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Category: SEO

Why You Should Understand Searchers’ Intent

Are there times when you wonder why your contents do not rank for certain keywords? You may have been racking your brain on how to gain better visibility on Google. Well, what if you just did not understand searchers intent?

You may have heard the term ‘search intent’, but not sure what it means. Do not bother yourself much, as this article is here to help you understand your users’ search intent, and how it can affect your content strategy.

What is Search Intent?

An illustration with the text, "search intent"

Supposing you were searching for a term on a search engine, wouldn’t you have a reason for searching? That’s how search intent works. When a person conducts a search online, they have a main purpose in mind. For example, they might be thinking about buying a new laptop and they’re researching different kinds of laptops.

In my own definition, which may be a general definition, search intent is the main purpose, or reason behind every search. Someone just searching to see different hairstyles, may be searching with the purpose of finding a new hairstyle. Same with someone searching for recipes; he or she may be searching with the intent of finding the recipe for velvet cakes.

Today, SEOs focus on search intent because Google’s changing algorithms makes it clear that content relevance gets more important by each day. Basically, Google will rank pages that best answer a searcher’s query.

Look at this instance: if someone searches ‘nail salon in California’, a list of local stores may show up, after which some search results will come. Google understands that the searcher is looking for a local store to get his or her nails done. So, local stores come up first. If that searcher refines their search to a more specific location, an even more specific set of stores would show up. This is because Google understands search intent.

It knows that the searcher wants to get their nails done, and it not only brings up a set of local stores, but also generates alternative terms for them.

In short, the search engine understands their search intent, and offers them suggestions to meet their needs.

How to Know and Understand Searchers’ Intent

Just like Google, when you create content, you need to do the same: understand what your searcher wants through the keywords and terms they use, to develop content.

Search intent is quite different from keywords. When you perform keyword research, you want to know what keywords you want your site to rank for. But when you try to know your searcher’s intent, you try to answer users’ query, and this would in turn, help your site rank.

Below are are few steps to knowing your searcher’s intent;

Knowing your ideal customer:

There is nothing as effective as knowing who your customers are. This is why researches are carried out by marketers, to know and understand what their customers like. When you know your customers, you can create a good consumer persona.

Here’s how to do this;

  • Like I said earlier, research. This could be going on the social media platforms you can find your customers, getting to know their interests, etc
  • Understand the needs of your existing customers, what they like about your products or services, and what they’d like you to improve on
  • Take note of the information you gather
  • Create a user persona with all that information

That’s how you get to know your customers. Understanding customers and their needs is the first step to knowing their intent for searching for something.

Topic research:

While you make your customer research, you will come across topics that your customers talk about. These may not exactly be about your services or products, but may be related. These topics will then link them to your products.

It is wise to do more research on those topics, because it is those topics that will convert your product pages. And this is not just about your products, this is about what interests your customers.

When they find interesting, satisfying and helpful topics on your site, they do not hesitate to come back.

So, topic research helps you understand what your searcher talks about, what interests him/her. This helps you understand why they search for stuff.

Competitive research:

User persona and topic research sound just okay, but they are not all you can do.

Performing competitive research will help you understand how your competitors in your industry are serving users. It will help you find out other topics of interest you may not know, that your searchers talk about. You may also find out some areas of faulting that you can take advantage of!

No, this is in no way criminal or spying. In fact, as you read this, a competitor may be running research on your site!

Occasional competitive research will do you more good than you’d expect. It will also help you stay updated on industry trends. What’s more, you know how you can improve your understanding of searcher’s intent.

Keyword research:

It is only imperative that after a series of research, you finalize your efforts with another research; keyword research.

When you understand your user persona, you understand the kind of keywords they use often. A wise thing to do, is run a research for keywords that will rank for their query.

Topic research gives you topics, whose keywords you must research and refine.

With competitive research, you can see keywords that your competitors rank for. This is not to say you must use those same keywords. Competitors keywords should only give you ideas on what kind of keywords your users search for. So, more research.

Keyword research is as important as search intent itself. This is because while the search intent is the purpose, the keywords are the tools that brings answers to user queries.

Note that not all keywords may rank. But targeting low volume keywords with medium to low SEO difficulty may be better.

Types of Search Intent

The different types of search intent

There are four types of search intent I’d like you to know: navigational, informational, commercial, and transactional.

Let’s take a look at these;

Navigational Intent

This is the type of search intent that involves something a searcher already knows, or something specific about a brand or website that the searcher has been associated with, before.

You may have had the intent of logging in to your dashboard owned by a brand, and you may use something like “Facebook login” to search for that website on the search engine. Or even something like “Hearty cakes photos”, because you have come across a local store called Hearty Cakes before, and want to go back to view photos of cakes there. That is you using a navigational search intent to conduct a search.

For navigational search intent, navigational keywords should be used. Navigational keywords usually look like this: “brand name + name of products or services” or “brand name + action you want to take”

Informational Intent

This intent is used when people are seeking information on your website. The intent behind the search, is information. Could be on a certain topic, trend, recipe, etc.

The thing about this intent is that users  might not have prior knowledge of what they’re looking for, but they may use keywords to guide their search. Take for example, you type something like “how to use chop sticks”. Maybe before you thought of conducting that search, you had no idea how to use two sticks to eat noodles.

People usually begin their search journey with informational intent. They want to know about what it is that they want to indulge in. For example, someone may be thinking of switching careers, or trying to buy something.

For informational intent, informational keywords should be used. Informational keywords look like this: “how to use charcoal mask”, “what is Microsoft HoloLens”, “who is the owner of Google”, “ideas for small weddings”, etc. These keywords usually begin with “how”, “what”, “who”, “where”, etc.

Knowing how to target this type of search intent helps improve your website’s ranking and bring in more traffic. To do that, you have to;

  • Make your website well organized and easy to navigate, so that people who search for information will find it quickly
  • Use keywords that are relevant to your topic
  • Give answers to the questions people commonly ask. You can use “people also ask” on Google for this
  • Provide valuable content that answers those questions, and meet the needs of your audience

Informational searchers look for accurate and reliable information. You want to make sure you give them what they’re looking for.

Commercial Intent

Commercial intent is quite synonymous to informational intent. This is because a searcher with commercial intent is looking for more information; to learn more about something they may or not purchase. The searcher already has basic information on the product or service he or she is looking for, but wants to know more, so that he or she can make informed purchasing decision.

You can determine this intent by the keywords searchers use. Commercial keywords look like this: “best Lexus model to buy”, “top in-demand skills to acquire”, “pricing of chandeliers”, “reviews for Microsoft HoloLens”, etc. Commercial keywords usually begin with “best”, “top”, “review”, etc.

Transactional Intent

This intent is used when a searcher is  actively looking to buy a product, or hire a service. This is usually the end of a searcher’s journey.

Here, searchers may have already gotten information on what they want to purchase, gone through the commercial stage, and are now in the buying stage.

It is here that they use transactional keywords such as; “order pepperoni pizza”, “buy Nike air max”, “cheap cargo pants near me”, etc.

Note that users may use different intents in one keyword. An example is this: “where to buy the best Google SEO course”. Look at that keyword; long tail keyword beginning with informational, then transactional, then commercial, and finally, navigational keyword. It is for this reason that you should try to answer users’ queries.

Why Search Intent is Important For SEO

Why search intent is important for SEO

We all know that Google is all about user experience. Giving users all they seek for in your website, should come first before search engines. This is why search intent is important for your site’s SEO.

In the early days of SEO, online visibility was all about keywords. This made site owners would overuse keywords to try and manipulate the search engines in their favour (keyword stuffing). This is turn, led to low quality content all over the SERPs, which gave too little value to readers.

Then search intent became a fundamental part of SEO. Meaning that it became important to understand searchers’ intent. What are people looking for when they type a query into a search engine? For what purpose do searchers come to my website? An answer to those questions will help you better optimize your content and website to match their needs.

The appropriate use of keywords to answer to customers’ needs is the beginning of good user experience, and ranking, in the long run. When you integrate search intent into your content, you can achieve that.

Optimizing Content For Search Intent

Optimizing content for search intent

After understanding your users’ search intent, it is only wise that you optimize the content on your site to match their needs.

Below, are some ways you can do that;

Use a tool

There are various tools that SEOs and other marketers use to optimize their content. It is not enough to just use a tool, be sure that it is for your users’ search intent. For example, cognitiveSEO has a tool that lets you write keyword optimized content around informational searches.

On-page Optimization

To further optimize your site for users’ intent, you could include a relevant keyword to your title tags and meta descriptions, format your text properly and use images and videos that help illustrate your points. Make sure to optimize heading tags, too. On-page optimization is also important when optimizing for search intent.

CTAs

You should consider checking the calls to action on your site. Try making them stand out a little; users like to be told what to do. Do not just ask them to perform actions, make sure your content is impressive enough to push them to answer to your CTA.

You could also use other elements (like comments sections) to encourage visitors to interact with your content.

Structured Data

One other way to optimize for searchers’ intent is by using structured data markup. This will help search engines to understand and interpret your content, to help them better understand the purpose of your page. Structured data markup can also help your content rank higher in search results.

For transactional intent, you need a good landing page with a simple CTA.

Conclusion

Understanding searchers’ intent helps provide good user experience. Search is consistently evolving, and consumers’ demands are constantly changing. This is why you should understand their intents; they want content that answers their questions, while also addressing their needs.

Always consider what your users are looking for. Then tailor your content to match. With that, you can create solutions to their questions.

It is quite understandable that you want your site to rank high for keywords, but high ranking is only a by-product of good user experience. Understand that Google is all about users. When you deliver the kind of content that meets searchers’ needs, you’re more likely to rank higher on Google and win customers’ trust. It is only when you give value to users, that you will be able to convert them to customers or buyers.

I hope that you begin to use search intent to optimize your contents. If you use search intent, you may tell me in the comments, how it has helped you.

That will be all for now, readers. Thank you!

Why is Organic SEO Important for Website?

Google is a worldwide known search engine that has made lots of money ever since its invention through advertisement. They own the largest share in the world and the top amongst others. With its innovative technology over the years, it is now impossible to get on the top of google traffic search engine using spamming, as there are recent algorithm updates that makes it so. It is therefore important to keep up with the new algorithms rolling out. This is why organic SEO is important.

Why is organic SEO important?

Why is organic SEO important?

Uses of Organic SEO

Paying for advert directly on google is nice, as websites need to make gains, to remain in business. However, there is also the use of organic SEO. This SEO has now proven to last longer for the best leads. Here are three top tips to this regard:

  1. Copywriting
  2. Post engagement
  3. Decent backlinks.

 

Copywriting:

As mentioned earlier, spamming is no longer a way to get your site up the top of search results. A well written copy has a way of getting you lots of engagements and repost from the public. Copywriting not only has a well-received algorithm, it is also useful to the netizens. It is important to make use of professional copywriters for your digital marketing write-ups whether on or off line.

Post engagement:

Engaging more with your audience through getting feedbacks. In order to make the post more engaging, it is sometimes advised to personalize content, so that readers can easily relate to what is talked about in a post. SEO is majorly about engagement. The more you engage, the more audience you interact with, the better.

Decent backlinks:

Do not pay people to repost your links as it could lead to spamming. However, quality backlinks are a huge factor when it comes to SEO, accessing your backlinks is important, as it shows a level of ethical respect.

I hope this write up has taught you a thing or two. Over the years, lots of innovation has been made to stop spammy SEO. What other SEO practices do you consider spammy? Tell us in the comment section! Need SEO services? We’d be glad to offer our services!

How to Create Quality Content in 2022

The most crucial element of a website is its content. Content engages users and retains them on your page so they may keep pursuing your product line or reading about your business. In this post, you will find out how to create quality content for your website. Keep reading!

When the home page contains an excessive number of unhelpful features that divert users from their intended path, things can go wrong in a big way.

How to Create Quality Content

An image of doodles, with content written boldly on it

Create quality content

Creating quality content is also a way of optimizing the on-page factors of your site. Not only does Google rank sites with quality contents high, quality content also brings about conversions. So in essence, when you create great content, you are also indirectly optimizing other factors of your website.

Here are some useful tips on creating content for your website if you don’t know where to begin;

Be concise and pick your words carefully

To grab the attention of your audience and hold their interest long enough for them to stick around and learn more about what you have to offer, keep all of your content pertinent and use just the appropriate phrases in the appropriate context. In order to avoid misleading readers who are looking for precise information, make every word count and stay away from generalisations. The titles of product pages, story headlines, and other similar language should all reflect this, in particular.

You may come up with interesting methods to showcase this information through targeted headlines, tags, meta descriptions, etc. by thinking about how someone might search for something associated with what you’re trying to offer.

Use numbers and lists

It is simpler for readers to understand and navigate to another page if they are interested in learning more about what you have to offer when critical information is clearly separated, such as pricing, product names, and other relevant data, in a numbered or bulleted format.

Maintain a casual tone and write as though you were interacting with your target consumers personally

Instead of describing features, use phrases that describe benefits. Benefits are explanations for why someone should purchase from you rather than go elsewhere where they can do it for less money. Although features are essential components of your goods or services, not everyone will find them useful in every situation. For instance, instead of saying “We produce our own computer cases in the UK, and they come with a lifetime warranty,” say “Our hand-crafted computer cases are 100% made by UK workers and inspected before they’re shipped.

Avoid using industry jargons

This is because some people may not understand what they are. Stick to vocabulary that can successfully explain your idea without using any words that can be unclear or deceptive because it’s preferable not to presume that everyone has an exact definition of each word.

Assume that everyone reading the content on your website is completely unfamiliar with your company and its sector. Use as little acronyms and jargons as you can to keep everything as straightforward as possible.

It’s ideal to avoid using jargons because it tends to make things harder to grasp, especially for individuals who aren’t very familiar with what you do or the goods or services you provide.

When writing lengthy text or informational blocks, use lists

Lists tend to divide information apart and make it easier to scan, which makes it easier for visitors to locate what they’re looking for quickly and encourages them to click on links to find out more about particular goods or services you provide.

Use concise language to make material easy to understand.

Long paragraphs are intimidating; shorter paragraphs are considerably easier on the eyes, especially when there is a lot of content on a single page.

Credit those who deserve it

When appropriate, link to other comparable websites; but, avoid doing so just to obtain links that point back to your website.

Use clear text formatting to make it easier To Read

By structuring information in a balanced and straightforward way, it helps readers quickly browse through blocks of content.

Provide a method of communication and contact information

Let them know who you are and how they may reach you, but exercise caution because many individuals are reluctant to share their personal information, such as phone numbers or email addresses, without first verifying the recipient. This is why it is important to build trust with your audience. People will only willingly give out their details to those they trust to provide them with what they need.

Conclusion

It is the end product of a content that justifies the content. Like they say, the end justifies the means. Say for instance, your content was aimed at getting your users’ emails, you will have to make content that will appeal to them in that sense. And if you made content to share your experience after trying a new recipe, you’d have to list out a step by step process, following the recipe. It all comes down to what we want from our content, and how to give our readers what they want from our content.

Creating quality content may not be as easy as it sounds, but it is possible. Give users the answers they seek, and they will keep coming back.

So, that is it for how to create quality content. Comments? You know how it goes!

7 Best SEO Tools For Websites

We’re all aware that web development in the United Kingdom is an arms race. Any tool that can be used to gain an advantage over the competition is priceless, and when you combine a suite of powerful tools, you can take your digital game to the next level. This article will show you 7 of the best SEO tools for websites that you should have. The tools listed below aren’t just for top-tier web development firms; they can be used by anyone who wants to learn more about the performance of their website. However, some of the data gleaned from these tools will help you determine what’s wrong, but you’ll need the experience and skill of a professional web development company to fix the problems. But first, awareness is essential, to know what is wrong, so that right approaches are made to fix such problem.

The 7 Best SEO Tools For Websites

So, here’s a breakdown of seven of the best SEO tools for websites that you should use. They are all applicable regardless of the sector or industry you’re in:

 SSL Certificates

An image showing the SSL of a URL

What is an SSL? 

SSL stands for secure sockets layer. The SSL certificate is a digital certificate that endorses a website’s identity, and enables a secured connection. You may have noticed a “https://” prefix at the top of your search bar (before the specific address). A padlock symbol before this, means that the site you’re visiting has a current and valid SSL certificate. This certificate is essentially a form of authentication that certifies a website as safe. If you run a website without an SSL certificate in 2022, you’ll be at a great disadvantage. Google now flags down sites that lack an SSL certificate, alerting users who are about to visit your site to the possibility of a security breach.

SSL certificates are now a Google ranking factor, which means that if you don’t have one, your position on the results page will suffer

Google Analytics

An image of the Google Analytics 4 banner

Google analytics 4; how good is this tool?

 

Google Analytics is a must-have for any business looking to get more involved in their marketing efforts. The ability to track campaigns and actually measure their performance in real-time is an advantage. The good news about this, is that it is no longer limited to specialist web development companies in the UK.

Measuring daily traffic, as well as its source, session time, and bounce rate, among other things, is an extremely useful metric that allows you to accurately evaluate the performance of your website. The insights you gain will help you decide how to best spend your marketing budget. If you don’t already have it, now is the time to get it.

 reCAPTCHA

An image showing the Google reCaptcha website tool

reCaptcha may have nothing to do with SEO rankings, but it does save your website from spam bots

It is a free tool for your enquiry forms, that effectively filters out spam bots by requesting the completion of a checkbox or the verification of the subjects shown in a set of images. Any effort you make to deter bots and filter out genuine inquiries will save you time in the long run. So, use reCAPTCHA to keep your inbox clean this year!

Although reCaptcha may have nothing to do with SEO rankings, it does save your website from spam bots.

Hotjar

A image of a hotjar dashboard

A hotjar dashboard

Hotjar is a heat map tool that can help you improve your conversion rate. Hotjar will tell you where you’re underperforming, how new call-to-actions would help, and which  pages are not sufficiently engaging your audience. With the information you’ve been given, you can approach a good web development company in the UK and ask them to implement content changes that will change customer behavior.

Hotjar can also set up and deploy surveys on your site. It then provides you with valuable feedback that you can then pass on to others.

SEMRush

An image of the SEMRush logo

The SEMRush logo

You can test out a free version of SEMRush to see what it’s capable of. This tool will assist you in determining how well your website is ranking on Google. It includes keyword planning tools that will assist you in determining which keywords will improve the performance of your website.

SEMRush will highlight areas where you may be having issues such as broken links, missing or incorrect meta-data, and so on. It can also assist you with competitive analysis and keyword ranking. Essentially, this tool will provide you with a top-down evaluation of your overall SEO performance.

 Google My Business

An image showing the benefits of using the google business tool

Is your business listed on Google maps yet?

A free SEO tool that allows you to enter information about your company and its services. Google My Business can collect and organize all of your reviews in one place, which you can then link to on your website. It greatly aids in the development of trust and credibility with potential new customers.

It may take some time to optimize and update your page, but keep in mind that your competitors are most likely putting in the effort here, so you can’t afford to lose out to them with such a simple endeavor.

PageSpeed Insights

An image of Google PageSpeed insights banner

Google PageSpeed Insights banner

If your site takes too long to load, potential customers will abandon it for any of your competitors who provides a higher level of user experience. Google PageSpeed Insights is a fantastic, user-friendly tool that displays the speed performance of your site on multiple devices. It provides you with a result in seconds, of how long it takes for your site to load on any given device. It will also provide you with actionable advice on how to improve the speed of your website. A faster site improves SEO, increases conversion rates, reduce bounce rates, and provides a better user experience, which increases the likelihood of positive reviews and repeat customers.

Conclusion

These are the 7 best SEO tools for websites, that will help you achieve your goals in 2022. The best part about these tools is that they are inexpensive and simple to implement.

You can’t afford to lose traffic, and any user data you can gather is priceless when it comes to making product and site updates decisions.

So, what are you holding out for? Get your hands on these 7 essential tools right now!

Tired women office worker sitting on the chair, battery energy l

Should You Give Up On Your SEO Efforts?

Justified, SEO can sometimes seem like an impossible task. Or even more accurate, a herculean task that yields little to no results. And that can be a bit frustrating. Well, we are about to find if our SEO efforts are really worth the stress, or not. Shall we begin?

1) What is SEO and Why Does Anyone Care?

The term SEO (search engine optimization) refers to a broad variety of actions that can be made to improve a website’s ranking on search engines. If you own a recruiting agency in London, for instance, you would often hire an SEO business in London to handle all of this for you.

The following are some of the actions made by London-based SEO service providers:

What is SEO and Why Does Anyone Care?

– Off-page (off-site) SEO

  1. Quality work that has been uploaded as guest on other websites
  2. Social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn,
  3. YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram
  4. Backlinks, which are references to your URL from reputable websites or authoritative blogs.

– On-Page SEO

  1. Put relevant keywords on your website.
  2. Internal linking: Referring to page links frequently in your content
  3. Producing high-quality, audience-specific content that is user-friendly
  4. Add meta descriptions and title tags to titles and descriptions.

– Technical SEO

  1. Image optimization: Scale down images to speed up your website.
  2. SSL Security: Verify the validity of your certificates
  3. To aid search engines in evaluating your website, add XML and HTML sitemap files to your sitemaps.
  4. Your website is responsive to the device it is being viewed on.

– Local SEO

  1. Local directories – Include pertinent local listings for your businesses.
  2. Ensure that all information is submitted to your “Google My Business” account.
  3. Local keywords: conduct local keyword research and add additional keywords as necessary.
  4. Social media: Engage with regional establishments, occasions, and organizations there
  5. Local Reviews: Interact with your clients and respond to their feedback

2) SEO Complications

Complications of SEO

Now that you are aware of all that SEO entails, it must seem complicated. And certainly, it may be a lot of work, which is why businesses eager to pay SEO companies in London to handle everything for them have kept them quite busy. However, what if you could do away with all of your need for London SEO services? Then, you wouldn’t have to employ SEO agencies in London to complete the task!

Let’s examine several SEO disadvantages and issues that certain SEO businesses might not be as fast to mention to you:

– SEO is not a quick fix

Working on SEO takes time. Any SEO effort made, is a long-term strategy, in contrast to paid advertisements (Google Ads, sponsored ads, etc.). We’re talking months for a medium-sized business, possibly six months or longer if you’re in a highly competitive sector.

– No quick cuts exist

There are a lot of man-hours that need to be put into SEO, and whether you decide to do the job yourself or hire SEO companies in London to do it for you, the fact that someone will have to put the effort in cannot be avoided. Yes, your SEO efforts are as important as the results. There might be some research required as well, and you’ll probably need to consider keywords, contact partners, and spend time managing your social media.

– Quality Content is King

For the sake of your site’s SEO, you’ll need to produce a ton of high-quality content that will engage your audience and improve your website’s standing with the search engines. Again, you might be able to do part of this on your own, but you might also want the assistance of SEO businesses in London to create videos, translate information into other languages, etc.

– Is your website able to handle the extra traffic?

More visitors may be expected if your SEO efforts are successful, but are you prepared for them? Make sure your servers can handle the load and that you have customer care representatives available to handle the influx of inquiries.

– Greater Brand Awareness

Increased brand recognition must be positive, right? More customers will become aware of you and what you do as a result of your improved exposure. Many companies experience organic growth over time, which allows them the luxury of developing and refining their basic values and goals. Have you put enough effort into developing your brand identity beforehand? Take the time before you hit the “big time” to clearly define who you are, what you do, and why you do it because you really don’t want to have to change your origin story at a later time if you can avoid it. Rebranding is actually quite difficult, so you really don’t want to do it unless you absolutely have to.

3) Conclusions (not illusions, nor delusions)

confused

Here are a few of the reasons why SEO isn’t always cheap and/or simple. Having said all of that, SEO does unquestionably work in 2022, which means that SEO is worth the stress. With a little research and time spent discussing the aforementioned issues with a professional SEO Service provider in Nigeria, you can expect SEO to deliver the results you’re after – as long as you’re willing to wait a little while! Yes, you have to be quite patient.

One last word of caution: be careful when contacting SEO companies in Nigeria. Some of them may make lofty promises, confuse you with technical jargon, and pressure you into buying SEO packages that are inappropriate or even ineffective for your particular business. In order to create a strategy that can be analyzed and modified over time, you should always strive to speak with an SEO provider who is transparent and honest about what you can expect with regard to SEO. There are no second chances with SEO if you blow your marketing budget in one go, so set a budget up front and stick to it. You can always spend more once the results start to show.

In the end, your SEO efforts really matter. Whether yours, or that of your hired SEO agency, SEO efforts are as important as the results. It may take some time for results to show, but remember that delay is not denial.

Need SEO Services, Contact Us TODAY!

That is it, friend! Thank you for reading.

How To Reduce Website Bounce Rate?

Today, we will be talking on bounce rates; the meaning of bounce rate, how bounce rates affect your site, and a few ways to reduce bounce rates. Let us dive in!

 What does the term, bounce rate, mean?

Ways To Reduce Bounce Rates On Your Site

The percentage of visitors to your website that immediately leave without reading or engaging with any content is known as the bounce rate.

A high bounce rate typically means that visitors are not finding what they are looking for, which can point to an on-page problem (such as a poor navigation structure, irrelevant or poor page titles), or a problem with how well you grab and keep your visitors’ attention with content.

A low bounce rate indicates that more visitors are staying to browse a site rather than departing right away. This is typically regarded as a positive sign for SEO.

Here is what Google says: “When a visitor clicks on one search engine result and then leaves without clicking on any other results, this is known as a bounce. The clicked-on listing may not be highly relevant to the inquiry, which may also explain a bounce.”

Briefly stated, the bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who came to your site but left immediately after reading just one page.

Why is the bounce rate important?

Why is the bounce rate important

Google has confirmed that they employ this measure as a ranking factor. Yes, even though they are frequently misinterpreted, there are a variety of factors that could influence rankings.

These are believed to consist of:

  • Quickly leaving a website rather than sticking around to view additional pages translates to little time spent there and little interaction with the material.
  • Google tends to give lower rankings to websites with low average time on site or high departure rates.
  • The quality of the user experience and the likelihood that users had clicked on your listing in the search results were likely to be lower the fewer pages that were viewed during a session. In other words, it’s possible that searchers are not quite happy with what they’ve discovered.

Some factors that affect bounce rates

  • Sessions are used to track users who land on a page on your website and are used to compute bounce rate. It doesn’t keep track of visitors that come directly to your website or through links from outside sources (i.e., if someone types in “example.com” into their browser).
  • Google Analytics determines the percentage of visitors who arrive at your site and immediately leave (i.e., “bounce”) without viewing any additional pages. This information can be used to determine how visitors are interacting with your site.
  • The “Bounce Rate” section under “Behavior” on any one of your websites’ dashboards also provides a breakdown by page so you can keep track of which URLs are causing these bounces.
  • It may be worthwhile to look into issues like poor internal linking to a page, poor navigation, or even low quality content if this is significantly different from the typical bounce rate for other pages on your website.
  • Additionally, if a certain page on your site has a really high bounce rate in comparison to other sites, you may want to look into this further since it may be a sign that you’re having problems grabbing and keeping consumers’ attention (i.e., whether people are finding what they need when they get there).

Why Your Site’s Bounce Rate Should be Low

  • Google uses time on site as one of its numerous ranking variables.
  • There isn’t much you can do to persuade visitors to stay, when they land on your website. Google advises website owners to aim for a bounce rate of fewer than 50% because of this.

Further Advantages Of Low Bounce Rates

  • It may be worthwhile to update the content on the page with the high bounce rate in order to minimize this measure, as your visitors will have a lot better experience if they can discover what they’re looking for quickly.
  • From a design and informational viewpoint, bounce rates can provide insight on how much people appreciate your site. Therefore, reducing your bounce rates can still improve customer experience even if you are not concerned with rankings. And is why we are going to look at some ways to reduce bounce rates in the next section.

Some Ways to Reduce Bounce Rates:

Reduce Website Bounce Rate

As we know now, high bounce rates decrease ranking, and consequently, conversion rates. Now, in this section, we will look at some ways to reduce bounce rates. Below, are some of the ways;

1) Conduct Research

Check to see if the visitors to any of your dashboard pages that have a high bounce rate are actually interested in what you have to offer. Maybe they didn’t know about some components (like navigation) and didn’t find what they were seeking for as a result. This is a chance to conduct some research and determine how to make the page better so that visitors will want to stay.

2) Monitor Linking

You should also examine all of the internal links leading to the page as well as any external links or blog posts that may be directing traffic there (e.g., forums).

3) Improve Content on Page

To improve the content on the page with the high bounce rate, identify the issues visitors are trying to solve offer them solutions. To put it another way, give your users relevant information.

4) Run and Record Tests

Perform user tests and record users attempting to complete specific tasks(such as finding a product, or signing up for an account), to ensure that your site is optimized for success. Then you can search for issues that threaten user experience. Issues like;

  • Having difficulty determining where to click
  • Inability to locate what they seek, even when it is clearly in front of them
  • Exasperation due to slow loading

Make sure you address these issues by making appropriate redesigns, and including links to relevant sites and pages.

5) Check Other Factors

Finally, you may utilize Google Analytics’ other metrics to find any potential problems that may prevent users from staying on your site. Eamples of such are, slow page loading time, broken links, or images without alt text.

Yes! Those are some few ways to reduce bounce rates. Know more? Be free to share! Leave your questions and comments in the space provided below, I’d be glad to indulge you! Gratitude for reading!

Google’s Most Recent Link Spam Update

At the tail end of 2021, did you observe a huge change in ranks and wonder what caused it? If so, there’s a good likelihood the November 2021 spam update is involved. We examine what Google considers spam and how to evade any upcoming algorithm modifications that deal with links.

This was the fourth algorithmic modification that Google made in 2021 to address the problem of web spam and prevent it from appearing highly in search results. The link spam upgrade also concentrated on removing questionable or hazardous websites while filtering out sites that offer users little or no value.

What is considered spam by Google?

Google programmers discover recurring themes and characteristics that should be classified as spam and modify their algorithm to suppress this content based on comments from a team of manual fact and quality checkers.

SEO Marketing: What It Is And How It Works

Typical traits of a page that might be blocked because of spam include:

Keyword stuffing: Overusing a specific keyword on a page is known as keyword stuffing.

Duplicate or stolen content: Spammy websites frequently employ stolen content or have a lot of it.

A page with a lot of adverts and outbound links: is one whose owner’s primary objective is to monetize the space on the page by selling advertisements, sponsored content, and outbound links.

Technical SEO mistakes: Website owners who are accused of spam generally have several broken connections and abandoned pages. This may be marked as spam by Google because it indicates carelessness.

Low-quality inbound links: Low-quality and spammy inbound links give the impression that your website is unreliable and are a frequent black hat SEO tactic.

Cloaking: Presenting different content to people than to search engines is known as cloaking.

Images or hidden text: can be used to add keywords, for instance text that blends in with the backdrop color.

Unlabelled affiliate links and sponsored posts: Use the appropriate “rel” value for sponsored posts and unlabeled affiliate links.

Google’s Response

This entails, as previously mentioned, ensuring that your material is authentic, clear, legible, and free of any black-hat SEO techniques. Google hasn’t made any comments on what they are specifically searching for in this spam update, but they have said that they are dealing with content that doesn’t adhere to their rules and that they encourage websites to do the same.

According to Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, this upgrade shouldn’t have an impact on content that adheres to Google’s policies. They typically keep an eye out for questionable, dangerous, or predatory websites.

Best methods to avoid having information marked as spam

Producing unique and interesting pages that provide value for the search terms you are targeting and adhere to Google’s Webmaster guidelines should be your first priority.

Since this is what you might anticipate from spammy websites, consider producing material that is more extensive than simply text on a page. You should use pages as creatively as you can. Include rich material like reviews or FAQs together with tables, videos, and other visuals. Your objective should be to increase user and customer engagement and readability. As a result, the ranks will improve.

Spend time enhancing your technical SEO, and look for broken links, dead ends, and orphan pages using tools and software like Screaming Frog.

Top 5 Ways To Increase Website Traffic

Review the link structure of your pages, and that’s all. Avoid having too many external links, and when you do, make sure they are appropriately tagged using the word “rel.” The quantity of sponsored material or adverts on your website should also be taken into consideration. While this could increase your income in the short term, they might degrade your rankings over time.

How can you tell whether you have received punishment?

There are several ways to determine whether you have received a penalty:

Have you noticed a sudden drop in the rankings for certain search phrases since November, according to Google Search Console? Google may occasionally entirely erase a site from its search results.

Check your Traffic – If Google Search Console is not set up, look at your website’s traffic. Have you noticed a strange decline in traffic that deviates from historical patterns?

Review your backlink profile – As a final step, you may examine your backlink profile using technical SEO tools like Majestic. Do any questionable or spammy websites connect to you? Examining any with a low Trust Flow score will help you determine this quickly.

Future steps…

The main lesson from Google’s spam updates is to make sure on-page content is clear, pertinent, and adds value to a search query. This lesson can sound very technical and confusing to some people. Strong UX is always given priority by Google’s algorithm. Alongside this, there needs to be compelling content.

The Basics of User Experience (UX) and its Seven Principles

Contact the helpful SEO staff at Harnix Tech if you have any questions regarding your backlink profile or have seen a decline in your rankings. If you believe that the most recent link spam updates have impacted some pages on your website, our technical SEO experts will be pleased to inspect and evaluate those pages. We can provide you with suggestions on how to raise page ranks, assist you in putting those suggestions into action, and improve the design of your website to increase organic visitors.

Top 5 Ways To Increase Website Traffic

Having a website is one thing, but getting people to visit it is another crucial aspect that all businesses should take into account.

To strengthen your brand, you may use website traffic to gauge how effectively your marketing is performing and to learn more about your audience. Additionally, it helps you raise conversion rate, lead generation, and search engine reputation.

Here are some efficient techniques to promote your website and increase visitors;

1) Examine your baseline

Google Analytics

You must verify your baseline, or understand your present traffic numbers, to start increasing the amount of traffic to your website. You can use this to determine whether the other steps you take to drive more traffic to your website are working.

I’m sure you can find a way to accomplish this. You must configure Google Analytics. Two excellent alternatives to Google Analytics include:

  • Some people favor Clicky Analytics because of its “real-time” functionality.
  • Mixpanel 

Some of the most significant metrics to take note of are listed below:

  1. distinct visitors (Users)
  2. Bouncing rate
  3. average duration of stay (Avg. Session Duration)
  4. Page views
  5. (Pages/Session) Pages per visit
  6. (Direct, search, and referral) Traffic sources, etc.

2) Optimization for search engines

SEO Marketing What It Is And How It Works

 

Making your website visible to users and potential users requires on-page search engine optimization (SEO). The technique of attracting visitors from “free,” “organic,” “editorial,” or “natural” search results on search engines is known as SEO. People typically choose the first through tenth results when searching because the first has a distinct benefit. SEO assists business owners in getting their website in front of top internet searchers. Reaching mobile consumers as well as a sizable customer base is made possible by this. It’s crucial to make sure that your website and content are as pertinent to people looking for your goods or services as feasible. To help your future consumers find you, you would need to research the terms they will use.

Your firm can gain a great deal from optimizing its local search presence. Sales will increase, you’ll be more visible online and off, you’ll be able to contact customers more easily, your KPIs will be easier to manage, and your conversion rates will go up. According to the most recent Google statistics, location is a factor in around 20% of search inquiries.

To get (and stay) ahead of the competition, it is no longer sufficient to post frequently. You now need to nail your SEO, conduct an ongoing campaign, check for meta tags, etc.

The Hummingbird algorithm utilized by Google has modified the SEO approach over time, according to recent research.

This indicates that Google now understands topics in addition to only looking at keywords, which has an impact on 90% of user queries.

Therefore, you must use LSI Keywords for Google to comprehend the topic of your content. by use of your LSI graphs. These terms and expressions are associated with your chosen keyword. If you recently produced a piece on event planning, for instance, your LSI keywords might be the following:

Therefore, you must use LSI Keywords for Google to comprehend the topic of your content. by use of your LSI graphs. These terms and expressions are associated with your chosen keyword. If you recently produced a piece on event planning, for instance, your LSI keywords might be the following:

  • present-day happenings
  • activities taking place nearby
  • To-do list for event planning
  • how to launch a business in event planning
  • events this weekend close to me
  • leading news stories of 2018
  • business news today
  • printable event planning checklist
  • articles on events that are interesting 

By doing this, you make it simple for Google to understand what exactly your content is based on—in this case, “Events”—and how to rank it accordingly.

3) Social Media Websites

Social Media Websites

Social media may be a helpful tool for businesses because it allows you to interact with your customers and increase website traffic. Additionally, it improves consumer interaction, brand reputation, and cost efficiency. Although managing your social media is challenging, the payoff is enormous when done regularly. However, it also has drawbacks, such as the need for resources and unfavorable reviews. You may choose the ideal strategy for using social media for your business by taking into account these benefits and drawbacks. One of the best ways to show people what you are made of is through social media. Utilizing your existing fans’ networks gives you an additional advantage.

Utilizing powerful hashtags is the cherry on top of using social media. This has just lately been found to be the most effective method for getting many people to notice your message. Using hashtags wisely allows you to accurately target your ideal client and reach out to new audiences. Use the “click-to-tweet” button as another strategy to increase the number of shares on your article.

Adding videos to your LinkedIn profile is another technique to boost traffic. Recent studies have demonstrated LinkedIn’s rapid growth. Recently, there has been a huge growth in the number of people using LinkedIn to share content. Having stated that, how exactly is this accomplished? Posting videos, particularly those with personal narratives that motivate your audience, is a significant effective strategy. Additionally, your topic must be interesting, and your content must be relevant across all of your social media channels. Use shorter paragraphs and bucket brigades, such as Wait, Here’s the deal, For instance, That said, etc., and make sure your words are ordered and engaging.

Make sure the images you use to support your argument are pleasing to the eye. Stunning images can significantly increase your visitors. They make your posts more appealing, which encourages users to browse your website for longer. Compared to all other status updates, photographs on Facebook made up 93% of the most engaging posts, according to researchers. You offer your title the best chance to drive traffic and clicks when you pair it with a compelling image.

It’s also important to remember to publish during busy times. It’s important to realize that there are specific times to upload material to social media; simply posting whenever you feel like it won’t cut it, according to Hubspot. Some moments are superior to others. With the aid of the aforementioned link, you can learn more advice on how to approach this even if you might not be able to get the appropriate timing.

4) Email Promotion

email promotion

A very powerful method for increasing visitors to your website is email marketing. You should create your email lists using your website or an existing client database, it is advised. This is because organic emails have consistently been shown to operate well and deliver positive results. Today, a crucial component of email marketing is developing a sequence that nurtures new sign-ups and fosters relationships.

Once set up, email marketing is a powerful tool for building brand loyalty, thought leadership, and serving as a free form of lead generation. Regular newsletter distribution and email offer promotion are wonderful ways to stay in touch with your clients and can drive traffic to your website. Top-of-mind awareness, internet traffic, and sales strategy are a few of its goals.

This is accomplished by:

  1. Created-to-order customer email newsletters
  2. Highlighting particular items and categories in each newsletter
  3. Including blog posts in newsletters to increase click-through and open rates.

Just be sure to be extremely smart about how frequently you send emails; otherwise, your consumers may choose to ignore, delete, or unsubscribe from them.

Also, give great consideration to the subject lines of your emails. These have a significant impact on whether a user opens your email or not. Your emails won’t be able to drive visitors to your website if they are never opened.

5) Submit a Guest Post

Guest Post

Many people have come to the idea that guest posts are unproductive, but if used wisely, they may be one of the most successful ways to drive traffic to your website. This is due to the likelihood that they will spread the post among their sizable readership. Additionally, it might help to diversify your material and demonstrate to your audience that you are engaged in your industry. The most important thing is to blog on websites that are relevant to your audience to attract high-quality visitors. Determine nearby complementary companies whose clients are a good fit for your enterprise. Check to see if you can write a post for their blog that includes a link to your website. Ensure that your material is pertinent and helpful to them.

The use of guest posts draws new users to your website. It would be preferable if you permitted additional writers to blog on your website. But you should also employ different formats, such as Instagram takeovers and YouTube guest appearances, instead of just writing blogs. A helpful resource section should be scattered throughout your guest article. It’s also advantageous to include your material among the useful resources.

Conclusion

You’ll agree with me after reading these 5 steps that they are crucial for helping your company expand and establish your brand. Be sure to create material that appeals to influencers as well. The truth is that compelling content is necessary if you want powerful people to share it. You can establish yourself as a respected authority in your field by consistently engaging in these activities.

How To Conduct A PPC Campaign’s Keyword Research

Quality keyword research is essential for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising success. The main goal is to select the keywords that would generate the greatest conversions while having the lowest cost per click. It takes time, effort, and experience to get this right since you need to understand your clients and identify the search phrases they employ to locate goods and services like yours. This article contains methods that will aid you in locating, enhancing, and organizing your PPC keywords.

Examine your current keyword plan

Examine your current keyword plan

You must select words and phrases that are associated with your brand, product, or service when you make an advertisement on a platform like Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. They are referred to as keywords.

Your PPC keyword research should start with Google Search Console to find out which keywords are currently driving the most traffic to your website, as well as Google’s Phrase Planner to find out how frequently people are searching for each keyword.

Users expect to land on the most appropriate page when they click your ad, so be sure to match the keywords in your PPC campaign with the ones you’ve optimized the landing page for.

Pro-Tip

It is advisable to optimize those pages to better match your target keywords if your sessions on Google Analytics are high but your time on page is short, or if your click-rate is high but your conversion rate is poor. Visitors that use your keywords in searches will then understand your advertising and landing sites.

Your must harvest your landing pages for primary, secondary, and tertiary keywords after examining them. You should have enough information to compile a thorough list of keywords that are specifically related to your goods and/or services. As you develop this term list, don’t forget to provide the search purpose for your advertisements. This requires you to consider the search terms clients use to find your company or product online.

Select your PPC Campaign Objectives

PPC Campaign Objectives

It’s time to decide what action you want your audience to perform in order to progress through the conversion funnel and how many clicks or conversions you want to achieve in a specific period of time.

Sort and Analyze Your Keywords

How can you be certain you don’t overlook any important keywords? Expand your lists and segment your keywords, for instance:

V-scooters, V-scooter.com, V-scooter shop, etc. are brand-related keywords.

scooter, scooters, etc. are short-tail keywords.

Electric scooters, vintage scooters, used scooters, etc. are examples of long-tail keywords.

Pro-Tip

Consider it only if you have a sizeable amount to spend on ads and you think it will be worthwhile because bidding on competition keywords can easily consume a significant chunk of your budget.

Which key phrases should I use?

It’s crucial to keep the following things in mind while selecting the keywords for your campaign:

  • What the user intended or sought after when they entered their search terms is known as their intent.
  • Volume is the quantity of searches made in a specific time period for a specified term.
  • Budget: the financial commitment made to initiatives to increase online traffic 

When opposed to extremely precise long-tail keywords, it might sometimes seem advantageous to bid on root keywords (broad terms characterizing the topic or issue you wish to promote in your PPC campaign) that have larger search volume. However, these terms could also refer to goods or services that poorly describe what you have to offer and hence drive ineffective traffic to your website.

Users looking for any form of footwear, such as high heels, boots, or flip-flops, will click on your advertisement if you use wide search terms like “shoes,” for instance, but if you just sell hiking shoes, your product won’t be relevant to them.

Tools for Keyword Research

Tools for Keyword Research

There is a ton of tools available that may assist you in selecting the keywords you should keep and the ones you should avoid. Given that it is a component of Google Ads and is free to use, Google Keyword Planner is among the most well-known. It will demonstrate the search keywords that people are actually using, making it more trustworthy than just using your judgment.

The “Competition” rank is also displayed by the Keyword Planner as high, medium, or low. If the score is high, more advertisers are placing bids on these phrases, which means you will have to pay more to have your ad appear in the top spots.

Pro-Tip

Finding keywords with a high search volume yet little competition is the sweet spot.

You can remove terms from your list that have too much competition or too little search volume by using keyword research tools in addition to helping you add new ones.

Refine and Examine

Your keyword strategy will need to be updated frequently, which is where a PPC agency can help. They can monitor the most recent search trends in your sector and modify the campaign as necessary.

Naturally Speaking

Google continues to expand its natural language processing capabilities. Now, it is capable of comprehending context, sentiment, entities, and syntax. All of this is being done to make it simpler for people to receive responses that take into account what they mean rather than what they type or say. Data on Google’s research areas:

“Recent work has concentrated on applying frame semantics at the noun phrase, sentence, and document levels as well as integrating multiple sources of knowledge and information to aid with text analysis”. (2021, Google Research)[1].

Voice Lookup

Instead of typing, voice commands can be used with Google’s Voice Search feature to do web searches. Search engines can now interpret longer word strings thanks to the rise of voice-led inquiries. Therefore, it is advantageous to use search phrases that are representative of spoken language. According to recent Google statistics, about 30% of all online users worldwide use voice search on their mobile devices [2].

As voice searches have the potential to be longer-tail than standard searches done on mobile devices and PCs, this alters the way we conduct keyword research.

Before beginning a PPC campaign, make careful preparations

The effectiveness of PPC campaigns is greatly influenced by keyword research, therefore investing a lot of time in developing a sound keyword strategy and continuously evaluating and fine-tuning the search keywords you bid on will provide the best results. It’s not the sole determining element, though.

Budget size should be carefully considered, as should audience expectations for ad quality and the kinds of commercials you should be showing them. Make sure the landing page is optimized with all the necessary content, keywords, and a clear CTA before you spend any money on PPC.

SEO Guide: On Page SEO Optimization

When asked what SEO is, some people tend to define it, as the ability to write creatively, in order for a website to rank high in search. While this may be true, it is not all it is, to SEO 

As an SEO strategist, one has to optimize his website in the following ways; on-page, off-page, and technical optimization. However, today, we would look solely at on-page SEO, and it’s optimization. It’ll be a lovely discussion, so let us dive right in!

What Is On Page SEO?

On-page optimization, is the practice of optimizing a page or group of pages on a website, to improve the site’s SEO.  

Before we continue, for the sake of newbies; what is the meaning of the term, “on-page”? On-page, otherwise called on-site in SEO, has to do with everything you see on the pages of a site, ranging from title tags to meta descriptions, down to the content on the site. We will discuss these, as we go further.  

Now that that’s known, let’s get into some important factors one needs to optimized on his site.

Factors to be Optimized On Site:

  •  Content
  •  Title tags
  •  Description tags
  • URL
  •  Heading tags

Content

content writing

You may be asking, what is the content on my site, or any site?  Content, is the information you dish out to your audience; be it written, visual or audio.  

So, now that you know what content is, how can you optimize your content, for your site to rank high in search?

  • Do a research on the topic you want to write on (for written content, of course.)
  • Use target keyword in the first 100-150 words of your article.
  • Wrap blog post’s title in H1 tag. It helps Google understand the structure of a page.
  • Wrap subheadings in H2 tags, as it helps to structure the article.
  • Be frequent with your keywords. However, avoid keyword stuffing.
  • Make content relevant to the theme of the site.
  • Make sure content is well organized, and easy to understand.
  • Create unique and original content. Don’t go copying anyone, avoid duplicate content at all costs.
  • Add value to your content. You could do so, by adding a relevant personal perspective.
  • Add resources like images, videos, screenshots, to make content more helpful.
  • At all times, edit and proof read you article, before publishing.
  • Make sure you understand your audience, because a great content is that which is written for the audience.
  • Make sure to pay attention to the reading level of your audience, and match it with your content, for easy comprehension.
  • Ensure to link out to other relevant pages on site, and other relevant pages of different sites, if they can be more helpful to users.

PS: Make sure to create content, where your audience is. Why is this so? I’ll answer that, with an example. Imagine you were a priest of some sort. You go to a different religious gathering, and begin teaching. I’m very sure that everyone in that gathering will wonder why a priest from a different religion would come to teach them something different, and may not even give attention to you. Now, that’s how it is, when you create content for the wrong audience. Content, no matter how valuable, will never be helpful to the wrong person. In essence, go where your audience is, build them, and give them what they need.

To optimize content effectively, make sure to put in mind;

  • User experience: Be sure you do not create content, for search engines alone, as that might affect your users’ experience negatively. Negative user experience will mean low quality content, and you do not want that.
  • Bounce rate: Imagine a scenario where you are searching for the best hotels in town on Google, and you come to this site that comes up on search, and you don’t find what you need on that site, and you quickly exit the site, to look for what you need, somewhere else. Now, what you just did, is what many users will do to your site, if your content does not answer their needs. Nobody would want to waste time on futility. And the more people leave your site as quickly as they came, because your content does not answer their questions, the lower quality your content has. So, be sure to create useful and helpful content. 
  • Search intent. For users to stay on your site for a long time, and even bookmark your site, you must know exactly what your users are searching for. To do this, ask yourself these questions; 
  1. What do my users want to hear, read, or see?  
  2. Is this article, or content helpful to them?  
  3. Will they like to come back here to re-digest what they have seen?  
  4. Will they like to share this content?  
  5. Is the content easy to understand? 
  6. Are there errors in my article?  

If you have positive answers to the questions, beautiful. But if not, then you have work to do.  

Some advantages of quality content:

Quality content has the quality of increasing the click through rate of your site. Great content can lead to linking from other sites, to your site, and this is very helpful in Content marketing, and the entire authority of a site.  

When you have adequate knowledge of the information you give out to users, it brings for trust, from those users. To gain trust, you must be good at what you give (write, in this case.)  

Great content can also open doors for off-site publishing opportunities! When you interact with your audience, and give them value in your content, people who are not even in your audience may also be impacted, and by that, more opportunities are open for you.  

Pro tip: create a backlog of ideas for the kind of content you want to produce. Check out BuzzSumo for content ideas.

It cannot be overemphasized; content is king. But great content, valuable content, helpful and resourceful content, is more than gold.   

Title tagsTitle tags

Now, let us look at title tags. Title, as you should know, is the title, or for the sake of a different word, the main topic of a piece of content. Title tags are the html tags (<title>, <title/>) that wrap the title of your post, or blog. The title tag describes the title, or name, that you give to a page on your site.  

You can find the title of page’s post, at the top of the browser. Title tags are an important on-site SEO factor, and as such must be properly optimized.  

Some ways to optimize title tags; 

  • Make sure your title tag accurately describes it’s page.
  • Include keywords that users are likely to search for, in title tags.
  • It’ll be wise to place keyword, or descriptive information at the front of the title tag (descriptive information here, is information that describes the page.) However, you can use individual keywords, rather than descriptive phrases.
  • Make sure your title tag is not more than 60 characters long. This is why you must use at least two important keywords in the title tag.
  • Separate multiple keywords, with hyphens.
  • It is advised to use alphanumeric characters, rather than special characters.

Do not forget, the title tag should also be pleasing, and able to draw users to your site. 

Description tags

Description tags

We will mostly be looking at meta descriptions, here. The meta description of a page solely describes the page. When you perform a search, some sites come up, and you notice that on some sites there are descriptions you see on the search results, that you do not see, after you must have been on the page. In essence, meta descriptions only show up in search results. 

You can find the meta description of a page, under the URL of the page (and that of course, is before you click on the page.)  

It is very important, however, not compulsory, to optimize the meta description of a page. Google may choose meta descriptions, over a webmaster’s meta descriptions, if they think that it is not well optimized. I’m not sure you want that.  

Some ways to optimize the meta description of a page are these;

  • Your meta description should contain information about your site, that entices users.
  • Even if keywords on meta descriptions are not a guarantee of ranking high, a well crafted meta description, may increase the click through rate of the page. So in essence, include keywords in the meta descriptions, but not too much.
  • Include calls to action in meta descriptions. These people love to be told to do something! Take advantage of that.
  • Note that a good meta description can serve as a copy on a site.
  • Make sure that like the title tags and content, your meta descriptions are catchy.

 

URLs

What is a URL? Uniform Resource Locator. Isn’t that a lot, now 😄. It is the address of a webpage. It describes a page to both users, and search engines. Where can one find the URL of a page? You can find the URL of a page, under the title tag of that page. You want to make sure your URL is well optimized for your site’s SEO. And for that, here are some ways; 

  • URLs should contain contain keywords, be relevant, and brief. 
  • Place important keywords close to the beginning of every URL. 
  • Leave out parameters (the long letters and numbers at the end of a URL), as they make it excessively long. 
  • Make URLs easy to remember.
  • Make sure they are related to the brand, or total theme of a site. 
  • URLs should follow the website’s structure.

Note: When looking at a URL, you can see some forward slashes containing some information. Those slashes are subfolders, which you can also call subdirectories, that help categorize documents on a site. Now, when search engines display search results, the middle subfolders are cut out, to make the URLs shorter, and easier for users to read. And this is why you should make URLs brief, and try to incorporate keywords in them. 

That will be all, for URLs.  

 

Heading tags

Heading tags

Finally, we are here.  

Basic html starts with understanding heading tags. H1, H2, and down to H6. H1 is used for titles of posts, and H2, for subheadings. H3, though not so much in use, are also for subheadings. It is good to note, that H1 is the “primary heading”, and the most important when it comes to SEO.  

The importance of heading tags, is that they help to stylistically break up the content on a page, and if you ask me, are really important for SEO, because of how they segment information, for easy understanding.  

Some ways to optimize the heading tags on your page are; 

  • To incorporate keywords in heading tags. However, if not possible, it’s better to leave it out. 
  • Stick to one H1 per page, and use H2 as subsequent headings tags when needed.
  • Do not make unnecessary heading tags in one page.
  • Add H3 tags to subheadings near the bottom of the page.

With that, I’ll end the heading tags section, friends.  

This is not an exhaustive list, but I hope that it will in one way or another, help your SEO carrier. Are there any questions you’d like to ask? Or contributions you’d like to make? Feel free, I will be here to indulge you!