Remember the good old days when SEO was just a matter of choosing the right keywords? Although keywords still play an essential SEO role, times have certainly changed. Search engines are smarter and they use a variety of factors to decide the authority of a page, the relevance of keywords, and the quality of links.
There are hundreds of factors to stay on top of, so it’s no wonder many companies employ full time SEO roles. However, not every business is so lucky. If your teams are looking to boost website conversions ASAP, try these 5 quick SEO tips.
Tip #1: Improve your page load speed
Page load speed is one of Google’s top ranking factors for a reason. A recent study found that website conversion rates will drop by about 2.11% with each additional second of page load time. Use a tool like EXPERTE to test the mobile and desktop loading time on every subpage of your website.
If there are major issues with page load, you’ll need a big
picture plan to tackle them. One step you may consider is to use a content
distribution network (CDN). A CDN copies your site to servers around the globe to
improve page load speed for users in more areas.
In the short term though, here are a few quick fixes:
- Compress content images to their smallest possible file size and then reupload them to the site
- Get rid of saved drafts, post revisions, and deactivated plug-ins on the backend
- Eliminate unnecessary redirects
Tip
#2: Clean up your meta descriptions
Meta
descriptions are the snippets of content that Google shows under your search result
to give the reader a better idea of what’s on the page and whether it’s
relevant to them. To improve conversions, it’s important that A.) your pages
have meta descriptions and B.) the meta descriptions speak to the content.
Here are a few qualities of a good meta description:
- Descriptions between 150 and 160 characters
- Includes the keyword(s) you’re trying to rank
for
- Unique and specific to the page, never
duplicated elsewhere on your site
- Do not use non-alphanumeric characters like
quotations (Google doesn’t like it)
- Write in a voice consistent with your brand
- Include a call-to-action where possible
Tip #3: Find and fix broken links
One
way Google assesses the quality of your site is by looking at broken links. If
you have too many, you make it harder for Google to crawl your site, and that
impacts your SEO. In addition, users will be more likely to leave your site, thereby
negatively impacting your conversions, too.
It’s
in your best interest to find and fix broken links. If you have a live page
that offers relevant content like a similar post or associated topic, it’s a
good idea to redirect the broken links there. Redirecting to your homepage is a
last resort. Here’s why: it confuses users and doesn’t add any value.
If
you can’t find a relevant page to redirect the broken links to, then consider
creating a custom 404 error page that informs your readers as to why the page
is broken and helps direct them to a page that is more relevant for what they’re
looking for. The page can be fun, but don’t overcomplicate it. Here’s a good
example from Airbnb.
Tip #4: Write for people, not SEO
Creating content that is helpful to readers but also SEO-optimized
is an ongoing challenge. As a marketer, I know this first-hand. However, if you
focus on creating content that is compelling and useful, not only will Google reward
you, but other platforms will be more likely to backlink to you, share your
article on social media, and promote you organically. The idea behind this
concept is called “SEO copywriting”. SEO copywriting is all about producing
content that is easily digestible and provides real value, while still
targeting your specific keywords and key phrases.
Many people type full questions into search engines – so what if YOU were answering those questions? For example, we noticed that the cost of CRM investment was a common question among our prospects. So, we wrote a blog titled “How Much Does a CRM Cost?”. See what I mean?
The next time you go to publish content, ask yourself if you’re
considering some of these SEO copywriting standards:
- Do I understand my target audience and what they’re looking for?
- Try the “People also ask” feature on Google to identify common questions related to your keyword
- Is my headline valuable and engaging?
- Headlines with numbers get shared more on social media
- Addressing “You”, the reader, can spark interest
- How To articles and answers to questions are helpful
- Am I getting to the point quickly enough?
- Incorporate your keyword(s) early on
- Don’t make the introduction too long or wordy
- Tell the reader what they’re getting upfront
- Am I effectively using white space?
- Whitespace breaks up paragraphs and allows the reader to skim easier
- Sub headers improve white space and also offer more opportunities to tie in keywords/phrases (but don’t keyword stuff!)
- Would this work as a list?
Tip
#5: Try the skyscraper technique
Backlinko promotes a really smart way to quickly improve website SEO with something called the skyscraper technique. Think of it like this: if you walked into the world’s tallest skyscraper, you wouldn’t be wondering how tall the world’s 9th tallest skyscraper was, right? It is within our human nature to be attracted to the best.
The
skyscraper technique builds on that mentality. First, you find a competitor whose
content is ranking well for a keyword you want to rank for. Then, create
content on the same topic that is better – more comprehensive, more up-to-date,
etc. Finally, use SEO tools to discover other high-authority sites that are
backlinking to the competitor’s content and ask them to replace the competitor’s
backlink with yours. It’s of benefit to that site to backlink to the page that
offers the best content on the given subject. When Backlinko used this
approach, they increased SEO by 110% in only 14 days. That’s insane!
SEO is a slippery little devil, and it’s changing all the time. It’s important to think about SEO for the long term and plan for major SEO overhauls when they make sense for your site.
In the short and middle term, it’s always best to stay on top of website metrics like page load speed, bounce rates, and form submission rates to know whether your site is maintaining its SEO power or requires a reboot.
If you need help finding marketing solutions to monitor and improve your SEO, contact us.