Search engine optimization is key to growing your brand without breaking the bank. However, it can be easy to make costly mistakes with your web content. Here are some SEO rules you must follow to benefit from it.
Incorporate keywords
One of the most important elements of search engine optimization is keyword placement. For instance, if a user searches for “SEO services for law firms,” they can find businesses that offer the service within their area.
While you should use keywords, it is also important to only use relevant keywords. The keywords must also be used naturally and not like they were placed by a robot. When search engine optimization was not understood, some people believed stuffing an article with thousands of keywords would make it rank better. In some cases, they did, but only for a short while.
Google has made it clear that all keywords must not only be relevant but contextual in the content. To avoid keyword stuffing, it helps to consider the length of the content.
Human writing
Search engine optimization is indeed used to help the search engine rank your website better. However, your content must be written for humans as well. Understand your target audience properly and write content that would benefit them in one way or another. This is the only way to draw and keep their attention in the long run.
Some may argue that you can use artificial intelligence to write content that meets this requirement. This depends on what you’re looking for. However, some believe that AI-written content is too repetitive and unnatural.
Meet your audience’s needs
As mentioned earlier, your focus should be on creating high-quality content for your audience. While the word count can vary depending on the topic of your content, it is recommended that you stick to 1000 words for each post.
Merely writing 1000 words will not suffice to be compliant with SEO best practices. You must strive to give your audience something to look forward to and return to.
No duplicate content
Google frowns upon plagiarism, and you can’t be penalized for plagiarizing other people’s works. Most people don’t know that you can also plagiarize yourself and be penalized for doing so. So, you must only write fresh content and update your site when necessary.
Use alt text
Alt text is basically a way to describe images for readers. It also plays an important role in optimizing your site for visually impaired readers. Whenever you post a video or a picture, it is necessary to describe everything in the picture to help readers. Adding specific keywords to your alt text is a good way to hack the system.
On-page SEO is important
Besides keywords, you also need to focus on your website’s on-page SEO. This means that you should focus on the structure of your website and optimize meta tags and content. Utilizing tools like Odown can help monitor your site’s performance, which can go a long way to improving your website rankings.
Google search essentials are crucial
Finally, you need to go through Google search essentials. It was initially called Webmaster Guidelines. This guide is updated regularly and contains simplified information on implementing SEO best practices.
It contains Google spam policies, best practices, and technical requirements from a webpage.