If your business has any sort of online presence, chances are you’ve heard of SEO. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of getting your website found on major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.
Why is this so important?
Think about the last time you Googled something, you probably didn’t go past the first page of results. Having a strong SEO will help your website rank higher on search result pages (SERPs), which in turn will bring you “free” or “organic” traffic. More traffic means more people are exposed to your business, and more people buying your product or service.
SEO is basically a search engine’s quality control measure, the better your site according to SEO criteria, the higher you’ll rank. Hiring someone to improve your SEO for you can prove to be a costly and sometimes risky affair. If the person you’ve hired decides to use unethical or outdated methods, you might get blacklisted by Google.
So save yourself the money, and try these 10 simple ways to improve your business’ SEO instead:
1. Manually Submit your Site to Search Engine
Manually submitting your site lets search engines crawl your site for information to index. It’s important to submit your site to all major search engines to make sure you’re not missing out on traffic. Indexing can take a while so if you don’t see your page on search results, wait for a month, and then try again.
Submitting to Google
Head here and paste your URL into the box and hit 'Submit Request'.
Submitting to Bing
Submitting to Bing is slightly more complicated. You’ll need to first create a Bing account, then head to Webmaster Tools, log in and type in the URL of your website, next you’ll need to input a link to the .xml version of your sitemap.
2. Backlinks and Guest Posting
One of the ways search engines determine page-rank is through the number of incoming and outgoing links to a certain page. So, the first step is to make sure every page contains links to other pages within your website. The next is to build backlinks through guest posting on a variety of sites. When you guest post, you’re including a link to your site on someone else’s, to a search engine other people’s sites linking to yours is a big sign of quality content.
3. On-page structure
While formatting the text on your pages, be sure to include headings and sub-headings. Any headings enclosed in <h1>, <h2> HTML tags are given priority by search engines. Using keywords in your headings can lead to significantly better SEO.
4. Long-tail keywords
Speaking of keywords, long-tail keywords are one of the best ways to get found on search engines. Find a long-tailed keyword that works for you, and use it as often as possible. Why is this important? Well, let’s assume you’re in the business of selling quilts. If your primary keyword is “costumes” then you’re going to face steep competition. However, if you optimize for “handmade cosplay costumes from Singapore” then not only are you targeting a more relevant audience, but you’re appearing higher up on search results.
5. Metatags
Edit your website's metadata to include your keywords. Depending on where your site is hosted, metadata can be edited quite easily through your dashboard. For more information on how to edit your metatags go here.
6. Website URL
Whenever possible, try and include keywords in your URL. For example, if your digital marketing company is called Cool Cat, then a URL like coolcatdigitalmarketing.com or ccdigitalmarketing.com would be a better option than just coolcat.com.
7. Image tags
Always, always include relevant keywords as alternate text for images.
8. Share buttons
Frequent shares are one of the best indicators that people find your site or post valuable, so make it easy for potential clients and search engines to find your work easily by including easy to find share buttons on your website.
9. Regular content generation
This is a big one. Search engines love new content. The more high-quality content you put out, the higher search engines will rank your site. One way of combining backlink mining and content generation is through a well-maintained blog. More about that here. (http://www.thescribesmith.com/single-post/2017/01/04/6-Reasons-Why-Your-...)
10. Social-Bookmarking sites
Lastly, always submit your site and any new posts to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc. use no-follow links when your share or link to your content, this means that while your content is being shared, your SEO is not benefiting. This was done to prevent spam. Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg, however, are excellent for SEO, so submit your site to them regularly.
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