8 Proven SEO Tips To Improve Your Organic Traffic (Works In 2022)

If you aren’t yet utilising an effective SEO strategy to grow your traffic, then where have you been?!

SEO is often seen as the créme de la créme of optimising organic search results, having a huge impact on a company’s success and growth.

Importance of SEO

Not only will a strong SEO strategy increase the visibility of your products, but it can also improve a website’s click-through rate, which can lead to increased sales and conversions.

SEO can also help to build trust and credibility with potential customers. When customers see that your site is appearing in the top results for their search queries, they will be more likely to trust your brand and make a purchase.

With no further ado, it’s time to take a deep dive into the wonders of SEO, along with the best practices and SEO tips. With our help, you will be on your way to breezing through to the top of search engine rankings like the superstar you are!

Best SEO Practices

Now, for the moment that you’ve been waiting for.

Over numerous years as a marketing agency for clients from all walks of life, we’ve come to learn a thing or two about how to create a kick-ass SEO strategy to knock your goals out of the park!

1. Keyword Research For Search Engines

Creating content for SEO without doing research is like making a pizza without any cheese; it just doesn’t make sense! Keywords are well and truly the core ingredient of SEO, so it’s time you get comfortable with using them correctly.

Not all keywords are created equal though. In reality, there is a sort of keyword hierarchy that exists in SEO.

A primary keyword or keywords are the most important in providing the basis of your content. They serve as a guide for secondary keywords and supporting language which should be scattered throughout your headings.

Avoid making it feel too forced – it will be obvious if you’re just throwing keywords just for the sake of it. At the end of the day, it’s humans who will be reading your content.

All these keyword phrases work together to add that extra oomph and improve the ranking of your web page, increasing the exposure to your product or service.

Effective Keyword Use

According to SEO best practices, the goal of high-quality content produced should be to closely match the search intent of site visitors, while ranking highly on the Google search console and other search engines.

If your web pages pop up without matching user intent, you can kiss goodbye to ranking highly on search engines!

Google understands when you create content for machines or humans, so make sure to add a bit of ‘pizzaz’ to improve the site’s user experience and ensure that you create content that people actually want to read.

SEO Tools to Get You Started

There are plenty of paid and free tools to identify keywords that help your content rank on search engine results pages while ensuring that your target audience is presented with relevant content.

One of the most widely-used SEO resources is Semrush, for example. Google Analytics can also be used as a starting point to track the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.

By monitoring key metrics such as organic traffic and keyword rankings, to check if you are following best practices.

If you want to take it a bit further though, we recommend talking to SEO experts that can create personalised strategies with a more human touch. This is because Google and other search engines are getting better at identifying machine-made content, which can serve as a negative ranking factor.

Quality, not quantity!

Without a doubt, keywords are a critical part of SEO and search rankings. but you simply must avoid the temptation to overdo it.

We’re sure you’ve heard of the phrase, “the more the merrier”, but that’s not always the case when it comes to keyword research and use.

While jam-packing your content with targeted keywords may have been search engine friendly in the past, this is no longer effective.

Search engine algorithms become more intelligent and better at distinguishing useful content for humans from content that was written just to tick a couple of boxes.

2. Making the Most of Meta Descriptions and Meta Title Tags

   Meta descriptions in SEO are often put in the shadow of keywords and headings, but we’re here to tell you that they deserve some love too!

What are they?

Meta descriptions and meta tags are used to provide information to search engines about a web page. The meta description is a summary of the page that appears in the search results and meta description tags are a piece of code that tells search engines what the web pages are actually about.

So, what’s the point?

By including relevant keywords in both the metatag and the meta description tag, you can help your page rank higher in the search results. As a result, more people will be able to find your page when they are searching for topics related to your business or website, increasing your organic traffic rate through effective google search queries.

Meta title tags and meta descriptions are important to both users and business owners. When you write title tags, for example, the additional information about the pages on your site will either encourage or deter a user from clicking on your particular page; whether it’s a promotional website, blog post, news site or something else.

This is why it’s crucial to your website rankings to utilise a compelling title tag.

Avoiding duplicate content is also a key factor in performing on a search console. You want to write a title tag that informs users about your content while also standing out from competitors.

Otherwise, it will be hard to convince a user why they should choose you over other options. In all honesty, reusing content will make you look lazy in the eyes of Google, which will consequently demote you on search results and Google ads. We know, the truth can hurt sometimes!

3. Using Titles and Headings That Stick

This one’s a no-brainer, but you might be surprised to learn how many businesses don’t use page titles and headings to their full potential.

If you want to follow SEO best practices (and trust us – you do!), you need to ensure you use effective titles and headings that hold the attention of your target audience, while breaking up your content into something easily digestible by your audience.

No one wants to read an entire essay just to decipher if they’re interested in what you provide, especially in an age where so many people scroll through multiple pages on mobile devices while on the go.

We are often faced with an information overload, so people will naturally skim through any content they’re presented with and make a decision within a few seconds if it matches their search intent. One of the ways to combat this issue is of course, by using relevant and punchy titles and headings that get straight to the point of the value provided.

4. Make Internal Links Second Nature

You know what they say; “it’s what’s on the inside that counts!” And no, we’re not talking about a love story – we’re talking about internal links!

A strong internal link structure can be a powerful tool for improving your site’s search engine ranking. By link building to relevant pages from your own page, this alerts search engines about what your page is about and helps them sort your site more effectively to suit the correct audience.

Additionally, good internal links and link-building strategies encourage visitors to spend more time on your site, which is another factor that impacts how it ranks on search results.

Faced with such a high search volume, search engine algorithms will prioritise the sites that people spend more time on because it suggests that the content is useful and relevant to search intent.

An anchor text is typically the clickable portion of the link in internal linking, and it usually contains keywords that are relevant to the destination page. When used correctly, anchor text can be an effective way to improve the visibility and ranking of a website in search engine results.

5. Ensure a Great User Experience For All

Without customers, there is no business. This is why it’s so critical to make your site as user-friendly as possible. Creating great content on your page is one thing, but what’s the point if the user can’t easily scroll through it?

Remember: first impressions are everything! If your website is difficult to navigate, it will instantly frustrate the users who will focus their attention on their negative experience rather than the value your page provides.

Considering the number of people nowadays who surf the web from their phones, you must ensure that your site is optimised for both desktop and mobile SEO. If not, you could be losing a large client base by not putting in the effort to create a seamless website for all.

6. Optimise Images For Search Engine Optimisation

SEO best practices aren’t all about the text, you know! Humans are visual beings – plain text isn’t enough to make them want more. Using images, whether sourced from google images or sites is a valuable way to visually depict what your company is all about.

Most content management systems will support images, however, they can greatly alter the speed at which your site loads. If a user clicks and has to wait too long to see anything, they will likely give up and visit a competitor’s site instead.

Lucky for you, there are ways to avoid this tragedy happening!

Incorporating Images the Right Way

The way your images are embedded in a website makes a huge impact on page speed. To put it simply; the bigger the file size, the slower the page speed. One of the best practices regarding on-page optimisation of images is to try to make them as small as they can be while looking aesthetically pleasing and clearly showing the key components of the image.

We all know that unexpected things happen, so don’t forget to add an alt tag under every image to support your business online. We write alt tags to succinctly describe what is depicted in an image. This is particularly important if and when an image doesn’t load properly.

7. Put Yourself in the Mind of The Consumer

A helpful and simple way to help your webpage shine on search engine rankings is to think about your website from the perspective of your target audience. After all, if it’s not useful for them, it will not benefit your company’s SEO performance.

Imagine you are the user. Ask yourself these questions about the site:

• Does the title tag entice me to visit the page?
• Do I want to keep reading after clicking the link?
• Is this website easy to navigate?
• Is it providing me with the answer I need, and doing it quickly?
• Is the internal linking structure providing me with helpful resources?If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s time to make a change to ensure you are putting your best foot forward in the strange and wonderful world of SEO.

1. 8. Regularly Update Your Site

Don’t let your website get stale – sometimes you have to get out with the old and in with the new. Keep up to date with the latest trends and constantly check what is and isn’t working on your sites in terms of SEO performance.

Google will reward you for putting in this effort, as the relevancy of content is a huge factor in determining what is ranked highest following a search query.

It’s important to ensure that your website is staying relevant, or you’ll end up like the Blackberry did when the iPhone came along and get swallowed up by competitors!

The Nitty-Gritty

It’s important to note that creating a worthwhile SEO strategy is not a simple overnight activity. There are a lot of internal and external factors that affect your performance when it comes to SEO.

Get the SEO Results You Want

First Page proudly provides experts in SEO strategy so that you can focus your energy on other important aspects of running your business. Together, we can help your page rise up search engine rankings.

Contact First Page today to learn more.