Digital marketing has become a complex and very precise field. With the tightening up of rules and the changes to search engine algorithms, website creators can no longer cut corners to gain page rankings. This means that your site must be authentically produced and curated for users. One way to improve your page rankings is to offer great content that is engaging and relevant, in addition to containing keywords and links.
You must also ensure that the backlinks leading to your site also come from well-written, original content with good domain authority. You might consider posting a guest article on a well-ranked website, which links back to your own site, as a way to improve ranking. Whichever way you go about creating good quality content, you can make use of this guide to ensure your content meets the right standard, every time.
Keyword Placement
It is important to include your main keywords in the first two sentences of your content. This is because search engines pay more attention to the keywords at the beginning of an article.
No Copies
Do not use the same copy over and over. Search engines do not pay attention to content after it has been indexed the first time. Every piece of content, regardless of where it appears (titles, descriptions, landing page, meta tags, and everything else that appears in a website), must be unique.
Title Tags
Make sure you use effective title tags for good SEO tagging. Use the most efficient words in your title to link to your subject. Don’t be obscure. Try to bring your keyword to the front of the title, but not at the expense of readability.
Backlinks
When (and if) you accept guest posts on your site, make sure that the content and the site you are linking to are reliable, recognized and good quality.
Internal Links
These are good for building domain authority. Short-cuts between pages and links between old and new pages are the best way to do this.
Ads
If you publish adverts on your site, do not shunt all of them to the part of the page your audience will see first, without having to scroll. It may seem like good business sense because you can charge more for this placement, but search engines will penalize you for doing this.
Keyword Frequency
Do not keep using the same keywords over and over again in your content. It is called “stuffing” and the crawlers do not like it. Neither do readers, and you will not only lose rankings, you will lose your audience, too.
Speed
Websites which take a long time to load should be avoided at all costs. If your page loads slowly, go for a restructure to make it faster. This is usually a symptom of an overly complex design with too many elements reliant on each other. Keep it simple.
Security
A simple site is also easier to update in terms of security protocols. Security is something that search engines (and users) really like, so keep your security features up to date. This is best done when you don’t have overlapping elements and other complex moving parts.
Paid Links
There is no general consensus yet on paid links in the digital marketing world. Like paid search results, it is accepted that they are a second place to organic results, which are viewed by users as more genuine and thus more trusted. Some SEO agencies will recommend buying some high quality permanent backlinks, and others will recommend against it. If you buy or sell backlinks, they must be good quality with a high domain authority, and they must be relevant and useful to your audience.
Has your marketing or SEO agency recommended you get a regular edu guest post on a recognized and trusted website? It may sound a bit wild, but this is one way to create great SEO content.
Images
Search engine crawlers use image file names and alt text to index images. When you name your images, use words that describe the image precisely, and create alt text with keywords that will link the image to the right subject matter. This will help to improve your image rankings.
Use The Tools
Many search engines offer a range of analytical software applications which will help you to track the progress of any improvements or changes you have made to your site, and understand the best way to make your site crawler-friendly, to improve your ranking. Use them to your advantage.
Sharing is Caring
Include share buttons on your site, especially on the feedback page to allow your users an easy way to share your site. This is a good way to create links.
UX
User experience is the term used to describe how the web user reacts to his or her experience, and it is a growing focus in digital marketing. Always consider UX in your content creation strategies. If your content and access is engaging, relatable and easy, your users will have a positive experience and this can only result in good rankings with your customers, which is the final objective of the whole SEO exercise.