There are a few tricks that can really supercharge your SEO and put you ahead of your competitors. Try these tips.
Whether you draw up a detailed over-arching chart of objectives; write them on post-its and stick them to your desk; or simple mumble them before falling asleep on December 31, all business owners have New Year’s Resolutions.
They could be to increase sales, boost brand awareness, or broaden your lead generation efforts, but all business resolutions require the same thing: your business needs to be found by people.
And that requires ranking frequently and highly in search.
We know that search engine optimisation is essential, and we know that elements like keywords and headings are important, but there are a few tricks that can really supercharge your SEO and put you ahead of your competitors.
Here are our tips.
Go for long-tail keywords
They’re known as long-tail keywords, but they really should be called key sentences.
In marketing, long-tail keywords are longer and more specific than the keywords you’re probably currently using in your SEO strategy.
For example, instead of using ‘security screens’, you’d replace it with ‘what are the best security screens’ or ‘where to buy security screens in Melbourne’.
Long-tail keywords allow you to specifically target and address a user’s issue. Someone who searches for ‘security screens’ may have any number of intentions. They might want to buy a security door; they may want to know the measurements of different kinds; they might want to know what one looks like to see if it will suit their home.
Your web page may address their issue, but a lot of the time it will miss the keyword targeting. When you use long-tail keywords, however, you know exactly what the user wants and you can make sure your web page directly responds to it, leading to a greater conversion rate.
Also, because there will be fewer companies marketing with the same long-tail keywords, there’s less competition and a greater chance of appearing higher and more often in search.
Use keywords in alt text for images
Google said it, so it must be true: alt text, the text that accompanies an image on your website, is “still important” to search engine optimisation.
Web crawlers, those bots that find and rank your site, look for alt text. Use it in your SEO and your website will rank higher.
But there are other good marketing reasons to add alt text to your images. It increases accessibility for the visually impaired, and in cases where images fail to load, the user understands what the image is.
Plus, we’re all visual creatures, and images speak a thousand words and convey the meaning of your page before the user has read a single word.
Tip: keep the alt text short and to the point, and use keywords where you can.
Include keywords in headlines
Web crawlers target headlines, so incorporating keywords in your headings will improve your ranking.
Ideally, in your SEO marketing you’d use primary keywords (your main keywords) and secondary keywords (variations of the keyword), but always avoid keyword stuffing.
The heading needs to look natural and make sense. A convoluted or strange heading will look like click-bait and turn customers off, as well as show up in searches that may not relate to what the user is actually looking for, and this all adds up to wasted SEO opportunities.
User experience goes a long way
Appearing in search isn’t the end game, it’s the start of the sales funnel.
Once the user has clicked through to your site, it’s important to make sure they have an easy and seamless journey through consideration and sale.
But did you know that user experience (UX) can actually improve your search?
According to Google, the longer a person spends on a webpage, the higher it ranks in future searches. The reason is, if people are clicking onto a page and then leaving immediately, Google reckons your page is not delivering what a user expects, and the ranking drops.
Tips for a great UX: make sure the content is directly relevant to the SEO key words, and that the intent of the page is clear within the first couple of lines. Reducing image sizes can make the page load quicker, and removing excess words, images and other distractions can also improve UX.
Cross-link to pages on your site
So, we know that Google rewards webpages that users spend most time on. Well, the same applies to your entire website.
If you want your website to rank highly in search, it needs to be a website that users spend a lot of time on – and a great way to make that happen is to link to other pages within your website.
Aim for every page to include about two to five links to another page. Make sure the link text is enticing and relevant to the reader.
Top tip: make the anchor text of your cross-link interesting and relevant – avoid those ‘click here’ references.
Chat to the SEO specialists
Do you need to supercharge your SEO?
Assemblo is a full-service marketing agency based in Melbourne and are specialists in search engine optimisation and creative SEO strategies.
To find out how we can help your business, give us a call on (03) 9079 2555 or send us a note via the contact form below.