Every marketer is looking for ways to improve their conversion rates and SEO is a perfect place to start. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it basically refers to the technique of making websites more visible to search engines such as Google. Essentially, SEO is a way of increasing the likelihood of a particular web page or site being ranked highly by search engines when a person searches for something. Generally speaking, SEO entails making small tweaks to a website to make it more relevant to search engines.

Why is SEO so important? Think about it for a second. Most people nowadays use search engines to find whatever they are looking for online. When they type something into the search bar, their preferred search engine instantly displays a list of websites that match their search term. Based on the number of times that a particular website is listed on the search engine’s first page followed by the number of clicks that the website receives, a search engine algorithm then calculates the website’s rating and places it in the order of relevance.

As you can imagine, with so much competition in the online world, getting your website or blog ranked highly by a search engine can be a very difficult task. Essentially, SEO tries to game the system by taking into account various factors that influence how search engines rank websites. When optimizing a website, an SEO usually starts with assessing the current state of affairs.

The Current SEO Situation

When evaluating the current state of affairs, an SEO must consider a variety of factors. Some of these factors include:

• The strength of the website’s web content.
• The variety of high-quality links that point to the site.
• How fresh the content is on the site.
• How authoritative the website appears to be.
• How the site’s design looks.
• How easily the site can be used on mobile devices.
• How relevant the site is to the user’s searched topic.
• How competitive the market is for the searched topic.
• How advanced the technology is behind the site.
• How much traffic the site receives.

Now let’s examine each of these points in detail.

The Strength of the Website’s Web Content

The strength of the website’s web content is vital to its SEO-ness. Essentially, if a site has well-written, engaging content that is easily discoverable by the user, it will more than likely appear higher in the search engine results. To put it simply, content is king when it comes to SEO.

If you are running a business blog that you think may be lacking in substance, consider creating more comprehensive blog posts. Alternatively, you could also try to interview subject matter experts or visit famous websites that are built on strong content to see how they structure their content and make your own content more informative and interesting.

The Variety of High-Quality Links That Point to the Site

High-quality links are extremely valuable when it comes to SEO. When a site gains a considerable amount of valuable, engaging web content from reputable sources, it will often see a surge in organic traffic and ultimately gain a higher rank on the search engine results page. Essentially, having an abundance of high-quality links pointing to your site will result in your site being listed more prominently on the search engine results page.

To put it simply, the more links that point to a site, the more relevant that site will appear in the search engine results. The caveat is that not all high-quality links are created equal and you must identify and eliminate bad links from your site. For example, if a website links to your site for the sole purpose of attracting more site visitors, it could be considered a bad link.

How Fresh the Content Is On the Site

How fresh the content is on a site can be considered an indicator of whether or not someone is actively engaged with the content on the site. For example, if a business blog posts regularly on a variety of topics, there will be a continual stream of content on the site regardless of when a person visits it. In this sense, regularly published content will always be considered fresh (regardless of whether or not it is actually new material).

In a similar fashion, unpublished content that is simply hidden away on a site will also be considered fresh content. In this case, the content is either unpublished or hidden such that a person searching for information on the site will not find it.

If you are engaging with your audience on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, consider creating and publishing content throughout the year. Even if it is not a popular topic on your social media platforms, you could potentially gain a considerable amount of web traffic from people searching for information on similar topics. In other words, if you have content published frequently and consistently throughout the year, it will more than likely be considered fresh and help your site gain a significant amount of organic traffic.

How Authoritative the Website Appears to Be

When a person decides to visit a particular website, they will most likely do so after having first loaded and finished reading an online review of the site. In this sense, the more reviews that a site has, the more authoritative that site will appear in the review.

To put it simply, the more reviews that a site has, the more likely it will be considered an expert in its field. If a person is considering purchasing a product or service from a reviewed site, that person is more likely to trust information presented by that site. Essentially, having a considerable amount of online reviews of a particular site will result in that site being considered an expert in its field and will make it easier for that site to appear high in the search engine results. In other words, if a person types in “[insert site name] reviews” into the search bar, the site will appear higher in the results due to its online reviews.

A related point to consider is how the site appears on different platforms. Let’s say that you publish a blog post on your website about the benefits of keto dieting. You might also have a Twitter account and a Facebook account that you use to engage with your audience. If someone lands on your site and then sees that you have a Twitter account, they might click on the Twitter icon to see what you have tweeted about.

In this case, the review on your site about the keto diet will likely appear more relevant and help with the person’s search than the Twitter account’s feed.

How the Site’s Design Looks

When someone visits a site, they will almost certainly do so on their mobile device. This is why it is important that a site be easy to use on all mobile devices. Designing a site so that it is accessible on all mobile devices is a challenging task and one that requires considerable expertise. In addition to this, you should also ensure that the site has a clean and minimalistic design.

To put it simply, if someone visits your site and finds it uninteresting or hard to use on their mobile device, they are more likely to leave quickly rather than spend any significant time on the site. Having a clean and minimalistic design will appeal to a broader audience and make your site more successful.

How Easy the Site Can Be Used On Mobile Devices

Most people use mobile devices every day so ensuring that a site is easy to use on a mobile device is an absolute necessity. Designing a site so that it is accessible on mobile devices is one of the most challenging aspects of SEO and takes a considerable amount of expertise.

If a person is visiting your site on their mobile device and finds it hard to navigate or use, they are more likely to leave quickly rather than find the information that they are looking for. In this sense, having a clean and minimalistic design will help with the site’s usability on mobile devices and make it more likely that a person will stay on the site and find the information that they are looking for.

A related point to make is about the site’s content. If a person is searching for information on a site and finds that the information is not relevant to what they are looking for, they are less likely to find that site appealing and therefore less likely to engage with it. This in itself can be considered a bad link.