There are many companies offering search engine optimization (SEO) services for businesses worldwide. They exist to make you understand that their strategies and elements for on-page and off-page SEO success are what will make your business survive online.
SEO: The Simplest Definition
SEO is the process of getting your website in the higher ranks of search results. This gives your site better visibility, and greater chances for people to visit your site and see who you are, what you do, and what you can offer them.
The result of intensive SEO is like getting in the VIP list of the metro’s most important party. To get a VIP pass, the organizers should consider you worthy of the privilege. That’s pretty much how search engines work. Once these search engines discover your website’s value and relevance, they’ll put you on their “VIP” list, which in this case is the top search results.
Value for Your Businesses
SEO is an integral part of Internet marketing strategy. You built your website so people can find you online. Before you can convince people to buy your products, they need to find you first. Once they did, show them you have the best to offer.
In this day and age when almost everything a man needs to know or look for can be found online, it should be a primary focus for your business to be visible and valuable.
SEO Strategies
On-page and off-page optimization -- you probably heard of these two for countless times already. These are the two categories of SEO strategy, both of which have their own success factors. This time, let’s delve further on on-page SEO, the process of optimizing different parts of your website.
On-Page SEO Factors
These are the factors that contribute to your on-page SEO success:
1. Page Content
Content that is relevant, valuable, and useful. It should drive traffic to your site and make people link to your page because it’s undeniably good. Google loves fresh and frequently updated website so publishing new content every week is advisable.
2. Title Tag
Next to content, the title tag is the second most important on-page SEO factor. It describes what a page is all about. Open your title tag with your main keyword to help search engines know what query they should display your list for.
3. Meta Description
This summarizes your page content in HTML. Its value gradually lessened over the years but it can still help you be in that precious high-ranking search results. Include your main keywords.
4. Heading Tags
H1, H2, H3. See how this post is cut in segments? You got that right, by using subheadings. The subheadings here are wrapped in H2 tag and the segments under the subheadings are wrapped in H3 tag. This signals search engines about what’s in this blog, how the content is arranged, and why it’s relevant to search terms it aims to rank for.
5. SEO-friendly URL
Include your keywords when possible. The maximum number of characters is 100 and the words are separated by hyphens or dashes. Moz’s Rand Fishkin shared the best practices for structuring URLs.
6. Responsive Design
The number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to grow to 4.61 billion this 2016. Is your website design mobile responsive? People must be able to view your website across all devices, from desktop to tablet to smartphone, especially when 37% of all website visits are from mobile devices.
7. Outbound Links
This is also one way to help Google determine what your page is all about. These are links that direct your site visitors to other related domains. Just keep in mind to link to relevant sites.
8. Internal links
What pages on your website have more credibility than the others? Link to that page (or post) to pass on some link juice (SEO authority).
9. Page Speed
This is the measurement of how fast your page content loads. A page that loads faster converts and ranks better. Slow page speed would cause search engines to crawl only a few pages on your site, which is bad for your indexation.
Page speed also plays an important role in user experience. Who wants to browse a page that takes an eternity to load? No one. This will increase your bounce rate and average time on page. Your visitors would just want to exit your page rather than wait until forever before it loads.
10. Optimized image
Think: Google image search. Aim for your site images to be on the results by using image alt text.
Can you do SEO yourself? With many online resources on how to do it, yes. If you think you need a hand, get help from an expert.