SYLVIANE NUCCIO

Search engine optimization is a field that is changing constantly.

Old techniques make way for new and better ones. Sometimes, this change is so quick and undramatic that you totally miss it. Until, of course, it affects your website directly.

Yet, as the average webmaster, you don’t want to have to keep up with everything. You want to be able to do the most basic SEO and focus on growing an excellent website.

“If you really want all the SEO to be perfect, hire a reputable SEO company. However, there are some basic fundamentals that every webmaster needs to know,” says Victor Smushkevich, a consultant with a prominent Los Angeles SEO company.

These fundamentals can do a great deal of good for your web pages by boosting their rankings on Google. They are effective and inexpensive, helping you get part of the way there before you have to call in the big guns.

Here are the most important SEO fundamentals you can use to get more traffic to your website.

1- Go for Long-form Content

This might seem counterintuitive in an age where attention spans are only growing shorter. However, long-form content actually increases your chances of getting a higher Google content. It shows the ranking algorithm that your content is in-depth and valuable. That it helps readers solve whatever problems they are facing.

This isn’t always easy to do from scratch, however. You will find it very time-consuming and exhausting to write a 2,000-word article from scratch. However, you can instead work on expanding existing content by repurposing it.

This existing content probably already has an established readership and authority. Expanding it involves breathing new life into it and giving it a better chance to rank higher on Google.

2-  Don’t Focus on Keywords – Focus on Topics Instead

Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and long gone are the days when keyword stuffing worked to get pages high rankings on Google. Now, keyword stuffing just gets you penalized.

Rather than focusing on crafting articles around the keywords users type into search bars, focus on crafting articles around the possible intentions of these users when typing these keywords.

This requires an intimate understanding of your target audience and how the keywords they use, relate to their needs. Research the keywords but create topics around them that add genuine value to your readers’ lives.

3- Backlinks

Backlinks still remain the most important factor in determining the ranking of a page on search engines. This isn’t to mean that you should go for just any backlinks. Search engine algorithms have devised methods of sniffing out low-quality links from spammable sources. Instead, go for high-quality backlinks from sites with plenty of authority and credibility.

One way to do this is to reach out to influencers in your niche and ask — nicely — that they link to your articles. If your content is good, this shouldn’t be a problem. Alternatively, you can offer to write guest posts on other people’s sites and link back to your own site. This is a kind of symbiosis that works to the benefit of both parties.

4. Have a Fast-loading and Responsive Website

Google has been using site speed to rank pages since 2010. Even more recently, they included mobile responsiveness in their factors. Remember that a significant portion of your site’s visitors are likely to visit your website from their mobile phones.

If your site doesn’t load within seconds, your bounce rate will be very high. Additionally, if your visitors can’t view it comfortably on their mobile phones, you’ll end up losing a large portion of your viewership.

5. Create Engaging Content

Content is king and has always been. Make sure your content contains useful information that is presented in an interesting way and a readable format for your visitors. Add videos and images if you can to make things even more accessible, and take some of that content and convert it into infographics that your users can consult over and over again.

Final Thought

SEO is powerful, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Most of the above tips are inexpensive to implement and can be done by you, without having to hire an SEO professional. When you do hire a professional, however, it will be much easier to get where you want to get because you’ll have laid the groundwork for them already.