How often have you visited a website that you found on the second page of Google’s search results? More to the point, how often have you clicked on a page that didn’t even make the top five results? The answer to both these questions is that you probably rarely do. That’s because 32.5% of all Google users just visit the first page offered. Why? Because Google is good at getting it right when it comes to giving their users what they’re looking for. This is where proper SEO management comes in.
To get your website to appear at the top of the search results, you need to use search engine optimization (SEO) to drive users your way.
In this article, we’ll discuss SEO task management and how it can get your site up there in the top spot in the rankings.
What Is SEO Management?
When Google and other search engines such as Bing come to rank your website against other sites, there is a lot that they need to look at. With over 1.7 billion websites out there on the world wide web, working out the order to display them for any given search is no mean feat.
The likes of Google use powerful algorithms that use a number of factors to decide on the order that they are presented. This is where SEO comes in.
SEO is the practice of making your website and content search engine friendly. SEO takes these ranking factors and ensures that your website is performing its best in these areas.
There are several key areas involved in SEO. These include:
- On-page SEO – This relates directly to the content on your site
- Off-page SEO – This relates to the measures you take outside of your site to drive traffic
- Local SEO – These are practices used for driving business websites within your local area
- Technical SEO – These are the technical aspects of your website and how they can be tweaked to improve your ranking
Let’s take a look at each of these areas in more depth.
On-Page SEO – Content is Everything
The number one reason that people visit your site is because of what is displayed there. Whether your site is there to inform your visitors, or whether you’ve got a product to sell, content is everything.
The effort that you put into creating great content will ultimately lead you to get more visitors. Search engines understand that they need to send their users to the best content possible, so they look for certain factors within the content.
Use Keywords Naturally
Relevance is essential. This is why you need to use relevant keywords within your content. These should be naturally placed and not stuffed. If your content is too keyword heavy, it can make it difficult for visitors to read.
Google knows this, and if you’re stuffing keywords in, then you are very likely to get penalized in the rankings.
Don’t be tempted to try and create your content in a way that the search engines alone will be able to read it. Forcing extra keywords will ultimately cost you in terms of visitors.
Write Longer Informative Content
When Google sends someone to a website, it believes that that site will provide the most relevant information on the specific search topic. This can often mean that users get sent to a site that has lots of content.
Longer articles are able to cover more ground, and if you can create posts on your site that exceed 1,000 words, this will help drive traffic.
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO refers to the work that you carry out to drive traffic to your website through external means. This includes link building.
Build Backlinks
You should include internal backlinks in your content. This means that your content should link back to other relevant areas of your website.
Make sure that the links that you use a high-quality. They need to add value and make it easy for your visitors to navigate around your site.
In addition to these internal links, you should also include external links to websites with content that will complement the content you have created. Again, make sure the links are relevant, high-quality, and add value.
When you create content for your site, you’ll want other sites to link back to you. This will tell Google that you’re an authority on the subject. Ideally, these links will come from reputable websites.
Build a relationship with bloggers and influencers. are many sites that will either feature your website or will allow you to create a guest post in which you can include quality backlinks to your site.
Write Meta Descriptions
A meta description is information about your content that shows in the search engine results. Every page should have its own meta description as this will enhance the user experience and let them know that their clicking on the right link for their search query.
Because this is the first thing that many people will see, it needs to be well-written.
Encourage Social Sharing
Although there is no proven link between search rankings and sharing on social media, you should make sure you’re leveraging social sharing on your website.
Sharing all of your content across a range of social media will help to build the reputation of your site and drive traffic.
Include some social sharing buttons on your site and do what you can to get your visitors to share your content.
What is Technical SEO?
It may sound daunting to refer to something as technical SEO, but it shouldn’t be anything to be scared of. Many of the improvements that you can make are quite simple.
Speed Up Your Website
Google understands that when people make searches, that they want their results quickly. For this reason, they always ensure their search results are returned almost instantly. Not bad considering how many sites they’re ranking.
Google also knows that users want to head to a site that works, and that is fast. For this reason, Google will favor sites that load quickly. If your website takes longer than three seconds to load, then you’re at risk of losing your visitors to another site.
For this reason, page load speed is an essential element of SEO and something you need to give serious consideration to.
Use Google’s Page Speed Insights to give you an idea of the speed of your site. By carrying out a full scan on your site, you’ll be able to see where you need to make improvements.
Once you’ve run a speed test, make the necessary changes to your website to help speed it up. This may mean using lazy-load plugins, deleting unused plugins, and compressing images on the site.
Manage Your Local SEO
If you have a business and are reliant on local trade, then you need to optimize your site for local SEO. Local SEO is a surefire way to get your website ranking above everything else on the search engine results page.
Sign up to Google My Business. This free listing service will allow you to claim your business listing and take control of it. From there, you’ll be able to get yourself on the map,
To get the most out of this service, be sure and fill in all of the details. Include photos of your business, your products, and your employees. The more you can include, the better.
Make sure that your name, address, and phone number match across all of your listings and that they match your website. Discrepancies in important information could go against you, and you may end up being penalized in the rankings.
Keeping Up-To-Date With SEO
SEO is an ever-changing field. With changes in technology and shifts in search habits, there will always be tweaks to the way that Google’s algorithms work.
For example, voice search is on the rise. This means that websites should be optimizing their content for smart speakers and artificial intelligence searches.
Keep yourself up-to-date with the shifting trends and make sure that you follow the latest guidelines to optimize your site.
Hire a Professional SEO Management Company
Managing the SEO management of your website is a full-time job. You’ll need to continually tweak and optimize your content to make sure that you’re continually competitive in the search results.
Hiring a professional SEO management company to take care of your SEO needs will mean that your site will always perform to the best of its ability.
Killer Spots provide SEO services that will save you the hard work. Let us take care of your managed SEO needs.
Get in touch today to find out how we can help you improve your search engine ranking.
