Category: Search Engine Optimization

Top SEO Mistakes That People Make And How To Avoid Them.

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Search engine optimization (SEO) has become very popular over the recent years due to its ability to increase business visibility and increase traffic to a website.

Many businesses nowadays have incorporated it into their digital marketing strategy, and it is vital to ensure that one is doing it correctly. Sadly, many people are doing it the wrong way and not getting maximum returns on their investments.

Below is a guide on some of the common SEO mistakes that people make and how to avoid them.

The Page Titles Are Not Unique

It is vital to create unique titles for your website. The title is critical since it is the first thing that people will read, and they should be able to understand it clearly.

Some of the mistakes that people make are to have all the pages under the same title, having the name of the website in the page title and making the title longer than 65 characters.

Doing this will make you rank poorly on search engines which will not do good for the business.

To avoid these mistakes, you should do the following:

  • Ensure that the title has a maximum of 60 characters.
  • The title should be unique for all the web pages.
  • They should be natural and talk about the content of the page.
  • The keywords should be included if possible.
  • They should be attractive since they will appear in the SERPS (search engine results page).

The Content Is Of Low Quality

One of the other major mistakes that you can make is to have content that is of low quality. When it comes to a good SEO campaign, the site credibility is checked; you need to have a site that the users can trust. The content should be analytical, accurate, and insightful. As much as you focus on keywords, it is crucial to ensure that the material is up to par.

Also, you should avoid duplicating content since the search engines will not know which content they should index; therefore, the page will not appear in the search results.

Duplication occurs in two ways, the homepage, and the URL. There should not be duplicate versions of either of them. Doing this may make your site rank poorly.

Failure To Understand The Backlink Process

Getting external links to your site can work wonders for your website. However, one needs to ensure that you acquire your backlinks naturally; getting them in shady ways such as directly purchasing them should be avoided. Doing it in the right way will generate buzz, and more people will want to see your page as opposed to getting them the wrong way.

To ensure that your business is in a position to be linked by other trusted websites, you should ensure that your content is original and attractive to your readers.

Failure To Use The H1 Tag Correctly

The H1 tag is usually the header of the page and tells the search engine the subject of the specific page. It needs to be straightforward but also comprehensive.

You should not use more than one H1 tag on one page. If you find that you have more than one, you can ask your web developer to help you sort it out.

Broken Links

An SEO expert should check the website for any broken links and fix them as soon as possible. No user wants to click on a site, only to see an “Error page not found” message. It will frustrate them and make them look for another option.

Having many of these errors will show the search engines that your website is inefficient and does not offer a great browsing experience to the users. This will make your website rank poorly, which will not be great for business. You can have a 301 redirect from the page that does not exist to the correct one to fix a situation where the pointing link was deleted or moved.

As seen above, there are many SEO mistakes that you can make which can interfere with your site’s conversion rate.

It is crucial to ensure that your content is optimized, of high quality, and there are thematic links to the site. This will ensure that you gain the most from using SEO services.

How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For SEO

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Writing a captivating blog, SEO requires not only skills but also creativity. You need to properly structure your post to keep your reader interested and glued on your article. Some of the simple techniques you can use to captivate your audience effectively are using clear paragraphs, subheadings, and using captivating titles. Consequently, your article will be ranked higher if your readers are inclined to link, share, and tweet about the piece. Here are some tips that will guide you on how to optimize your blog SEO posts:

1. Optimize the Length of Your Article

When it comes to blog posts, the length is a crucial ingredient. To effectively optimize your blogs, ensure they are a minimum of 300 words. Google prefers articles that are of proper length and informative. However, you should also exercise caution not to write extremely long pieces that could scare away your readers.

2. Link to Previous Content

Make it a habit to link your previous work that is related to the current piece you’re writing. Doing so indicates that you are knowledgeable on the subject and well informed. Most importantly, your Google rank is also dependent on your link structure. In addition to that, your potential readers may also be interested in reading your previous related post.

3. Devise a Proper Structure for your Article

Concise writing is key to optimizing your blog SEO. Firstly, ensure that your article has a clear introduction where you introduce your topic, a body which contains the main message and finally a conclusion. The latter summarizes the most important ideas within your work. Start by jotting the main ideas on a piece of paper to freshen your mind before you start writing.

4. Bring in the Opinion of Another Person

You can do so by allowing someone else to read your work before publishing it. While at it, enquire from the person proofreading the post whether he/she understands the main subject of your work. Indeed, it is during such moments that the proofreader can notice any typos, grammatical errors, and unnecessary words or phrases.

5. Use Signal Words

Certain words and phrases easily capture the attention of the reader. Such words assist your audience in grasping the main ideas as they go through your article. Some of the best signal words to use are ‘finally,’ ‘secondly,’ and ‘first of all.’ Furthermore, words such as ‘indeed,’ ‘surely’ and ‘nevertheless’ assist greatly in giving your readers a distinct signal. These words play a crucial role in adding structure to your text.

6. Find Semantic Keywords for Your Focus Keyword

Always ensure that you pick the keywords that have the least competition and the highest search volume. This is, of course, after you have carried out your keyword research and found out keyword ideas. The phrase will be your focus keyword. Often, your readers will most likely look for that word.

Consequently, you will need to look for the Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords. They are searches that are closely related to your keyword and are listed at the bottom of your search engine as ‘related searches.’

7. Incorporate Videos and Images to Your Blog Posts

Adding videos and images makes your text more engaging as compared to plain text. In most circumstances, search engines have a way of ranking content that is more engaging higher in the search results. Therefore, make it a habit of adding images or videos, in-between paragraphs.

While at it, ensure that you adhere to image copyrights. Exercise caution not to infringe on other websites’ image copyrights. Carry out a proper search and find royalty-free images that you can add to your blog posts.

8. Use Tags and Categories to Organize Content

Tags and categories go a long way in sorting out content not only for you but also for the search engines and readers as well. Tags are usually the subjects discussed in the individual blog post, whereas categories come in handy in dividing your content into main themes highlighted on your blog SEO.

The Verdict

Gone are the days when you could use a few tricks to give your website an excellent ranking on Google. In the contemporary age, quality and well-thought-out content is king. The tips highlighted above will be essential in optimizing your blog SEO and taking it to the next level.

Local Search Engine Optimization Tactics For Your Business

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Are you new to local search and you don’t know what to do?

Do not fret.

It is possible to use local Search Engine Optimization to build your brand and expand your local business.

With the changing times, it becomes prudent for you to embrace online marketing. Most consumers have embraced technology, and most of them now spend a lot of their time on their devices.

For you to reach your target market, it is crucial to learn several tactics that will increase traffic to your website, and increase your customer base.

One thing that you need to know is that SEO strategies change all the time such that new strategies have now replaced the old techniques that used to work. You, therefore, need to maximize your on-site and off-site SEO techniques to attract clients who might be searching for your local business.

The other reason you need to embrace local SEO is that competition gets stiff by the day. If you aren’t on top of your game, it goes without saying that your competitors are.

You, therefore, need to play smart. Below are some of the local SEO tactics that will help your business rank better in local search.

You Need Great Online Reviews

The new generation values online reviews and greatly rely on them. Businesses, therefore, need to ensure that they have great reviews on online platforms because any negative remarks about their product may discourage potential customers from engaging with them.

Since most people trust online reviews, you have to ensure that you find a reputable marketing software to help you track, manage, and seek reviews from clients.

Besides, several social media platforms enable you to get alerts any time your product or brand is mentioned anywhere.

Ensure you respond to all reviews on your page, whether negative or positive. Responding to reviews shows the online customers that you value what they think and this motivates them to engage with you.

By responding to negative reviews, you can showcase yourself as the hero of the situation. Be kind in your response to negative reviews and patiently explain the whole situation. Don’t try to make yourself look good and don’t try to make the other person look bad. Just thoroughly explain. If there was an error on you or your businesses side, publicly apologize and let them and the world know the steps you’ve taken to resolve the issue.

The awesome thing about reviews is that ultimately you get the last word on the review so you can turn a good review into a great one or a bad review into an amazing one! It just all depends on your response.

Some of the platforms you should focus on getting reviews on include Facebook and Google My Business Page. This is because most people are on Facebook, and they depend on their friends’ opinion, to determine whether a particular brand is good or not. Also, having positive reviews on Google My Business Page is vital because the reviews tend to show up on google when people search for your product or service. Remember, if your online review volume is low, you will not have a high ranking.

Add Local Structured Data Markup To Your Site

Use of structured data markup will help you attract more local customers. It enhances the search experience such that it tags specific details about your business such as the products you sell, the services you offer and displays reviews from your clients, allowing the potential customers to know a lot about your business, within a short time.

You are therefore required to add the markup to your site if you want to increase the visibility of your business as well as conversion.

Some of the other structured data you could include are the types of payment you accept, the cost of your products, business hours, and customer ratings.

Also, Google wants businesses to use this structured data markup because it enables its spiders to determine the content of your site. It provides you with a testing tool to check whether your data markup is functioning. Also, it shows you any errors that are on your structured data and allows you to fix them.

Create A Mobile Friendly Website

Since most people use a mobile phone for their day to day activities, you have to ensure that you create a mobile friendly website. If potential customers can easily access your site without having to deal with slow loading time, you will be able to increase traffic to your page and engage more with your customers.

Ensure that your page loading speed is high to avoid losing potential customers.

Some of the ways to deal with slow loading time are to optimize your images such that they are not very large. Large images tend to increase the loading time of your page.

The other ways to optimize your website for mobile users is by using bigger fonts that are easy to read. If you find that your website is not responding well to mobile phones, you should consider doing a website redesign or using page speed tools that are provided by Google developers.

Do not dismiss these tips to help optimize your website for mobile phone users. Remember, most clients do local searches using their phones.

Local SEO is crucial if you want your business to do well. Without it, you lose the opportunity to expand your customer base. If you wish to optimize your business, it is good to embrace the current SEO strategies that are being used by your competitors.

Work on creating a mobile-friendly website, getting positive reviews from customers, and using structured data markup to expand your business.