Are you looking for key tactics to improve your SEO strategy in 2018? With the constant algorithm changes, it can be overwhelming trying to keep up and stay up-to-date on your SEO.
Yet, there are some key steps you can implement that will improve your ranking and online presence straight away.
Here are five best practices to help amplify your SEO efforts this year.
1. Add Interactive Content to Increase Dwell-Time
Interactive content pieces – like quizzes, surveys, polls, assessments, videos, and infographics – can be huge assets to your content marketing and SEO strategy. Not only do they keep visitors on your website longer (dwell-time), they can also improve the user-experience.
The more people stay on your pages, and longer, the more it alerts Google that your content is indeed valuable and relevant to what the user’s looking for.
Use interactive content to your advantage.
2. Aim for Keyword-Rich, Long-Form Content
According to Backlinko, the average Google first page result contains 1,890 words.
Long-form content enables you to delve deeper into content topics, providing users with a wealth of information. You help people get everything they need when you publish comprehensive content, and this is what Google aims to do.
Long-form content also gives you the opportunity to add your primary and LSI keywords to help you rank better for them.
3. Craft Great Headlines to Improve Click-Through Rates
Your headline gives the first impression of your content, and is often the key factor which will determine whether people will click or not. Therefore, taking the time to craft the most compelling headline is crucial to getting search users to engage with your content.
Use tools like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer which grades you on elements like if your headline will foster engagement, how it would perform on social media, and if you need to add (or delete) words for better results.
Also, numbers and how-to’s make excellent headline titles, and be sure to add descriptive words to give it more oomph.
4. Ensure Your Site is Mobile-Ready and Easy to Navigate
Search Engine Land reports that nearly 60% of Google searches now occur on mobile devices. More people are accessing the internet from their smartphones today than ever before – it’s imperative that your website is mobile-ready to engage this audience.
It’s also important that your website is responsive on mobile. Page load speeds, navigation (how easily people can find what they’re looking for on your website), and formatting are key ingredients that impact SEO and user-experience.
5. Encourage Engagement
Finally, encouraging visitors to comment on your posts is a sure way to improve your SEO strategy.
Google has previously noted that “community” can help a lot in increasing rankings. Engagement reveals that not only are people reading your content, but that they’ve also been compelled to interact. Again, this also helps keep people on your website longer, and underlines that your message is spot-on to what they’re looking for.
Include a strong call-to-action in your post encouraging people to give their thoughts. Ask an open-ended question or provide people a chance to ask you questions to initiate conversations.
Conclusion
Improving your SEO strategy doesn’t have to be a complicated feat. Use these tips in your content marketing to experience better results from SEO. With consistency, you’ll see an increase in engagement, and better visibility in search.