In order for your business to be discovered online, it is important that it not only appears on search results but also ranks highly on the first page of search engine results (SERP). This is because 75% of people do not go beyond the first SERP. Conversely, optimizing your website allows you to attract targeted traffic from interested buyers, enabling you to maximize leads and sales.
Optimizing your website involves more than solely incorporating the appropriate keywords in your content. Therefore, below is an examination of essential tactics for enhancing your website’s performance.
1. Page load speed
One of the major factors that contribute to a high bounce rate on websites is slow page load speed. Studies indicate that if a site takes more than 3 seconds to load, 40% of visitors will leave. Moreover, every second of delay decreases user satisfaction by 16%. Additionally, Google takes into account the loading speed when determining a website’s ranking. Hence, fast load times are advantageous for achieving higher positions on search engine results pages (SERPs).
There are several methods to enhance load time, including:
- Minimizing image size
- Delete unnecessary plugins
- Enable browser caching
- Minimize CSS and JavaScript files
- Reduce redirects
- Reduce server response time
2. Focus on search intent
The reason for a user’s search query is known as search intent, which Google considers when displaying search results. There are four main types of search intent.
- Informational – Where the user seeks specific information, such what “top website optimization strategies.”
- Navigational – Where the user is looking for a specific app or website, such as “semgeeks” or “Amazon.”
- Commercial – Where the user is looking for a product but hasn’t made up their mind yet, such as “best smartphone.”
- Transactional – Where the user is interested in making a purchase, such as “buy Samsung Galaxy online.”
Keep in mind that 46% of Google searches have local intent, so when designing your website content, focus on the search intent you want to target. Use your blog, explainer videos, product pages, and other means to address the mentioned categories.
3. Mobile-first approach
If your website has not been optimized for smaller screen sizes, you should follow these steps because Google has been ranking websites on its mobile-first index since 2018.
- Use a responsive design, where images and other elements will scale according to the size of the screen.
- Use shorter meta titles, which are easier to read on smaller screens.
- Avoid long-form content.
- Avoid pop-ups that prevent visitors from seeing your content.
- Don’t use the mobile version for cloaking. Make sure users and search engine see the same content.
To maintain the same meaning, rephrased version would be: “It is crucial to ensure that your website is capable of adapting to all kinds of devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.”
4. Enhance user experience
To begin with, studies indicate that 88% of individuals are unlikely to revisit your website following a negative user experience. Additionally, by investing $1 in enhancing the user experience, you receive a $100 return, resulting in a remarkable ROI of 9,900%.
The initial step involves examining your website in order to recognize any UX problems. Therefore, examine user flow, exit pages, heatmaps, and session recordings. To guarantee optimal UX, ensure that your website possesses the following attributes:
- Easy to navigate and use
- Content is unique and satisfies the user’s need
- Attractive and builds an emotional connect
- Integrates design and navigation for an intuitive experience
- Appears credible and trustworthy
- Adds value for the visitor
5. Core web vitals
One of Google’s algorithms, launched in 2020, is designed to evaluate a website’s health and ultimately determine the quality of user experience. Google plans to combine Core Web Vitals with its upcoming Page Experience algorithm, set to be released in May 2021, in order to assign rankings to websites.
The algorithm will assess the loading experience, interactivity, and visual stability of the content on a web page. Fortunately, there are tools like PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and Search Console that can assist you in evaluating the core web vitals of your website.
6. Technical SEO
To optimize the technical SEO of your website, follow these step-by-step actions: Use tools that oversee the SEO of your website and address any encountered issues. Conducting an SEO audit of your site has become simpler than ever before with these tools.
- Ascertain that your site is mobile friendly
- Check robot.txt files, which is where most sites experience bugs
- Look for status code errors and fix them
- Check and rectify duplicate meta title and description tags
- Check the indexing of your website using Google Search Console
- Use Google Analytics to check website traffic across different webpages and fix the content of underperforming pages
- Check for and fix broken links, which drastically impact UX
- Use Google Search Console to submit your XML sitemap to Google.
7. Optimize your site for voice search
The popularity of voice search has rapidly increased, according to statistics which indicate that 71% of consumers prefer using voice search rather than typing for their queries. However, it is crucial to understand that the methodology of voice search differs from that of text search. Typically, voice queries consist of longer phrases or even complete sentences, in contrast to the 2-3 word queries common in text search.
Therefore, the process of optimizing for voice search should be carried out as a distinct activity, encompassing:
- Long-tail keywords, which are keywords with more than 3 words, and multiple semantically related keywords.
- Use structured data or Schema, which help Google to better understand the themes and subject of a webpage.
8. Schema
After being added to a webpage, schema markup generates a rich snippet, which is an improved description displayed in the search results.
All major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex, have the capability to utilize microdata. The main advantage of schema is its ability to offer context to a web page and enhance the search user’s experience.
There is no indication that the addition of schema has any impact on SERPs. Next, we will explore some of the most commonly used purposes for schema.
- Article.
- Book.
- Breadcrumb.
- Event.
- FAQ Page.
- How-to.
- Job Posting.
- Local Business.
- Logos.
- Medical Condition.
- Movie.
- Organization.
- Person.
- Product.
- Recipe.
- Review.
- Subscription and paywall content.
- Video.
- And more…
If you are intimidated by the idea of adding schema to a page, you should not be. Implementing schema is actually quite simple. There are several plugins available for WordPress that can assist you in doing this.
9. Content marketing
This year, it is estimated that a total of 97 zettabytes of data will be generated, acquired, replicated, and utilized globally. To give you a sense of scale, this is equivalent to 18.7 trillion songs or 3,168 years of HD video being produced daily.
To accomplish this, the challenge of breaking through the clutter will become increasingly more difficult as time goes on.
- Create a content hub in the form of a resource center.
- Fill your resource hub with a combination of useful, informative, and entertaining content.
- Write “spoke” pieces related to your resource hub and interlink.
- Write news articles related to your resource and interlink.
- Spread the word. Promote your news articles on social channels.
- Hijack trending topics related to your content. Promote on social media.
- Use your smartphone camera. Images and videos typically convert better than text alone.
- Update stale and low-trafficked content.
10. Link building
One of the most significant factors that affect rankings is the presence of links. In recent years, Google has improved in recognizing and devaluing low-quality links, particularly since the introduction of Penguin 4.0. Consequently, the priority remains on the superiority of links rather than their quantity.
In order to maintain the same meaning while rephrasing the text, you can say: Some of the top link-building strategies for the year 2022 consist of:
- Utilization of Resource Pages.
- Broken Link Building.
- Backlink Mining.
- Link Reclamation.
- Claiming Unlinked Mentions.
11. Test and document changes
1. You control outcomes through measurement. 2. According to a recent study, less than 50% of “optimized” pages achieve increased clicks. 3. In addition, 34% of changes actually resulted in a decline in clicks. 4. Here are the fundamental stages for conducting SEO testing:
- Determine what you are testing and why.
- Form a hypothesis. What do you expect will happen because of your changes?
- Document your testing. Make sure it can be reliably replicated.
- Publish your changes and then submit the URLs for inspection via Google Search Console.
- Run the test for a long enough period to confirm if your hypothesis is correct or not. Document your findings and any other observations, such as changes made by competitors that may influence the outcome.
- Take appropriate actions based on the results of your tests.
Using a spreadsheet makes executing and documenting this process simple.
12. Track and analyze KPIs
Roger Monti has identified the 9 Most Important SEO KPIs that should be taken into consideration.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
- Content Efficiency.
- Average Engagement Time.
- Conversion Goals by Percent-Based Metrics.
- Accurate Search Visibility.
- Brand Visibility in Search.
- New And Returning Users.
- Average Time on Site.
- Revenue Per Thousand (RPM) And Average Position.
When considering these KPIs, it is important to keep in mind that their relevance depends on your specific goals and objectives. While some may be applicable to your circumstances, others may not be. Use this as a helpful initial reference for figuring out the most effective way to gauge the effectiveness of a campaign.
