When you search online, how do you find the right website? Chances are, you’re looking at the results on the first few pages of your search engine’s results page (SERP). In order to get that coveted top spot, you need to write high-quality content optimized for search engines. This blog will guide you through using SEO content to rank higher in search engines.
User Experience (UX) practices to improve SEO
User experience is a crucial component to improve search rankings and drive more traffic to your website. Let’s look at the best practices that will improve SEO;
Use of proper fonts
The font is unarguably a key element of design and user experience. Fonts in general, have two purposes, the first one is utility, a function that has to be read. Hence, it’s important to choose a font for your website which is readable or easy to read. The second purpose is the vibe and the feel that you want to communicate with because every font style evokes a different vibe and feeling. It is advisable to use fonts that are proven to be legible. The most recommended Google web fonts are Roboto, Poppins, Playfair Display, Open Sans, Montserrat, etc.
Visit the links below to learn more on choosing the right font style for your website:
https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/principles/web-design/best-modern-fonts-for-websites/
https://www.canva.com/learn/best-professional-fonts-use-website/
Simplify navigation on your website
If users navigate your site with ease from their devices, it’s prominent that they will stay on longer. A content-rich and easy-to-navigate site will work wonders for SEO. Your goal should be to develop ideal, simpler website architecture that balances the website’s goals with the user’s goals and needs.
Enhance responsiveness for all devices
Responsiveness is vital for both user experience and SEO goals. According to research, 54% of the global traffic comes from mobile, which makes it evident to develop you’re a website that is mobile-friendly. If your website is not optimized for mobile users, you stand to lose more than half of your visitors. Therefore, it more important than ever to optimize your website and its content for better experience in all devices.
Best image SEO Practices
Images are often an overlooked factor when it comes to SEO. Poor quality images can cause search engines to downgrade your website because they create a poor user experience. Avoid using stretched, blurred, poor resolution images. Also, avoid uploading large size image files as it can affect the loading time of the website.
Reduce Loading time
Site speed is one of the most critical elements of SEO. Users don’t want to sit around and wait even a few seconds for a site to load. This is an important ranking factor affecting users’ experience. Some tips that can help you stay away from loading time issues are as follows;
- Avoid using obscure fonts
- Keep buttons and hover effects imageless
- Use accordions to segment the content
- Avoid parallax scrolling if you are trying to optimize the site or mobile use
- Stick to high-quality images in the proper size
Create original and quality content for SEO
Creating original and quality content is so very important for SEO which results in benefits such as,
- You will be able to position yourself as an expert in your niche
- It increases your brand recognition
- It helps increase your social media credibility
- It will help drive organic traffic to your website and social media profiles
- It helps build trust among your readers and convert them as your customers eventually
However, there are so many websites willing to answer each and every search query, that it could be difficult to achieve results. Creating content can be done from two perspectives. One is that, writing content out of your own experience will result in higher chances of being 100% original while writing content based on well-researched topics, could be a risk as some number of words could be copied or could be similar. The key here is to research and read at least 6-10 articles on the same subject before writing your own and make short and concise notes on paper that will guide you to bring originality and strength to your content.
Length of the content matters for SEO ranking factor
Content is king and blogging can still be a great source of traffic and of converting that traffic on any website but how long should your post need to be in order to be effective is a real question. There are few renowned blogs such as HubSpot that suggest an ideal content length to be 2,100-2,400 words, with plenty of data to support it. According to Google, if you write long, high-quality blog posts of 1000 words or more, you have a higher chance of ranking in Google. If your blog posts consist of 300 words or less, Google is going to start to look at your site as a shallow resource. Every website that wants to make blogging a part of its traffic strategy should have a strong post structure focusing on specific keywords and the ideal length for articles should be between 1500-2000. Make sure that the paragraphs are no longer than three to four sentences and if it exceeds, make sure to break the paragraph into two. Expand your content into 3-5 subheadings with 1-2 paragraphs under each one.
Header tags to improve SEO
Headings are basically elements of the html code of a web page. They range from h1 to h6. Heading Tags make it easier for web crawlers and users to understand the content of your page. The h1 tag is the most important tag element, it refers to the main title of the page and it informs users and crawlers about the main topic that your content covers. The title tags play a significant role in the optimization of a page or a blogpost on a website. Search Engine Crawlers use this information they get from the headings to send the users who are looking for the specific topic that you cover.
The rule of thumb that you need to stick by is every page should have only one h1 tag and the rest of the headers going down the page should be h2 tag, h3 tag and so on.
Implementing header tags properly on your website can help you show Google and other search engines exactly what keywords your web pages should rank for.
Importance of Meta Title and Meta Description for SEO
Meta title
Meta titles are snippets of texts that describe a page’s content but don’t appear on the page of your website, they only appear in the page’s source code. Meta Title Tags work as content descriptors that help the search engine determine what’s on a web page. They help search engines understand what data is inside your landing page to know the content matches the user’s intent. A meta title tag is displayed as a clickable headline and its usage is essential for SEO and social sharing. Meta title tags are important because they impact how a particular site appears in the SERPs and how many people will be inclined to click through to that website. The title should include appropriate focus keywords and that it is related to what you’re offering on that page.
Meta description
Meta Description is a snippet of text used to summarize a web page’s content. It is an attribute that can influence click-through rates when the summaries in the search results featuring it, will gain more clicks. The meta description is useful as it explains to search engine crawlers and searchers what your page is about. Hence, one should make sure that meta descriptions narrow down the content on your webpage to what makes your offer unique.
Strategic placement of Focus Keywords for SEO
Make your website more appealing to search engines and rank better for key searches by strategically placing your focus keywords. These focus keywords help search engines to understand what your page is about. Use your focus keywords or key phrases exactly in places you want them to be found. The key places to put your focus keywords are as follows;
Title of the Page
The title of the post is very important. Match your title of the page to what people are most likely to search so that they will be able to find your content. When the search query relates to the keyword that you’re using in your title, it lets search engines rank your page higher in the SERP.
URL of the Webpage
It is very important to include the focus keyword within the web address as it shows search engines exactly that it is about a particular topic.
Headline or Header Tags (H1-H6)
Create quality content that can be scannable at the first glance which means adding different sections that are divided by header and subheader texts. When you place your focus keywords and other relevant keywords in header tags, it’s going to create relevancy and authority to those particular sections within the post.
First and Last Paragraph of the Content
Include your focus keyword in the first sentences of your blog post. It may not necessarily be in the first set of words but naturally include it in the first paragraph of the post. Focus keyword can also appear throughout the blog post, specifically in the last paragraph of your post. In addition to that, sprinkle other relevant keywords throughout the post as well naturally, such that it shows relevancy to Google and also is something that a human being can make sense out of it and would enjoy reading the post.
Meta Title & Meta Description
Focus keywords also need to be added to the metadata (Meta title and Meta Description). Metadata are back-end things that will show Google the relevancy for that particular focus keyword and strengthen authority for your pages and blog post. Well, adding focus keywords in the meta title and description is pretty easy if your website is built using WordPress. You need to install and activate a plugin called Yoast SEO. It’s the best SEO plugin one can use because it’s quite user-friendly, especially for beginners and it also shows a preview of what it’s going to look like in the SERP.
Internal Links as a SEO Strategy
Internal linking is the most important SEO strategy. Unlike backlinks, you don’t have to ask anyone to link to you and it can actually help to rank higher in Google. Internal links are simply links from one page to another on the same website. And they’re important for three main reasons.
- Internal links help search engines discover new pages so that they can add them to their index.
- They help pass PageRank around your site, effectively “powering” other pages.
- They help search engines to better understand what a page is about. And they do this by looking at anchor texts and the texts that surround the link.
A popular way to achieve internal linking is by creating multiple pages on a topic and its subtopics, then interlinking between the pages. Not only does this help to create relevance between pages, but as each of these pages gets backlinks, PageRank will flow to and from each page helping all of the pages to rank higher in Google.
How Keyword Density impacts SEO?
Keyword density refers to the number of times a keyword appears on a given webpage or within a piece of content as a ratio or percentage of the overall word count. This is also sometimes termed as keyword frequency i.e., the frequency with which a specific keyword appears on a webpage.
From the point of view of search engines, a high keyword density is an indicator of search engine spam. If a keyword appears too often on a website, search engines will downgrade the website and it will then appear down in search results. This is what is known as keyword stuffing which needs to be avoided. Thus, pay attention to keyword density as it is important in terms of SEO rankings.
Including Image Alt Text for better accessibility
Alt text/ tags are added to images in HTML to describe their context and context on the web page. Image Alt Text serves multiple purposes and one can reap major benefits by adding them. Since they are used by both search engine crawlers and screen reading tools, they are a critical component of web accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO). There are a few key points to adhere to when creating Alt text as it will help make the Alt text more effective.
- Be Specific and descriptive: the purpose of the alt tags is to describe the image so it has to be specific.
- Keep it short: Aim for around a maximum of 100 to 125 characters
- Incorporate relevant keywords naturally: Consider your target keywords when creating Alt text for images
Readability Score for SEO
In general, a readability score is how easy it is to read your content. Using relevant tools, one can determine roughly at what level a reader needs to be to understand the text content on your webpage or blog post. This includes sentence length, vocabulary level, how common each word is, active /passive voice, punctuation, etc. Improving your content readability will not only improve your reader’s reading experience but prove to be beneficial to overall SEO as well. One can improve readability score by using short and simple words, writing content in a conversational tone, using proper formatting and transition words, etc. With the help of certain tools like Grammarly, Yoast SEO, etc., you can make writing content as accessible as possible.
Infographics for SEO
An infographic is the combination of pictures and words, which helps you in describing a complex message easily and creatively to the targeted audiences. Infographics have the ability to sustain the attention of readers as they are visually pleasing to the readers in comparison to the boring and heavy text content. Therefore, a well-made infographic leaves a great impact on the mind of audiences and readers. Infographics in recent times have become an effective technique in SEO for link-building purposes. Infographics can be used to send traffic and receive links to our sites. The goal here of an infographic is to create a valuable piece of the infographic so that other sites want to post it on their site as well. When your infographic is shared among audience groups, it contributes to improving SEO rankings and eventually creates a good flow of backlinks to your site.
