If your website is not appearing in Google search results when potential customers are looking for products and services you sell, then it’s time to invest in SEO. But what exactly is that? And how does it work? This blog aims to answer those questions so you are informed about the ways you can grow your website sustainably.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps improve your website’s visibility on search engine results pages so people can find your business organically. According to Google, 49% of shoppers use Google to find new products and services. So if you’re not taking the right course of action to make the most of this consumer buying behavior, you are likely to fall behind your competitors.
SEO generally falls into two categories: organic and paid. Paid SEO often requires a significant investment and may not be feasible for every business. On the other hand, organic SEO is more accessible, even for those working with limited resources. Under organic, you have three more categories: on-page, off-page, and technical SEO.
- On-page SEO, as the name suggests, deals with optimizing the content on the website through high-quality content and targeted keywords.
- Off-page SEO deals with guest posting and backlinking to improve your website’s trust and domain authority. Examples include directory submission and guest posting.
- Technical SEO deals with optimizing the technical aspects of your website, such as its structure and page load speed.
Once you understand these terms, the rest of the blog should be easy for you to understand. And if you’re not sure how to utilize SEO, you can always get professional help by hiring a digital marketing agency in Bangladesh. This is a great option for businesses that are on a budget and need cost-effective SEO strategies. But if you’d like to be informed on the aspects and benefits of SEO, keep reading.
If you want to know more about how you can use SEO to climb the search engine rankings for your website then keep reading to learn six ways you can make the most of SEO to take your website to the next level.
1. Keyword Research
Since your objective is to be noticed by people, it’s crucial that you understand what these people actually want. Casting a wide net is tempting and convenient, but it can cost you. For example, let’s say you run a skincare brand and you’re using broad terms like “glow up” or “bright skin.” This copy might attract clicks, but those visitors might just be casually browsing. However, a copy like “made for oily, acne-prone skin” or “dermatologist-recommended for eczema” might bring in more people who are ready to make a purchase. This language is clear and mentions their skin condition specifically, thus appealing to their needs.
An effective SEO strategy has relevant keywords at its core. And to know which ones are relevant, you must understand your audience and their search behavior. Google’s algorithm prioritizes websites that provide a better user experience. So start surveying or conducting informal interviews to understand your customers’ pain points and preferences. Then optimize your SEO keywords to better meet their needs and expectations. When you provide your customers a more personalized experience, you’ll soon notice your website ranking higher in search engine results.
Keyword research is important for both on-page and off-page SEO. Incorporating keywords is also essential for both. Here are five ways to optimize your keyword strategy:
- Match the content with the reason users are searching, also known as search intent. For example, when someone searches for “pizzas in Dhaka,” they’re expecting restaurant names with product listings to appear. Make sure to include that on your product description page. But if people are searching “how to make pizza at home,” use this keyword in a blog post to teach them how to make it and indirectly lead them to your website.
- Spread your keywords out instead of stuffing them into one paragraph. Try to use one keyword per 100 words.
- Use keywords in the meta description, title tag, and main heading.
- Incorporate keywords in the URL.
- Include keywords in the alt tags of website images.
2. Improve the User Experience (UX)
This falls under the technical SEO category. The UX affects your website’s rankings as it shows how relevant or credible your website is to Google. If users are not staying on your website for long, are not engaging with it, and are leaving because it took too long to load, these activities tell Google that there’s nothing worth staying for. Hence, Google lowers the rankings of your website. It won’t show results that users don’t find valuable. This is how a bad UX can hurt your SEO efforts. Metrics such as bounce rates and dwell times must be kept in mind when developing the website.
One of the first things to fix is site speed. A site that loads slowly can frustrate visitors. Visitors leaving after a few seconds lead to a high bounce rate. Solutions for this issue include using smaller images or WebP format instead of JPG or PNG, and using the lazy loading technique to load only the content users might immediately want to see, while the rest appears as they interact with the page. You can also minimize code by removing whitespace, comments, and extra tags from CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files.
Don’t forget to make your website mobile-responsive since over 55% of website traffic comes from people using mobile devices. An organized structure that loads fast, includes relevant keywords, and features interactive elements like videos and polls is more likely to appear on the first page of search results.
3. Offer a Wide Range of Products/Services
When you offer more products, categories, or variations, you have more opportunities to insert relevant keywords into your descriptions. This is a great way to grab the attention of customers who want the same or similar products but with slightly different features or pricing. This increases traffic to your website and engagement, as more customers visit your website and scroll to find what they are looking for.
For example, let’s say you sell ice cream in three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Adding a pistachio flavor may cost you more, as it takes up inventory and also requires marketing. Instead, you could add a variation where people can add fresh strawberries to the strawberry ice cream, crushed KitKats to the chocolate one, or sprinkles to the vanilla. This small change increases your product range and offers more choices, bringing in more traffic.
4. Backlinking with Quality Content
Backlinks can do wonders for your website’s rankings. Posting high-quality content with links to your website on other websites with high domain authority can improve your website’s authority in search engine rankings. This content can be blogs, videos, guides, infographics, news, or press releases. This is commonly known as guest posting. Guest posting is a content marketing strategy that sends a message to the search engine that your website offers valuable information. And if you’re not sure where to start, partner with an SEO agency in Bangladesh. You’ll get access to backlinking strategies that fit your budget without compromising quality.
For example, if you run a cafe, blogs on detailed recipes, types of coffee, and cooking hacks can help you attract food bloggers, vloggers, amateur cooks, stay-at-home mothers, and more. This content will be highly shareable and will bring all those visitors to your website in search of more recipes or food, increasing your website traffic.
5. Collect Customer Reviews
Customer reviews often use long-tail keywords, casual language, or phrases that are commonly used when people are searching for the types of products you sell. They use descriptive language, which can help your product webpage appear higher in search results when someone is looking for something specific. You can post these reviews on your homepage, landing page, product pages, or social media for more visibility.
Positive reviews build credibility by showing real customer experiences, which can encourage visitors to spend more time on your site. Furthermore, reviews that include relevant keywords also add to the authenticity of your Google Business Profile. Authentic profiles attract more clicks, calls, and visits. More importantly, Google favors profiles that appear trustworthy and active. Thus, authentic reviews with relevant keywords can signal reliability and improve your position in local search results.
6. Monitor SEO Continuously
Check your SEO regularly so you can update it when needed and stay on track. Many platforms give you data on organic traffic, keyword rankings, bounce rates, click-through rates, and backlinks so you can monitor how your SEO strategy is performing. You can use Google Search Console, WooRank, Ubersuggest, Semrush, and more. These platforms display all the information under one roof, show you errors, and also give you instructions on resolving any issues that might be holding your website back from ranking better.
Conclusion
It’s important to realize that implementing the above-mentioned strategies won’t yield results overnight. SEO is a long-term plan with a high ROI, but only when done correctly. By understanding your audience, improving your website’s user experience, offering more products, using backlinking, collecting reviews, and monitoring SEO efforts, you can build a strategy that will stand the test of time.
