I’m sure all of you know how much Google loves to update its SEO algorithm regularly. They can make up to 500 changes in a year! That’s a lot of catching up to do, which is why you need to stay updated and continue learning more about the advancements of SEO daily.
If you don’t know it yet, Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, refers to optimizing content so it would show up more often in search results, ideally at the top. With millions of people using search engines like Google, you wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to be visible to your target audience. If you do skip on SEO, then the content you roll out may as well be invisible except to a few random viewers.
But if you go for SEO and do use the right strategies, then you’ll be able to reap the many benefits it offers, from increased traffic to boosts of sales and conversions!
So, what should you be doing to garner more traffic with SEO? Based on experts like the Sunshine Coast SEO company, these are effective tips to follow!
SEO Tips for More Traffic This 2021
Wondering what to do when it comes to SEO? Here are a few effective tips to get your website up and running to the top of the search results pages!
1. Focus on User Experience
Yes, user experience is connected to your search engine ranking. RankBrain is the 3rd most important ranking factor, which will most likely continue and become a crucial point in the near future.
What is RankBrain?
RankBrain is a machine learning system which helps Google decide where pages will rank on their search results. It will watch how your users interact with their search results and rank the search results based on that.
So, if users would click on a page and exit the website quickly, then the site would lose its ranking. However, if users click on a page and spend more time on that site, it would gain ranking or maintain its high ranking. RankBrain would also look at your website’s Dwell Time and Click-Through Rate.
These are all based on the website’s user experience. You can help rank for RankBrain by using medium tail keywords.
2. Update Your Posts
You should also look for posts that rank high or almost ranked high, then update or rewrite them. You can find those almost-first page ranking posts from Google Analytics. Head on to Acquisition -> Search Console -> Queries, then set up an advanced filter to show phrases, where you’re the average position,is over 10, which is on page 2.
Once you have the list of articles, give them the overhaul it needs. You can do so by adding details, answering queries, statistics, examples, images, expert quotes, among other things that would make it even better and more informative.
You may even want to add length and more key phrases naturally. Follow these tips:
- Check the rankings of your page, so you won’t hurt its relevance for better phrases
- When rewriting, look into the connected subtopics, which you can find on your search results page from the ‘people who asked’ section, along with the ‘related searches’ found below the webpage.
- I recommend doing this to all your almost-high ranking pages quarterly, as a part of your content marketing audit.
3. Go for Video
Video marketing is a huge traffic source, though you’ll be surprised with how marketers still ignore the potential. Remember, when you want to rank high with SEO, you should focus more on quality over quantity. Just because you have many indexed pages doesn’t mean you’ll be attracting more organic traffic.
Rather, get rid of the shallow posts that have low word counts or superficial content, meaning fluff words. Go focus on creating and updating the content that is meaningful and engaging, which would make readers want to complete.
This is where video marketing comes along. Using video content has a lot of benefits, especially when it comes to user engagement. It’s more possible for people to finish a 1-minute video compared to reading a 100-word article.
Video marketing is already huge as it is and continues to grow, with predictions of videos making up 80% of online traffic by this year!
So, optimize your video content by:
- Updating your older videos’ titles and descriptions so they stay searchable and relevant
- Optimize your videos’ audio and video qualities, including their graphics and images
- Integrate videos in your content if you haven’t yet
4. Rank for Featured Snippets
A little over 11% of search results have featured snippets. These snippets are results showing up on search engine results pages right after ads, but before ranked results. You can find these snippets beside an image, video, or table, which has them stand out more and gives a better position for more clicks, even beyond the high-ranked results.
To have your content become a featured snippet, go for a paragraph format when ranking for question keywords. But when ranking for a preposition, opt for a list format. Here are other ways you can optimize your content for featured snippets:
- Be clear and concise
- Have headers to easily scan the content
- Make sure you have cross-device usability
- Maintain great social engagement
- Use authoritative external resources
5. How to Create the Right Content
Now, on to creating new content! Content is king when it comes to SEO now, so it’s time to roll out content that can rank higher on search results pages.
What you can do is to create long-form and in-depth posts about a certain topic related to your industry and target audience. There are 2 effective ways to let a search engine know that you have authoritative, evergreen, and in-depth content on your website:
- Go for long-form content that is at least 2,000 words, which would outrank shorter content
- Use LSI keywords, which are keywords and/or phrases related to your topic
6. Maximize Your User Engagement
User engagement can help with user experience, and as mentioned, user experience is crucial to rank even higher. From creating informative posts to updating current ones, all your pages and content need to maximize user engagement. Here are tips to follow:
- Your content needs to be easy to read, utilizing headings, whitespace, shorter paragraphs, and engaging, relevant images for people to easily absorb your content
- Include high-quality links and offers on your content, along with internal links that answer readers’ questions further. This decreases bounce rates while having users explore your website further
- Utilize LSI keywords, answering additional questions users might have after reading your content. Don’t just offer content people search for, include more information users look for, which would retain users and alert search engines that your content isn’t just for answering search queries, but also provides more value
- Don’t just stick to text! Include media such as images, videos, and infographics that capture your readers’ attention, allowing them to stay engaged
7. Optimize for Voice Search Now!
Did you know that voice search technology continues to improve and become popular among Internet users? That’s why experts are encouraging marketers to continue optimizing for voice search, which will be an ongoing trend.
Because most voice searches are local, it’s best to optimize your local SEO for voice searches, making this tip crucial for local business or those with target audiences in specific areas.
Besides optimizing local voice searches, your content will also need to rank for both questions and answers. Half of the users use voice search for basic online searches, which is why high-quality and voice search-optimized FAQ pages will be beneficial and help your webpages rank even higher. Plus, you get more viewers and visibility!
Wrapping It Up
Obviously, you’ll want to have excellent traffic coming in, which is why SEO is a crucial factor in getting the results you want and need. As long as you’re aware of what SEO entails, stay updated, and perform the right strategies, then you can take advantage of the higher visibility and conversions.
I hope that you learned a lot from these SEO tips to get more traffic this year. Don’t wait any longer and start utilizing these tips to reach your goals now.
Do you have questions or want to share your tips and experiences on improving your SEO? Share it in the comments section below, I appreciate all your thoughts and experiences.
About the Author
Joel House is the founder of SEO Agency Joel House Search Media. Having helped hundreds of businesses in Sydney and around the world. Joel House has the reputation and experience that you need to take your business to the next level.
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