A Beginner’s Guide to SEO – part three
Here we are, our final installment of SEO for beginners! We have already covered what SEO is, and a few major tips on how to use it to make the most of your author site.
Today we will look at the next few pointers- there’s a lot of information here but there’s no need to be overwhelmed! Take each point slowly if you need to, and it will all make sense in the end.
Hyperlink your existing content
If you’re writing a new blog post that is connected to an existing one, link it! It’s a great idea to hyperlink your material to other articles and sites on your website. This is particularly a good idea if you want to direct your readers to other books in a series, for example, or your new releases’ page. While people are on your site, make it easy for them to travel around it and find all the information on your books they need.
You can optimize your search results to include meta information. This will enhance the user experience by assisting bots in indexing and contextualizing your webpages, as well as allowing users to discover more relevant material and navigate to other areas of your site.
Write high-quality content. No keyword stuffing!
Of course, you must write content that entices your readers. Make certain to include everything you need in your post and don’t leave anything out. You must provide your readers with an overview of the topic as well as answers to their questions.
There’s no such thing as a magic formula for producing better content, but using more words does not necessarily mean higher-quality writing. Because it indicates that the subject has been thoroughly addressed, it can help. According to backlinko.com, there is a link between word count and ranking, as well as the article’s depth and ranking.
Writing in a clear, yet elegant and conversational style is effective. Don’t try to game the system by cramming as many keywords as possible all over your piece. It won’t work, it reads like a monkey has written your copy, and those who do it will be penalized.
Keyword stuffing is a form of keyword misuse. Google and Bing are extremely intelligent, and they can spot keyword cramming.
Optimize your images
Images are extremely important from a readability standpoint. They assist readers by making your material more understandable and visible. However, they’re also crucial for SEO because they help to index your website. Although images cannot be crawled, the image ALT-text, i.e., the image description, can be done so.
It’s crucial to include an image alternative text in your post title, as this will ensure that Google can index it for the relevant term. Have you ever seen the photos that appear in your search results?
Search engines love photos. They’re also a fantastic technique to get people to your website and, as a result, imply that your images are relevant to the search query. Compression is also an important aspect to consider. Website speed is important for SEO, and image size and format might have an impact on it.
Use appropriate keywords to optimize your images. You can effortlessly do so by utilizing image compression software.
Page speed
The speed of your page is crucial for webpage ranking, and since 2018 it has been used by Google as a criterion.
The remaining part of your online visitors’ journey is a short period known as the bounce rate, during which they determine whether to continue onto more detailed areas of your website.
A fast-loading website ensures a positive user experience. If your site takes too long to load, you’ll lose customers because they are unwilling to wait any longer, resulting in an increased bounce rate. Bounce rate is not a ranking criterion that directly affects your position, but it is connected to your page speed.
Remember your mobile version!
As more people use their phones to go online, it’s critical to make your website mobile-friendly.
If you do not, you’ll have a high bounce rate since let’s be honest, no one wants to stay on a webpage that isn’t formatted for their phone. Incorrect formatting might include irritating flaws such as buttons that don’t work or the requirement to scroll to the side in order to see the entire page.
A positive experience with your website encourages people to stay and learn more about it, which suggests that the page you picked is relevant for the keyword. In reality, mobile formatting is so essential that Google announced it will begin using mobile-first indexing on websites.
Technical SEO
Earlier, we discussed the importance of establishing a solid website architecture, which is pretty much part of technical SEO.
Technical SEO includes more than simply permalinks and picking ideal search terms. It’s all about creating a responsive website. This area is pretty technical and personal, therefore it goes beyond what this beginner’s tutorial would cover. It’s still worth noting though, because it’s so specialized and technical.
Work with a technical SEO expert and your team, to figure out how the ideal website structure and design would look for your target audience.
Update your pages and content
To maintain your SEO, you must conduct SEO audits regularly to update your material. Especially because the world of information and trends change so fast- you don’t want to be penalized in search ranks because of outdated data.
Examine the pages and sites that you’ve previously built, evaluate the material for accuracy, and see whether everything is properly optimized. If your content is no longer relevant or has not been optimized as required, it is likely to mean your rank isn’t as high as it could be.
So there we have it! 10 tips to get your SEO game off to a good start as a beginner. Take these tips and start applying them to your author website today, and in no time you will have readers flocking to your site.
Happy writing!
