Not all that long ago, businesses were able to push their websites up the search engine rankings by cramming their content full of keywords. As search engines have evolved, however, there’s been more emphasis on the quality of the content – which of course is how it should be. When a user is searching the web they expect to get the information they need in a clear and precise way. With so much content on the web, yours has to stand out from the competition.
Although rankings are certainly no longer the bee all and end all, improving search visibility can help attract new targeted visitors and maintain their loyalty. Websites that maintain varied brand presence are often viewed as credible and trustworthy so providing SEO friendly content is one of the keys to gaining new targeted web traffic.
Here are our top content tips to increase targeted website visitors:
1. First and foremost, the content that you provide must be valuable to your visitors. Including useful information, guidance and tips will help your content to be noticed by search engines. In addition, don’t write copy that’s similar to the information that you’d find on other websites. Find your unique writing style. Try to find a unique slant that will provide a point of difference.
2. Of course, keywords are still important in ensuring that your website is found. To select the right keywords, you must put yourself in the mind of people who may be interested in your site and begin the research. Which phrases would they type into a search engine? Figuring these out and applying them appropriately will help make your pages SEO friendly.
3. Following on from this, keyword density is something that causes many a headache for website owners. How often is too often when it comes to including keywords in each page’s content? If you go overboard, search engines may regard your website content as spammy. Unfortunately, there’s no set answer on which is the right percentage. The best strategy is to ensure that your copy sounds natural and that you include the most important keywords in titles and sub-headings.
4. You should place keywords in the heading tags (which are part of the HTML coding on each web page) so that Google can find your website more easily. Only use one H1 tag on a page and add paragraph headings between sections of an article using H2, H3 etc tags.
5. Don’t forget to lever the value of your graphics and images as well. You can optimise them by including keywords within the image using the ‘alt tag’.
6. So that search engines can understand your content, you should arrange it in a way that’s easy to read. This usually involves the use of titles, headings, short paragraphs, bullet points, images and url.
7. Despite all of the recent updates with the Google algorithm, link building is still important as part of an effective SEO strategy. Adding internal links to other pages of your website and earning backlinks from other websites – especially those that are relevant, credible and trustworthy can add real value.
8. You can gain credibility for your website and encourage returning visitors by adding forums or boards where your visitors can provide comments and discuss niche related topics with each other.
9. Write unique content in your own words, don’t just copy and paste content from external websites. Keep your content fresh and unique, also try not to duplicate internally across your own pages.
10. Take advantage of the bio area. You can include a keyword in your bio description. You can also add backlink in there if you have a profile area. You should have a Google+ account set up with and linked using the rel=author tag.
You can never afford to sit still as far as website content is concerned. Search engines look for content to be updated regularly so you should devise a plan for new and refreshed content that you can post at least twice a month. Adding a blog/news area like this one is the most popular way of keeping your website fresh, why not get started today.
