Research shows that over 90% of internet users don’t even bother to visit the 2nd page of Google. It’s even famous as the graveyard of websites because of the trifle traffic it receives. That’s why websites wish to appear on the first page before their target audience. Increasing its visibility for relevant searches is every website’s main objective.
And SEO helps you gain this massive visibility. What are some top factors that allow you to create a fool-proof SEO strategy? Well, content! Experts have accurately described the content as “king” when it comes to search engine optimization. Keywords permit users to access your content online. And the following nine factors make users complete this journey faster:
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Content Freshness
Producing high-quality content isn’t sufficient when it isn’t updated regularly to maintain the freshness of information. For example, an article published in 2011 contains decade-old statistics that have changed over time. Failure to replace these stats with current information decreases the relevancy and accuracy of your content.
Some marketers focus on producing evergreen content where information stays fresh forever. However, most articles need refurbishing and renovation. So, you can’t expect to drive more audience to a post titled “SEO suggestions for 2019”. This underperforming content requires change with new stats and relevant keywords.
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Meta Description
This description is just a component of the webpage’s HTML-coded body. It doesn’t show up on the page itself; instead becomes visible whenever the page appears in search results. It will summarize the web page’s content, thereby enabling readers to decide whether they require this information.
It indirectly influences your website’s ranking by improving its click-through-rate. It’s recommended not to make the meta description longer than 150 words.
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Backlink Portfolio
You might’ve heard that backlinks are now talk of the past and won’t matter in the future. Maybe the prediction is true but, right now, backlinks matter the most after content. If the content is a queen, backlinks are her messengers. They infuse your posts with trust, respect, and authority.
Backlinks are hyperlinks that come from another website. When someone links back to your webpage, it’s called gaining a backlink. Getting more links from a well-established website makes yours appear trustworthy.
How to get backlinks? Produce unique content and convince people to link to it. Write guest articles, and hosts shall allow you to insert one/two backlinks. Leverage your connections to “catch ‘them all”!
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Domain Authority
This scale measures the “rankability” of a website or the possibility of a domain ranking on SERPs. On a scale from 1 to 100, the higher your website gets, the better search engine position it can acquire. Remember that search engines such as Google wish to present only the most trusted sites before their audience.
And the authority of a particular domain determines how likely it is to rank higher than rival websites. But how does a site becomes more authoritative? Older websites (3 years old on average) tend to have more authority than fresh ones. Similarly, having a better PageRank status and a better reputation in the digital world makes your domain seem more authoritative.
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Website Security
Every website must ensure to establish a secure connection with its audience for a reliable exchange of information. That’s why Google described website security as an important SEO ranking factor back in 2014; sites utilize SSL certificates to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS. Then they implement HTTPS (hypertext transfer protocol security) to encrypt the information and protect users from cybercriminals.
This layer of protection is more secure than the well-known HTTP! Gone are the days when a website’s URL began with HTTP since around 90% of sites transferred to HTTPS. So, adopting this new protocol has become imperative for the success of your SEO tactics.
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Page Speed
Page speed shouldn’t be considered a factor not worthy of your attention. Since just a few seconds delay in your webpage’s loading time may exhaust the interest of multiple visitors. Learn that search engines are infatuated with page speed, and sites that load faster get higher positions on SERPs.
A study revealed that an average site took 10+ seconds and 27+ seconds to load on desktop and mobile. It directly adds to a painful user experience and boosts your bounce rate. So, check out Google PageSpeed and make your site faster by upgrading the website software and adopting the newest version. You can also decrease the loading time by the following method.
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Image Optimization
You can improve your site’s loading time by optimizing the images present on the homepage. Image optimization means reducing the file size of these pictures without compromising their quality. So, tools are available to ensure that bulky images don’t contribute to a poor user experience.
Besides optimization, you must also furnish website pictures with proper titles and alt tags/texts. This “alternative” text appears when an image fails to load. Therefore, your website becomes indexable for search engines while this text empowers visually-impaired visitors. This factor directly adds to your SEO ranking and potentially boosts your site’s status.
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Mobile Usability
You might’ve heard about Google’s mobile-first indexing. It means that your site’s mobile-optimized version shall decide the likelihood of its search engine ranking. In other words, having a “cool” desktop version doesn’t count if your website performs poorly on smartphones.
Improving this mobile version to become flawless and enjoyable-to-browse has become a top priority among SEO experts worldwide. Try Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site’s compatibility with hand-held devices and remove flaws in its smartphone version.
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Google My Business
Optimizing for local searches contributes heavily to the strength of your marketing strategy. That’s why experts recommend marketers create and handle Google My Business listings. It helps establish your brand as a local entity, thereby elevating your position before nearby searchers. Statistics show that nearly 50% of GMB listings get over 1,000 search views a month on average.
All you need to do is create an account of GMB and provide crucial details regarding your business. It includes your contact information, hours when you’re open for business, and some excellent pictures. Also, provide an attention-grabbing description of your services to attract more visitors online.
Conclusion
The qualities of a successful SEO strategy include raising a website’s searchability online. Different factors contribute to the accomplishment of your search engine optimization endeavors to make your site more visible. Content, backlinks, and keywords dominate these factors. Other factors – including on- and off-page SEO – strengthen the before-mentioned three components.
They make sure that users have a fabulous experience navigating your site and turn into recurring visitors. You make the site load faster on mobile phones and optimize for nearby searches to gain more traffic. All these tactics collectively allow more people to reach your brand and eventually become loyal customers.