Quick ways to improve SEO

The enormous benefits of having high search engine rankings is well known to us. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a powerful tool that can give a serious boost to the search engine rankings, enabling marketers to push up their search engine rankings overnight. And the best part is, SEO is not rocket science. It is pretty simple to work once we get the hang of it. Here are 10 simple SEO tips that will not only supercharge your search engine rankings, but will also improve the impression that your site makes on search engines and visitors alike:

The enormous benefits of having high search engine rankings is well known to us. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a powerful tool that can give a serious boost to the search engine rankings, enabling marketers to push up their search engine rankings overnight. And the best part is, SEO is not rocket science. It is pretty simple to work once we get the hang of it. Here are 10 simple SEO tips that will not only supercharge your search engine rankings, but will also improve the impression that your site makes on search engines and visitors alike:

1. Increase the size of posts:

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In the pre-Google-update scenario, it was considered better to write 10 different posts each of 100 words, rather than one giant 1000 word post. However, following the Penguin and Panda updates, the reverse is true. Now one long post is considered more valuable by Google than a number of relatively short posts. Start increasing the average size of the posts, keeping a minimum post length of 300 words, and preferably keeping the size within the 600-2000 words range.

2. Include more images:

Who likes to read drab, boring text with no pictures? No one! Including images in content will certainly and significantly improve its overall appeal. But just adding images randomly won’t do. Include the alt attributes within image tags because search engines like Google read the alt attributes.

3. Name images properly:

One more thing that you need to keep in mind while adding images to content is proper naming of images. Google’s image search picks up on the image names so it is essential to include keywords in the image names. Provide an accurate description of the image not only in the file name, but also in the alt attribute. Instead of using underscores between words, go for dashes. And of course, stay away from non-alpha characters.

4. Name pages properly:

It is a matter of vital importance to give each page in the site a proper, descriptive name using the ‘<title>’ tag. When the site’s pages appear in Google’s search results, the page’s link appears in the form of page title. In case the pages are left unnamed, the link will appear as ‘Untitled’ which may appear unappealing and awkward to visitors. Also try to use some important keyword phrases within the page title.

5. Internal page linking:

Including links to other relevant pages in the site is a great way to indicate to Google that the site has strong relevancy to the concerned keyword. It is also useful in retaining users on the site by giving them a chance to explore the site, thereby reducing bounce rates.

Basically, internal page linking helps in using the content on other pages of the site to improve the site’s search engine rankings and its overall appeal to users.

6. Include a Robots.txt file

This text file assists the search spiders in indexing the site. It is located in the server’s root directory and indicates to the search spider which pages are to be indexed. If any page is not indexed, that page won’t make it to the search results. Thus, you won’t get any traffic for that page and lose out on the advantage of internal linking. So, it is pretty evident that this little text file is important to the site’s search engine ranking. You need to ensure that the Robots.txt file is properly formatted or some of the pages may?accidentally?not be indexed.

7. Add a Site Map

A site map is important for two reasons- not only does it help visitors find what they are looking for, it also enables search engines to locate each page in the site and then index it. However, do ensure that the site map complies with the new sitemap format given by Google. You need to make sure that the entries in the site map are intuitive enough while being logically arranged in groups in order to present an efficient and accurate blueprint of the complete site.

8. Embrace social media

Social media has grown aggressively and rapidly over the past 3-4 years and any SEOer would be amiss to ignore the benefits offered by social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. It is important to enhance the website’s presence on these networks by creating a page and engaging regularly with followers. But what’s most important is to add social media widgets to the site so that readers may ‘like’ or ‘share’ content that they find interesting. This will help in bringing in more traffic. Also, make sure to add a ‘like’ widget to the homepage so that visitors may ‘like’ the page on Facebook and thus be able to receive updates in the future.

1. Increase the size of posts:

In the pre-Google-update scenario, it was considered better to write 10 different posts each of 100 words, rather than one giant 1000 word post. However, following the Penguin and Panda updates, the reverse is true. Now one long post is considered more valuable by Google than a number of relatively short posts. Start increasing the average size of the posts, keeping a minimum post length of 300 words, and preferably keeping the size within the 600-2000 words range.

2. Include more images:

Who likes to read drab, boring text with no pictures? No one! Including images in content will certainly and significantly improve its overall appeal. But just adding images randomly won’t do. Include the alt attributes within image tags because search engines like Google read the alt attributes.

3. Name images properly:

One more thing that you need to keep in mind while adding images to content is proper naming of images. Google’s image search picks up on the image names so it is essential to include keywords in the image names. Provide an accurate description of the image not only in the file name, but also in the alt attribute. Instead of using underscores between words, go for dashes. And of course, stay away from non-alpha characters.

4. Name pages properly:

It is a matter of vital importance to give each page in the site a proper, descriptive name using the ‘<title>’ tag. When the site’s pages appear in Google’s search results, the page’s link appears in the form of page title. In case the pages are left unnamed, the link will appear as ‘Untitled’ which may appear unappealing and awkward to visitors. Also try to use some important keyword phrases within the page title.

5. Internal page linking:

Including links to other relevant pages in the site is a great way to indicate to Google that the site has strong relevancy to the concerned keyword. It is also useful in retaining users on the site by giving them a chance to explore the site, thereby reducing bounce rates.

Basically, internal page linking helps in using the content on other pages of the site to improve the site’s search engine rankings and its overall appeal to users.

6. Include a Robots.txt file

This text file assists the search spiders in indexing the site. It is located in the server’s root directory and indicates to the search spider which pages are to be indexed. If any page is not indexed, that page won’t make it to the search results. Thus, you won’t get any traffic for that page and lose out on the advantage of internal linking. So, it is pretty evident that this little text file is important to the site’s search engine ranking. You need to ensure that the Robots.txt file is properly formatted or some of the pages may?accidentally?not be indexed.

7. Add a Site Map

A site map is important for two reasons- not only does it help visitors find what they are looking for, it also enables search engines to locate each page in the site and then index it. However, do ensure that the site map complies with the new sitemap format given by Google. You need to make sure that the entries in the site map are intuitive enough while being logically arranged in groups in order to present an efficient and accurate blueprint of the complete site.

8. Embrace social media

Social media has grown aggressively and rapidly over the past 3-4 years and any SEOer would be amiss to ignore the benefits offered by social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. It is important to enhance the website’s presence on these networks by creating a page and engaging regularly with followers. But what’s most important is to add social media widgets to the site so that readers may ‘like’ or ‘share’ content that they find interesting. This will help in bringing in more traffic. Also, make sure to add a ‘like’ widget to the homepage so that visitors may ‘like’ the page on Facebook and thus be able to receive updates in the future.