Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell Google where you’d like to rank and for which keywords? Sure it would! Because we all know that the higher a website ranks in the search engines, the more traffic it receives. But if ranking were this easy, the search engines would be filled with irrelevant, low-quality results. The good news is that you can still climb the search rankings by planning and executing a proper search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
Consider Search Volume and Competition
When researching target keywords for your SEO strategy, consider both search volume and competition. Just because a keyword has hundreds of thousands of monthly searches doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good choice to target. Perhaps there are an equal amount of websites competing for that keyword, in which case you’ll have a difficult time ranking for it.
Use Inbound Marketing to Attract Links
Backlinks — both quality and quantity — remain a major ranking signal used by all of the major search engines. Rather than buying links, though, you should attract them naturally through inbound marketing. Inbound marketing involves the creation of high-quality content that encourages users to take action. If you publish content that’s relevant to your target audience, some of them may link to your website, giving your website an SEO boost.
Make it Mobile Friendly
If your website isn’t compatible on mobile devices, you’ll face an uphill battle trying to increase your search rankings. Both Google and Bing have announced mobile compatibility as a ranking signal, meaning mobile-friendly websites will rank higher than their non-mobile-friendly counterparts. Consider using a Responsive Web Design (RWD) to ensure your website is compatible on all devices, including smartphones and tablets.
Content Strategy
I guess you could say this goes hand in hand with inbound market. Nevertheless, it’s important to plan your website’s content well in advance. What topics will you write about? Will you create your site’s content by hand or outsource it elsewhere? How will you share your site’s content? What keywords do you want to target with your content? These are all questions you should try to answer when planning your content strategy.
Use Bing’s SEO Analyzer
Bing has a helpful (and free) tool that can assist webmasters in optimizing their website for higher search rankings. The SEO Analyzer does exactly what it sounds like: it checks to see if your website follows the best practices for search engine visibility. When the tool is finished, it provides a report of any and all issues it encountered, along with recommendations on how to fix them.
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