is, best practice SEO strategies achieve both those goals at the same time.
7 SEO best practices to improve your SERP ranking
Here are 7 SEO best practices to help boost your SEO results and improve your SERP ranking.
1. Research your keywords and keyphrases
Start by identifying relevant keywords and phrases that align with your content and target audience’s search intent. Avoid considering jargon terms that you may use internally at your organisation, and instead focus on what your audience would search for.
There are many free and paid keyword research tools that will help you to discover popular search terms. Some tools will even show additional detail about how often the keywords are searched for, and how difficult it can be to rank highly for them.
2. Optimise the elements on your pages
On-page optimisation plays a crucial role in improving your website’s SEO. Focus on optimising key elements such as titles, headers, meta descriptions, and URLs.
Craft compelling title tags that accurately describe your content while incorporating relevant keywords. Write concise and persuasive meta descriptions to entice users to click through to your site. Ensure your headers (H1, H2, etc.) are structured logically and incorporate targeted keywords naturally.
3. Create high-quality, relevant content
High-quality, engaging, and helpful content is essential to attract search engines and retain visitors.
Aim to create original, well-researched articles, blog posts, videos, and infographics that cater to your target audience’s interests.
By addressing their pain points, answering their questions, and providing valuable insights, you’ll increase user engagement, generate more backlinks, and improve your website’s authority.
4. Build quality backlinks
Backlinks are like votes of confidence for search engines.
Acquiring quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites signals to search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable.
Foster relationships with relevant influencers, collaborate with industry experts, and contribute guest posts to reputable websites within your niche. Get your website listed in relevant industry directories.
5. Optimise for mobile devices
The majority of users browse the web on their mobile phones, so optimising for mobile devices is essential. Search engines actually prioritise mobile-friendly websites in their rankings.
Ensure your site’s design is responsive and adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes. A mobile-friendly website not only enhances the user experience but also improves your SEO performance.
If you haven’t updated your website in several years, or the mobile version of your website is slow, consider investing in design and development to bring it up to modern standards.
6. Enhance user experience
User experience has a significant impact on your website’s SEO.
A well-designed, user-friendly website leads to lower bounce rates, longer dwell times, and higher engagement metrics — all of which positively affect your rankings.
Focus on intuitive navigation, fast loading times, and clean, visually appealing layouts.
Incorporate clear calls-to-action and optimise your website’s structure to make it easy for both users and search engines to navigate.
7. Monitor and analyse performance
It’s important to regularly monitor and analyse your results to identify areas for improvement.
Use tools like Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console to discover insights into your website’s performance, track keyword rankings, monitor traffic sources, and identify opportunities for further optimisation.
By understanding how users interact with your site, you can make data-driven decisions and fine-tune your SEO strategy.
How long does it take to boost SEO results?
Boosting your SEO results is a long term strategy. Like anything worth doing, gaining traction in organic search takes time — several weeks to months.
These seven best practices are important first steps toward boosting your website’s SEO, improving your SERP rankings, and gaining new customers.
If you’d like support to help your organisation to be more visible in organic search, contact LEP Digital.
