1.Perform Keyword Research
Keyword research is still very useful in 2023. While it is no longer about filling your content with keywords and meeting a certain density in articles, keywords do still offer an opportunity to identify topics, related topics and questions that will get a lot of impressions. The idea is to identify searcher intent and offer great content to support inquiries.
Three things to pay attention to when conducting your research:
Volume: The number of times the keyword is searched across all audiences. This will help you know what is being searched for and how likely it is you will be able to rank.
Relevance: You will only rank for a keyword if it meets the searchers’ needs. In order to rank higher than competitors, you must be the best resource for the query.
Authority: What pages currently rank for a particular search? Dig deeper and take a look at what kinds of questions the content is answering.
2.Optimize Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
Often overlooked but super easy to implement, page titles and meta descriptions can make it more likely that someone clicks on your result through to your site. The page title should accurately reflect what the article is about. It should be long enough to entice the reader, but short enough to make the meaning and purpose of the page clear to both users and search engines. Meta descriptions should be quick, one- to two-sentence summaries of the content within your web page. They should tell the reader what they can expect to find after clicking on your link.
FYI: Oftentimes, social media platforms will pull title and description from the SEO page title and description.
Yoast offers a great meta description writing guide. Check it out here.
3.Create Page Structure using Headings and HTML Tags
Headings give both your visitors and search engines important clues about the content’s hierarchy and relevancy. Headings come in six levels: H1 through H6, of which headings H1, H2 and H3 are most frequently used. Headings are defined in a page’s HTML. Visitors use headings to quickly scan a page to determine whether it looks relevant for them. Search engines use headings to understand a page’s structure and what topics it’s about.
4.Use schema markup
Schema is a form of microdata that, once added to a webpage, creates an enhanced description that will appear in search results. It powers Rich Snippets. Schema helps search engines crawl better and have a clearer understanding of the information on your page. There are 32 different types of schema and Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper makes it easy to generate the schema you choose.
5.Optimize Images
File names and alt-text help search engines and visually impaired website users understand what an image is about. Take the time to add descriptive file names and keyword laden alt-text to your images. Also, ensure that you are using proper image sizing. You can further compress images for additional savings on page load time and increased site speed.
SEO is a never a quick fix. Optimization takes time. Crawling and Indexing take time. Results must be measured, analyzed and used to make changes to keep getting results. These are only a few of many strategies and best practices for optimization. But, just by implementing these basic things, you will have a great foundation moving forward.
