How To Improve Website SEO

To increase website traffic, it is essential to learn about the basic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) technique. One option is to leave everything up to a professional service or a large, reliable company. Obviously, there will be a cost involved. Whether you rely on these services or do it yourself, without knowing the reason behind the importance of SEO you would likely struggle to expand your business.

Most of the major search engines such as Google and Bing determine the website ranks by using an algorithm, such as the amount and content provided on each page, as well as the level of "optimization" provided on the page.

How To Improve Website SEO

There's a variety of proven strategies to elevate your website's SEO. Here are some basic techniques and fundamental principles, that help you enhance visibility, drive more organic traffic, and improve your rankings.

1. Use Relevant Keywords

It is critical that you find keywords that are related to the topic of your post so that search engines consider the page as relevant and invite web users to your page by ranking it high.

My recommendation is Jaaxy, as I reviewed a while ago, as it offers many extra functions such as keyword competition rates, how many searches are made in a month, and other high-ranked websites using the same keywords.

Try targeting niche keywords with low competition and make it specific. For example, the keyword "fashion" would be too broad with millions of competitors and there's no uniqueness, whereas "men's accessories" would be less competitive, and "men's hats" would be even less.

If you run an antique furniture shop in New York, you'd like to set your keyword as "antique furniture shop New York" rather than just "antique shop". Therefore before deciding your keywords you need to check how competitive they are using Jaaxy for example.

Use the word(s) several times throughout the page naturally, i.e. don't use the same words over & over again or mix irrelevant words in meaninglessly to the page content. These are called "old black-hat SEO techniques", your website may be penalized by the search engines and it will risk removal from their index.

Title Tag and META Description Tag

The most relevant keywords should be in the title. Search engines allow up to 60 characters in the title. META Description tag once used to be important but is now considered less, because Google and Yahoo do not utilize it in the ranking process, although some other engines still do.

2. Choose Good and Right Domain Name

If you choose the keyword in the domain name, it will help increase the web traffic. Domain names should have longevity and be unique enough to attract visitors too. You should buy a domain name rather than to use a free service. Free service (Subdomain such as example.yahoo.com tends to be ranked lower.

Namecheap.com and Godaddy.com are popular to obtain your domain name from, as they're reliable and for reasonable prices (around $10 per year). My No. 1 recommendation is Siterubix.com, as it offers web hosting by Wealthy Affiliate within the same platform. Meaning if you have any problem you receive almost an instant reply from experts.

3. Create Unique Content

The page content has to have quality and has its originality. It is essential to write an article with your own words. Copying & pasting paragraphs from other sites would be stealing and duplicating, therefore not only your site penalised by the search engines but it will harm the original site.

Text should be no misspellings, and should grammatically make sense. Grammar checker programs such as Grammarly.com may be useful.

It's also important for your page to have a clear intention and not to mislead or confuse the readers. The content of your article should be what's described in the search engine.

Your website design should have an up-to-date, modern look to attract visitors. You can hire a professional web designer but by learning how your site should laid out, which colors are used, and how images are placed, it will create your own uniqueness. And more importantly, you should use the latest web publishing platform. Old software may use JavaScript or Flash in navigation instead of HTML, which cannot be picked up by search engines.

4. Create A Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of your content pages. Search engines read this file to crawl your website. It can provide the structure of your site, how often it is updated, and when it was last updated. In the beginning, your website has few external links. Search engine web crawlers will be able to find links from one page to another. 

Also as you add more content/pages, your website will be larger and more complex. The sitemap will help web crawlers to find the latest pages easily.

5. Join Google Business Profile

Joining Google Business Profile won't directly boost your website's ranking in organic search results. But still, it's good to improve your local SEO and increase website visibility for local searches. Here's how:

Local Search Results

Google prioritizes businesses with a verified and optimized Google Business Profile in local searches. People searching for businesses near them will see your profile prominently displayed on Google Maps and Search results,including information like address, phone number, website link, opening hours, and customer reviews.

Improved User Engagement

A well-maintained Google Business Profile allows you to showcase your business with high-quality photos,informative descriptions, and product/service listings. This can attract potential customers and encourage them to visit your website.

Building Credibility

Positive customer reviews on your Google Business Profile build trust and credibility, potentially influencing users to choose your business. Responding to reviews (both positive and negative) shows you're engaged with your customers.

Indirect SEO Benefits

While not a direct ranking factor, Google may consider a well-managed Google Business Profile as a positive signal of a legitimate and active business. This can contribute to an overall positive perception by search engines.

6. Other Tips on How to Improve Website SEO

Headings, Bold, Italics

Search Engines consider the importance of keywords according to the size of the font, expressed in HTML code as <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, and so on. The title is usually set for the largest font <h1> and, you should use the 2nd largest heading font <h2> for sub-titles which should contain similar keywords. With any web publishing platform, there should be a heading size indicator, such as at the top menu.

Bold and Italics can also be focused by search engines. Therefore headings sizes, bold, and Italics should be used according to the importance. However, they shouldn't be overused, as it can make the entire article look messy.

Good Backlinks

When another website links to your page, it is called a backlink, or inward/incoming link. It only works in your favor if the other website is more popular (i.e. more visitors) than yours. There are several ways to build backlinks to your site; submit your site to a web directory such as Dmoz.org, press release distribution, and link exchange with other websites, if you are a good writer, guest blogging on someone else's site is another way.

Avoid Spam Comments

Use an anti-spam comment plugin and avoid any spam comments on your website. Comments with spam links have adverse effects on your site and, therefore should be deleted immediately. Equally, you should not spam other websites to build backlinks to your site. It will likely be for search engines to remove your site from their index permanently.