Simple Steps to Improve Your Organic Ranking
So this year, you have committed to improve the ranking of your website – but where do you start? The beginning, of course! Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of improving your website’s ranking organically (i.e. no boosts or other paid tactics that bring up your ranking).
It’s not a difficult process but does require a few basic steps. First, decide what the most important features or components of your business are. For example, what do people know you for and how do they search to find a business such as yours. Next, make sure that your website does a thorough job of explaining what your business does and how it works. Use all of the search terms that would describe your business in the content of your website in a natural tone. Once your website has all of the content that describes what you do, double check that your site has a logical navigation so that everything you do can be easily found. All set? Let’s go to the next step.
Time to check your phone! You will need to ensure that your website is mobile friendly. More searches are done on mobile devices than all other devices combined. And here’s a fun fact, Google now ranks your site based on how mobile friendly it is. Everything can be perfect with your site but if you can’t master this step your rankings will suffer.
Now, let’s talk about coding. The code or metadata will contain the title of each page and its content. When search engines crawl the internet, they look for specific code that helps them understand and index websites. Metadata is not seen by visitors but does help determine whether your site and pages are relevant to a search. It sounds like something real technical, but really it is pretty basic. Do note that metadata have strict character limits so plan each pages’ description carefully.
Relevancy is another important factor in determining SEO. This means you should regularly update your website and make sure your pages are current. Another tactic, is to add blog pages to your site, that address key components of your business. Write your blog naturally, so that it conveys information your readers want in an easy to understand manner. Post your blogs to your website and share it to social media. Be aware that different people prefer different outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. The more places you post the better.
SEO is not an overnight cure for a poor ranking. It takes time and consistency. Search engines look for a reason not to trust your site, so developing that trust is a process. However, if you follow these steps consistently you will see steady improvement in your rankings.
