If you are one of the many who have always heard about this magical “thing” called SEO that can redirect traffic and make your business but never seen it at work, this one’s for you. SEO or search engine optimization is no rocket-science. But at the same time, if you are doing it for the first time you need to take a few precautions. Asking the right questions at the right time will help you forge a path that will lead you and your website to fortune and fame.
Standing at the dusk of 2016 it is time we took a look back at the year’s leading trends and helped you figure out the DIY tactics that will boost your business in 2017.
But first things first, let us give you a list of the most important questions you should be asking –
What is SEO?
In very simple and non-technical terms, SEO or search engine optimization is a process to help your website become friends with the popular search engines like Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Bing and Yahoo. A properly planned SEO strategy can skyrocket your website to the topmost ranks of search lists. For example – if you specialize in selling Hello Kitty cupcakes in NY, then this will be your product for promotion. You need to build content and create a buzz around the “Hello Kitty cupcakes in NY” on your website, so that leading search engines can pick up on the hubbub and push your rank up the SERP.
What does SEO depend upon?
We wish there could have been a simpler answer to this question. People and webmasters have been asking this question for years now and no one knows the parameters that govern SEO yet. The parameters always vary with the algorithms the search engines employ. A few of the standard factors that govern SEO include social media marketing, keyword building, backlinking and using the right SEO tools. For example – Yoast SEO for all WordPress users is the Bible for good SEO. From keyword ranking to the quality of the content, this tool shows every possible factor involved in your blog SEO in one page. The requirements for SEO vary from company to company, and so do the tools. However, the goal is the same – to promote the website contents and push for a higher ranking.
How to manage DIY SEO?
This is the era of DIY. No one likes to call “the guy” for getting SEO and digital marketing done anymore. “The guy” can be a digital marketer or SEO planner who usually charges exorbitant amounts every month for optimizing your website SEO. If you are a start-up you will understand the pain of dolling away cash every month for something that can be mastered and optimized by existing, in-house employees. All you will need issome understanding of your market, keyword and the right tools. Here are a few points you must remember to optimize the website without any external help.To take the first step in the right direction start off with following some of the best 2017 SEO blogs written by marketing experts and SEO blogs.
So here we go
1.Know thy keywords –
“Keywords are the king” – no truer words have ever been spoken on the web. Properly prioritizing your website can help you direct immense amounts of traffic. The right choice of keywords can find you a high rank and the best way to find these effective keywords is to turn to tools like Google AdWords, Keyword Tool and Word Stream.
2.Optimize thy website –
This is easier said than done. Optimization is NOT a one-step process. It involves reinstating the architecture of the website to make it more navigation friendly, inclusion of SEO add-ons like Meta descriptions, title tags and header tags. Make sure that your customer finds your website interesting and easy to browse.
3.Invest in thy content –
Make long-form content your new mantra for 2017. All search engines are slowly developing an affinity for long-form content. If you still think, “Pfft…who will read a 1500 word article online” then you must be living under a rock. The time for all the faff and fluff is long gone. People want to know more about things and people want to know as much as possible from a single source. So you may want to invest in a good content team who can produce high quality, reproducible, linked content that will keep people hooked to your blogs at least for a while.
4.Fix those broken links –
Broken links kill a website faster than Brutus killed Caesar. Run your website through link checker tools. You can use free tools if you like as well. For example – the Online Broken Link Checker and the Dead Link Checker can both check your entire website in minutes for all 404s, broken URLs and dead links. Quite a few modern tools give you the option of Auto Check. It can run through your website URLs on a regular basis and give you a detailed report of all possible 404s that may damage your business.
5.Make thyself known on social media –
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, in case of social media we would suggest you to go for as many platforms as you can. It is indeed the perfect example of ‘the more the merrier’. Just use the right keywords (hashtags) and share your posts through your official profile on as many platforms as you can. Then relax and watch the magic happen. Social media is a wonderful tool to reach out to new people each day and make your presence felt. Do not forget to reach out to the social media influencers who can make your posts reach out to millions with just one share.
All these tips and tricks only work if you can interact with your audience correctly. You need to teach yourself how to read Google Analytics Reports and get a DIY campaign started using add-ons and tools.
