According to JG Bezuidenhout from Offernet, it’s important for website owners to keep updated on the latest SEO trends that come out yearly. This way, you can keep your site current and one step ahead of the competition.
SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the process of improving the ranking of a website on search engines. The higher the ranking, the more likely people are to find it. While there are many complex aspects to SEO, there are also some basic principles that anyone can follow.
While many website owners want their site to be up-to-date with the latest trends, some of the older methods for rankings still hold importance. This cheat sheet will walk you through the basics of SEO and provide some tips for getting your website ranked higher.
Set up Google Search Console to improve your website ranking
SEO is a process that takes time and effort to improve website ranking. However, there are some things website owners can do to help the process along. One of those things is to set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Google Search Console is a free tool that helps website owners understand how their website performs on Google search results pages. It also provides insights on how to improve visibility and traffic.
Don’t forget about Bing Webmaster Tools
Although Google is the king of search engines, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sign up for Bing or other competitors. Bing Webmaster Tools can give you different insights into how your website performs on its search engine. It’s also important to ensure your website is registered with other search engines like Yahoo and DuckDuckGo.
Set up Google Analytics
One of the most important aspects of SEO is tracking your website’s analytics. This will help you understand where your website visitors are coming from, what pages they’re visiting, and how long they’re staying on your site.
Google Analytics is a free tool that provides all this information and more. It’s important to have Google Analytics set up on your website so you can track your website’s progress and make necessary changes along the way.
Create and submit your sitemap
A sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the URLs on your website. This file helps search engines index your website and understand its structure. You can create a sitemap using different tools, such as XML Sitemaps or Yoast SEO. Once you have created your sitemap, you can submit it to Google and Bing. This will help them better index your website and understand its structure. This, in turn, will help improve your website ranking.
Create a robots.txt file
A robots.txt file is a file that tells search engines which pages on your website they can and cannot crawl. This is a helpful tool for website owners who want to restrict access to certain parts of their websites.
You can create a robots.txt file using different tools, such as RobotsGenerator or XML-Sitemaps. Once you have created your robots.txt file, you can submit it to Google and Bing.
Make sure the Search Engines can crawl and index your website
To ensure that your website can be crawled and indexed by search engines, you must ensure that it is correctly set up and formatted. This includes setting up Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. You should also create a robots.txt file to restrict access to certain parts of your website and submit it to the search engines.
Design for mobile first
Making sure your website is mobile-friendly is important for two reasons. First, because more and more people are using their phones to browse the web, and second because Google now uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor.
There are a few things you can do to make your website more mobile-friendly. One is to use a responsive design. This means that the website will adapt to the size of the screen it’s being viewed on. You can also use a mobile-specific template or create separate pages for mobile and desktop users. If you’re unsure how your website looks on different devices, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to check.
Optimise oversized images
One thing you can do to help improve your website ranking is to check for oversized image files. Oversized image files can slow down your website and cause it to rank lower in search engine results pages. You can use the image optimisation tool ImageOptim to compress your image files and reduce their size. This will help improve your website’s performance and ranking.
Detect broken links and missing pages
Broken links and missing pages can also impact your website ranking. If search engines come across broken links or missing pages on your website, they will assume that your website is outdated and not worth ranking.
Use a descriptive URL
Using a descriptive URL can also help improve your website ranking. A descriptive URL is a URL that accurately describes the page it is on. For example, if you have a page about SEO, your URL should ideally be www.example.com/seo. This will help search engines understand what your page is about and index it accordingly.
Use title tags, meta descriptions, and image tags
Title tags, meta descriptions and image tags are all important elements of SEO. They help search engines understand what your website is about and index it accordingly.
A title tag is the title of a web page. It appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given result. A good title tag should be accurate, relevant and descriptive.
A meta description is a short description of a web page that appears in the SERPs beneath the title tag. A good meta-description should be accurate, relevant and persuasive. It should also include keywords that are relevant to the page it is describing. An image tag is an HTML element that allows you to add keywords to an image. This helps search engines understand what the image is about and index it accordingly.
To sum up, using title tags, meta descriptions and image tags can help improve your website ranking by helping search engines understand what your website is about and index it accordingly.
Use keywords strategically
Using keywords strategically can also help improve your website ranking. When you use keywords in your titles, meta descriptions and content, it helps search engines understand what your website is about and index it accordingly.
However, you should avoid keyword stuffing, which is the act of cramming as many keywords into your titles, meta descriptions and content as possible in an attempt to rank higher in the SERPs. Not only is this considered spammy and unethical, but it can also hurt your website’s ranking. Instead, focus on using a few strategic keywords throughout your website. This will help search engines understand what your website is about and index it accordingly.
Link building
Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own. Links are important for SEO because they help search engines understand how popular your website is. The more links you have pointing to your website, the higher your website will rank in the SERPs.
There are a few ways to build links to your website. One is to create high-quality content that other websites will want to link to. Another is to reach out to other websites and ask them to link to your website.
Use social media to your advantage
Social media can also be used to build links to your website. When you post high-quality content on social media, other users will share it, which will help increase the reach of your website. Additionally, you can use social media to reach out to other websites and ask them to link to your website.
SEO is an ever-changing landscape, but by following the tips in this SEO cheat sheet, you can give your website a boost in the SERPs. Stay up-to-date on the latest SEO news and trends to ensure that your website continues to rank well.
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