4 Important SEO Tips You Need to Know

EPISODE 50

A lot has changed over the years in the world of search engine optimisation (SEO). But regardless of all the constant changes though, certain fundamental SEO principles will always remain unchanged and are still as important to implement in your SEO strategy as ever.

With so many SEO different techniques and strategies available to us in this landscape, you would think things would become a lot easier, but on the flipside, it’s become almost impossible to figure out which SEO techniques and strategies to execute on to gain maximum results and which ones we can ignore with minimal side effects.

Here we go!

A Slow Website is an Invisible Website

• In the past, website speed didn’t matter so much and you could get away with a slow-loading website.
• In today's digital environment consumers are heavily focussed on instant gratification and have lower levels of patience
• A slow website in today’s digital environment is now never a good experience and you can’t get away with it.
• A slow webpage frustrates users and lowers the quality of their experience which, as a result, discourages them from purchasing any of your products and/ or services.
• Page speed is crucial to not only the users but also to search engines.
• As businesses become more aware of the opportunities to generate targeted leads and increase profits through search engine optimisation, it has only increased demand for speed.
• If your pages are loading slowly, you’re fighting an uphill battle for top organic rankings against your competition.
• When a web page loads slowly, visitors spend less time there. If you can optimise your web pages to load faster, then you reap the benefits improved user experiences, leads, and sales.
• Get rid of all the non-essential elements that are slowing down your website. For example, If you’re using WordPress, start by deactivating plugins you have installed and activated but don’t actually need.

Worried your website is loading a little slow? Try using the Pingdom Website Speed Test tool, it's free and gives you insight into how to help make your site faster by identifying what about your webpage is fast, slow and too big.

Write Unique Meta Descriptions for Every Page

• One of the most important SEO tips that a lot of people seem to neglect is writing well-crafted meta descriptions for their content.
• When users search for information on the products and services you offer the meta description is one of the first things they see when search engines decide to display your web page to search surfers.
• Google may penalise your website for duplicate meta descriptions.
• You can’t have the same meta description for a page that talks about social media marketing and a page on consumer behavior. They are pages on different topics so when you write the meta descriptions for those unique pages, they should communicate what those pages are about.
• Be sure that when you’re writing your meta descriptions you include relevant keywords that reflect what users are searching for and have relevance to the content on that page.

Humans Come First, Then Search Engines Second

• Lots of bloggers and content creators use the old methods of SEO, where keywords meant to drive search results surpassed the real qualities of engaging, valuable content.
• Many people still aren’t seeing the huge opportunities in using long- tail keywords in their content, and they should, instead of trying to trick search engines
• You can’t put search engines in front of actual humans consuming your content. Reverse that mindset and produce content for the user first, the people who have eyes and ears to consume and credit cards to pay for the products and services you offer to your market.
• Search spiders will never, ever buy your products and services. They will never like and comment with you on social media, and they won’t become a loyal customer.
• Create content that will solve a problem for the people in your niche market, they are searching because they have a problem.
• When you reverse your mindset on how you write, when you put users first and search engines second, you’ll actually write helpful content that will solve the problems of your audience which search engines will love and reward, why? Search engines follow users, it’s not the other way round.
• By doing this you will be enhancing the user experience and building trust with your audience which will convert them into loyal customers

Unique and Frequent Content is the Pathway to Improved Rankings

• Creating unique and engaging content is a challenge for most content creators, it can be really hard to produce new and more unique content.
• It’s important due to something called the “fresh factor.” Unique content is one of the factors that affect this freshness, and, consequently, the search engine rankings for that specific page.
• If you’re not a wizard, who’s mastered the art of content creation and can't regularly get thousands and thousands of users to read a new post and share it with others on social media, then the next best thing and the easiest way to optimise your freshness score is by creating content consistently and sharing it.
• If you’ve chosen to market your business online, then creating unique and helpful content is never just an option, it’s a must do to be seen, to create awareness, to generate more leads and make more sales.