SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is still effective in 2023 and will continue to be important for the foreseeable future.
The basic principles of SEO remain the same: to make your website more visible to search engines and improve your organic search rankings. While search engines are constantly evolving and refining their algorithms, the core principles of SEO, such as keyword research, content optimization, and link building, still apply.
In fact, with the growth of the internet and the increasing importance of online visibility for businesses and organizations, SEO has become even more critical in recent years. As more and more people turn to search engines to find information, products, and services, businesses that prioritize SEO can gain a competitive advantage and reach a wider audience.
Of course, the specific strategies and tactics used in SEO will continue to evolve as search engines become more sophisticated, and new technologies emerge. As a result, it’s essential to stay up-to-date with the latest SEO best practices and trends to ensure that your website remains optimized for search engines and visible to your target audience.
10 core strategies to improve SEO on your website
- Conduct keyword research: Research and identify relevant keywords for your website’s niche and target audience. Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to find relevant keywords that have high search volumes and low competition.
- Optimize your website’s structure: Ensure that your website has a clear structure and is easy to navigate. Use descriptive URLs, and organize your content into categories and subcategories. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl your site and understand its content.
- Write high-quality content: Produce high-quality and original content that is relevant to your audience and the keywords you are targeting. Aim to provide value and be informative to your visitors.
- Optimize your page titles and meta descriptions: Create unique and descriptive page titles and meta descriptions that accurately reflect the content on the page. These elements help to improve click-through rates and increase traffic.
- Use header tags and internal linking: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content and make it more readable. Use internal linking to help visitors navigate your website and encourage them to spend more time on your site.
- Optimize your images: Optimize your images by compressing them and adding alt text. This makes it easier for search engines to understand your content and increases the likelihood of your images appearing in image search results.
- Improve your website speed: Ensure that your website loads quickly by optimizing images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and reducing the number of HTTP requests. A faster website provides a better user experience and can improve your search engine rankings.
- Build high-quality backlinks: Create high-quality backlinks by reaching out to other websites in your niche, creating shareable content, and using social media to promote your content. This improves your website’s authority and can increase your search engine rankings.
- Use social media: Promote your website and content on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This can help to increase traffic and engagement with your website.
- Monitor and analyze your website’s performance: Use tools such as Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor your website’s performance and identify areas for improvement. Analyze your website’s traffic, bounce rate, and other metrics to improve your website’s search engine optimization.
How to tell if your existing website is SEO optimised
There are a few ways to tell if your existing website is SEO optimized. Here are some things to look for:
- Check if your website is indexed: The first thing to check is whether your website is indexed by search engines. To do this, type “site:yourdomain.com” (replace “yourdomain.com” with your website’s URL) into Google’s search bar. This will show you a list of all the pages that Google has indexed for your site. If your site doesn’t appear, it’s likely that search engines haven’t found or indexed your website yet.
- Check your website’s speed: A fast-loading website is critical for good SEO. You can check your website’s speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom. These tools will analyze your site and provide suggestions on how to improve its speed.
- Check your website’s content: Make sure your website has high-quality, relevant, and unique content that is optimized for your target keywords. Ensure your content is easy to read, includes proper headings, and includes internal linking to help users and search engines navigate your site.
- Check your website’s URL structure: URLs should be clean, short, and descriptive. If your URLs contain long strings of numbers or don’t make sense, it’s a good indication that they haven’t been optimized for SEO.
- Check your website’s meta tags: Ensure your website has unique and descriptive meta titles and descriptions. Meta tags are a crucial element for SEO, and they should accurately reflect the content of your web pages.
- Check your website’s mobile-friendliness: Google places a high importance on mobile-friendliness. You can check if your website is mobile-friendly by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
- Check for broken links: Broken links can negatively impact your website’s SEO. Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush or Google Search Console to check for broken links on your website and fix them as soon as possible.
If you find that your website is not SEO optimized, it’s essential to address the issues as soon as possible to ensure that your website is visible and discoverable by search engines and your target audience.