Every year there is more and more competition, no matter what industry you are in you are likely to have more difficulty getting your business name out there. As well as this, more people than ever are using Google and other search engines to help them find the information they need. Therefore, using the correct SEO tactics has never been more important then in 2019.
Last year saw a lot of changes and it became apparent that if you didn’t keep up with the latest trends then you were quickly left behind. This year is expected to be much of the same and you’ll need to keep up with the latest best SEO practices if you want to improve (or even maintain) your rankings.
With so much happening in the world of SEO is can quickly get difficult and confusing, this is why it is important for you to break down SEO into more manageable chunks for you to take care of. With that being said, take a look below at some of the most important SEO factors for you to keep track of in 2019:
Best Practice For Images
Visuals are certainly an important part of your website and you will need to ensure they are properly optimized so they work as well as possible to improving your SEO. No matter the type of business you operate, you’ll need high quality logo and images to make your website look more appealing.
One of the most important things to be aware of when it comes to images is the potential impact on your overall website speed. You can add as many snazzy images as you want, but if they have too much of an impact on speed then there won’t be a lot of users sticking around waiting until your website finally loads. According to Energise even the logo design must be optimized, as many business upload their logos with high size which slows the website speed.
Your images also need to tell a story. Don’t have randomly placed images on your site just for the sake of it. You also should look to include a title tag and description so Google (and other search engines) have a better idea of what the image is, because they can’t read an image – just words.
Incorporate Structured Data Into Site
Looking from the outside, structured data can be a bit scary, but in reality, it isn’t actually that bad and it doesn’t take a genius to understand and implement it on a website. The reason structured data is so important is because it can help your search engine results listing stand out from the rest.
There is a website that can help you with structured data, called Schema.org. Here you can find all the different categories for structured data and find the ones that are applicable to your website. Schema.org even offers examples with the correct coding, so all you have to do is copy and paste the code and then replace with the correct information.
If you are unsure it is a good idea to start of simple and work up from there. To check if your structured data is correct, you can use a free tool provided by Google called Structured Data Testing Tool. Google will identify any areas that require your attention.
Let’s say that you, for example, add in the correct structured data for a review of a certain product you have for sale on your website. This will give Google the chance to add the review schema to your search engine listing – i.e. giving you the yellow stars.
This adds variety to your listing and will help you stand out from others. This is just one simple example in a sea of different structured data you can implement. However, it is important that you get structured data right and many people do make mistakes which could end up having a negative impact on your site.
If you use structured data incorrectly you could receive a penalty from Google. So, it is important to be aware of some of the common mistakes people tend to make when it comes to structured data.
Firstly, be sure that the structured data you use matches the content that is on the page. As well as this, you can’t just put a heap of structured data on the page, hoping that Google picks up on as many as they can. You should also take a look at Google’s Structured Data General Guidelines to ensure you aren’t violating them.
High Quality Content
Content is one of the biggest areas in SEO and should subsequently take up a significant portion of your dedicated SEO time. Your content needs to have a proper focus and a good readability level if you want to see positive rankings. Think about who your target audience is and work from there, you will need to have the correct target keywords to build up from.