Boost Your 2019 SEO Strategy With These 5 Tips
Online traffic is key for many businesses who rely on leads and conversions for business. Providing search engine optimized content not only increases organic traffic, but helps increases lead generation and potential sales.
The days of stuffing your text with keywords have long passed, as Google and other web engines have grown, constantly adjusting their ranking algorithms as they improve the quality of the results that users are served. With constant changes, it can be challenging to stay on top of the latest trends in SEO. Here are 5 best practices to keep in mind as we step into 2019.
1. Aim for value in long-form content and keywords
In most cases, a 500-word blog post won’t cut it anymore. Comprehensive, in-depth topical content provides more value to readers, and Google recognizes that. Research from Backlinko shows that long-form content ranks higher on search engine results, with an average first-page result at 1,890 words!
Long-form content also helps ease keyword stuffing, as you can insert more related keywords, all working to improve the chances of ranking for a related core keyword set. The more content you provide for a reader, the more you can offer all the answers they need for a certain topic. By providing value through content that is both optimized for search engines as well as people, readers spend more time on-page and Google in turn will rank your content higher.
2. Optimize for voice search and featured snippets
Prime real estate on a search engines results page is the featured snippet. Typically known as “position 0”, featured snippets are the first box of text you see on a results page. They also play a huge role in voice search. When you ask Siri or Alexa a question, more often than not, the answer she reads to you is pulled from the featured snippet.
Getting a featured snippet can be considered an SEO goldmine. Writing content geared toward taking this position should be on the top of any writer’s mind. Although Google is very secretive about what it takes to get your content featured in the snippet, there are some rules of thumb to go by.
To get a featured snippet, identify a common, simple question related to your market area. FAQ’s are a great resource for this. Content that is longer, comprehensive and easy to read are more likely to be on top. Preferences can also include if the answer to the question is at the top of the page and if the article is formatted in an ordered or unordered list.
3. Get rid of low-quality backlinks
Getting backlinks can be a sign of successful content, helping to gain momentum and views. However, having a high count of backlinks isn’t always a good thing. In fact, toxic backlinks can be hurting your rankings on Google or other search engines.
Most bad links are qualified as toxic if they are one of the following:
- A spam site
- Site only created for link building (directories)
- Link network
- Site not indexed by Google
- Site that has a virus or malware
High-quality links from a variety of domains help give your site and content credibility and value, letting Google know that you are offering a reliable source of trustworthy content. However, a flush of low-quality backlinks from destinations like directories or article spinning links can have a bad impact on credibility and rankings.
Google does allow you to disavow these bad links, so they cannot be counted against you.
When choosing a topic for content, it can be helpful to look at competitors’ sites and see what links they have for each piece of content, making sure you are writing content that these same websites would be interested in linking to. You want people to care enough about the content that they will link to it.
4. Craft Compelling Headlines
The first impression your reader will get of the content, a headline is the key factor in determining if people are going to click into your content or not. In any online search, hundreds if not thousands of articles, websites and blogs are vying for a searchers attention. Crafting a compelling headline is crucial in getting engagement with your content.
Engaging headlines can include descriptive phrases, numbers and “how-to’s”. It is also important to include your keyword in the headline and the slug to increase search visibility.
5. Mobile-first index
A report from Search Engine Land shows that mobile traffic has surpassed desktop traffic for the first time ever, as mobile and tablet devices account for over 50% of internet usage. This makes it imperative that your content is accessible in a mobile format. When Google began mobile-first indexing, they changed the process of how content and websites are ranked.
Google expects your sites to be mobile-first, meaning how it performs on mobile dictates the search rankings. It is essential now that the content you write looks (and performs) good not only on a desktop, but on a mobile version as well.
Nothing dissuades a reader more than a never-ending chunk of text with no paragraph breaks or subheadings. Shorter paragraphs and sporadic subheadings are a couple ways to break up the monotony of a page. Include elements such as numbered lists, bullet points or multimedia to make it even more appealing.
Updating your SEO strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. These tips can help your content reach broader audiences and have better visibility in search. If you would like more information about integrating an SEO strategy, give me a holler!