There Is No Magic Behind Good SEO
Whether you sell products or services, hard work will help to optimize your website. There is no magic around it — it just takes some patience.
Maybe you’ve read dozens of articles like this — tips and tricks how to optimize your website for search engines — in good faith that you can increase your traffic. If you are reading this article as well, there may be two reasons why. First, the previous advice didn’t work out so you continued searching. Second, you just want to check if you are doing it right.
Website optimization guidance is like the good advice you receive from your friends and family throughout your life. You know that they are right and want to help you but sometimes the advice can seem a bit too cliché. You’re trying to find your own way. When you can’t find it you are willing to try new things or even pay professionals for their help. Sooner or later you find out all the answers are like the cards of a poker game face-up on the table. Transparent and public, for anyone to see.
The biggest mistake most online entrepreneurs make is ignoring Google’s advice and the hints that they provide.
Google’s, or any other search engine’s mission is to provide the best possible answers on a visitor’s inquiry.
Mark The Date And Be Patient
Anytime you decide to start optimizing your site, mark this day into your calendar. Download and save your data from this period to have some base line for later comparison. Unfortunately, optimization doesn’t show its results immediately. It takes approximately 3 months for you to see some progress. The process is slower but the benefits of having your site in the top page of search results will be longstanding.
So What’s The Google Mantra You Should Be Following?
Google wants to know and index as many sites as possible to gather the best content for its users. This includes also your site, your store. There are no secrets behind this. Google says straight away what it wants you to do to get your site optimized for it.
Let’s go through those facts and take a closer look at your data — your best guide on your way to optimization.
1. Speed — How Fast Foes Your Page Load?
2 seconds. That’s the approximate time visitor a is willing to wait for results. The loading time of your site both on mobile and desktop is definitely the most important thing for optimization.
Going step by step, find out the speed of your website on particular devices first. A good tool for this is directly from Google, PageSpeed Insights. Just put your URL into the bar and discover how fast your site really is.
This tool immediately shows you what needs to be fixed according to its urgency. It will also tell you how to fix it. This is super cool especially when there are little things you can fix without any programming skills needed, as optimizing size of pictures.
You can see mobile in red letters which tells you what should be fixed to reach at least the orange scale. Look deeper into the structure and define what devices your visitors use more to browse your sites or to make a purchase.
I am using the MonkeyData app screen as an example. This information is also available in Google Analytics but I’d like to demonstrate how much time you can save with MonkeyData.
Using MonkeyData app you can display all the information about your customers in a clear dashboard.
These data shows Desktop as the most preferable device compare to mobile and tablet. It seems you should be mostly concentrated on your website. Alternatively, could these numbers be caused by a poor mobile experience on your website? It’s well documented that eCommerce has been growing significantly thanks to mobile devices. What if a sub-optimal mobile experience is the cause of low mobile revenue?
Find out the answer and make your store as easy to use as possible. Google will reward you in its search rankings.
2. Great Content — Do You Have The Right Answers?
When people click on an article they probably believe they found something that can solve their problem, now. If it actually did solve their problem, they are more likely to share it with their friends. Pay attention to creating eye-catching titles. That’s the gate of your reader’s decision. If you are just starting out writing or you feel uncertain how to write good headlines, try this amazing tool that teaches you how to improve them.
You may think people don’t have time to read. The truth is they don’t have time to read articles without added value so they will search for answers elsewhere. It’s not only about articles but your website as well.
- Give your visitors clear answers, accompanied by beautiful pictures.
- Make your content easy to read. Use short sentences, with three to five in one paragraph.
- Keep the navigation on your website simple (think about the mobile version first).
- Try to engage your readers with call to actions. Create short poll and ask them what variation of your product they like more. Ask them for a review or reward them for their recommendation.
“If a website does not add value to its audience and/or contains spun/duplicate content, then it has a poor image in Google’s eyes.” Neil Patel
Those are just few tips how to make your content more valuable for both readers and search engines. Google likes articles which are sought and read by others. The logic, not magic there, is proper use of keywords, good backlinks and longer articles, of approximately 1000–1600 words depending on the complexity of the topic. Having all these things will help your article rank higher.
How Can You Check It Back In Your Data?
If you use MonkeyData you can go to the Audience and Acquisitions dashboard to see the structure of your traffic. In this screen, you can see the low performance of email and the higher score of organic search, what means more of your visitors are coming via search engines. While we’re on the topic, some tips on how to increase email conversion rates are worth checking out.
3. Search Console — Does Google Understand You?
If you are just getting started with your site optimization the best thing you can do is to use Google’s Webmaster Tool — Search Console. It’s a list of criteria which when provided correctly will tell the Googlebot to come to your website more frequently and index it. This increases your chance to become a known and trusted source in Google search.
Search Console allows you to explain to bots the purpose of your website via Data Highlighter. Mark your name, logo, and field of business. Give Google enough information to process when it’s asked about topics related to you. When you release a new blog post Google doesn’t notice and index it immediately.
The more specific answers you have, the more credit Google gives you.
4. Backlinks — How Well Are You Known?
Another important element influencing your ranking in search are external links pointing to your site. They’re called backlinks. They help building your content and site’s relevance for search engines. But be careful, this is the situation where quality absolutely beats quantity.
Not all the links leading to your site are truly valuable for you in term of bringing more traffic. Tools like Semrush or MOZ show you the overall list of backlinks. You want backlinks from highly credible domains. Having backlinks from low quality sites will harm your SEO ranking. However, if Forbes vouches for you and gives you a backlink, that is a sign that your content is of high quality.
Quality of linking is one of the thing that can make a significant difference between you and your competitors. It says, how much buzz is there on the internet about your product. Make a short backlink portfolio research:
- use some of the tools mentioned above and download an Excel spreadsheet showing you the list of both internal and external links
- explore the structure of good and bad links
- define your competition, the one who’s beating your SEO
- do the backlink reasearch of your competitors’ website too
These lists of backlinks are public, free to download so don’t you worry about exploring them. When defining your competitors, never compare with the giant in the market as eBay or Amazon. Your competitor is someone who is 4–5 steps ahead of your. It means, he has 4–5 times bigger sales and audience or better advertising.
5. Keyword Research — The Hint of Interest From Your Prospects
Keyword strategy is probably the first thing that comes to your mind when it comes to SEO. Are your keywords powerful and how can you improve the strategy? Luckily, there are many free tools helping also those who are just SEO beginners.
If you are just a beginner and keyword strategy is something you would like to explore deeper, read this article and boost your store with a proper keyword strategy today!
I hope this article helps you to optimize your website with ease and fun. If you use some other good tactics to improve your SEO share with us in comments, please! Or tap the ❤ for higher ranking of this post!
Thanks! Have a great day :)
