35 Tips to Make SEO Work Work
You may be working at full throttle right now or you may be just establishing your presence in the digital environment. No matter what, there is only one term that will appear after a while: SEO.
SEO is actually the general names given to the manipulation-based techniques performed to rank in search engines. However, only part of this is accepted by the experts.
Optimization studies for different search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo will increase the visibility of your site on the search engine results page. However, SEO these days has a very different meaning than manipulation-based techniques. Now you need to appeal to search engines and their users.
The reason behind this is that Google updates its algorithm very frequently. These algorithm updates ensure that only good SEO works. With the help of appropriate techniques, you will not only increase the ranking of your site, but also give people the opportunity to find information more effortlessly. In the SEO world, such methods are called white hat techniques.
In other words, SEO doesn't just appeal to you. SEO works appeal to site owners, bloggers, entrepreneurs, as well as potential visitors, followers, happy customers or brand advocates.
If you're ready to get started, you can quickly review the tips below. You should remember that if you want these tips to work, you must have a ranking tracking tool.
Beginning Your SEO Adventure
Below are several reliable SEO tips from experts. By using these tips, you can bring visitors to your site from search engines and offer them more user-friendly navigation.
The list is divided into several sections to keep things moving in an organized fashion. You should not forget that SEO is a complex and long-term process. First, you should start with small and easy-to-apply steps. These will add much more to your site than you think. After digging a little deeper, you'll be able to learn more about SEO and be able to follow a very strong SEO strategy.
As you try to apply these tips, you should know the importance of two things that will help you the most during your adventure: continuity and consistency.
Basics of On-Site Optimization
These days, the URL structure of the site, title tags, meta descriptions, optimizing images have become much less important for Google. Google is now focusing more on content and link building techniques. However, as you learn the basics of SEO, you will be able to learn more easily what good practices are.
1. You should make sure that the structure of your site is clean, intuitive and up-to-date.
The best way to organize site architecture is to review the navigation elements that are important for SEO and visitors. Search engines find pages by browsing the link structure and add them to the index. If the structure of your site is good, then all pages and subpages will be easily found and added to the search engine results page.
However, intuitive navigation elements can be useful to visitors. You need to ensure that visitors can access a lot of things in very little time. You must implement the three-click rule. All visitors should be able to access all pages on your site with just 3 clicks.
2. You should use the primary keyword in the page URL.
Each of the pages in your domain name should target different keywords. Therefore, you should focus on the primary keyword you have chosen and include it in the URL. You should definitely try to use hyphens instead of underscores in the URL.
3. You should use hyphens instead of underscores in the URL.
If you try to separate the names in the URL with underscores, Google will see them as one word. For example, the URL structure in the form of best_seo_methods is seen as "best_seomethods". You should use hyphens instead of underscores as this is rather difficult to read.
4. You should choose a static URL address instead of a dynamic one.
When it comes to URL address, you can have two different options: static and dynamic.
The static URL is as follows:
domainname.com/en-iyi-seo-methods
The dynamic URL is as follows:
domainname.com/category/?=123456789
Search engines are capable of understanding both URLs. But for humans, dynamic URLs mean they can't get out.
For example, if you are using WordPress, your default URL will be dynamic. After writing the article and pressing the share button, WordPress creates a static URL using the keywords it has chosen from the title. In terms of SEO, it is always better to choose the URL names yourself.
5. URLs should be short, descriptive and relevant.
A visitor takes a second glance to understand what a site is about. If you edit the URL yourself, you can benefit from many things, including keyword optimization. But most importantly, you help users understand your site. Thus, searchers will be able to find your site much more easily.
6. You should set an attractive title tag for each page on your site.
A title tag tells you what your domain is about. Your online presence will largely depend on this short sentence. The title tag will be visible to people at many different points, such as the search engine results page, social media, other pages, and browsers.
They should be short, eye-catching and original. In this way, you can succeed in attracting the attention of your target audience. Yes, you can attract them to your site as long as you can speak their language. If you examine the search engine results page, social media shares and page tabs in the browser, you can see them much more easily.
7. You should use meta descriptions to better present your brand.
A meta description is a short paragraph just below the title on the search engine results page. A meta description gives searchers the opportunity to better present your brand. By taking advantage of this opportunity, you can increase the click-through rate to your site.
You should keep in mind that the ideal meta description length is around 130-160 characters.
8. You should not forget to use the ALT attribute in images.
Search engines cannot read images. Instead, they try to learn about the image by reading ALT texts. That's why you should help search engines understand the images by filling in the ALT attribute. Of course, by including keywords in these sections, you can make them stand out in the search.
In addition, surrounding images with relevant and relevant text can get you pretty good results. In this way, you can enable search engines to better understand images and think that they are important to readers.
Whichever content management system you use, you should try to include keywords in the filenames before uploading images. You should not miss these optimization details for images.
9. You need to find keywords that will work for you.
SEO is largely based on keywords. In a good SEO strategy, it is necessary to predict the words that users have written in the search bar and use them in the site content. Therefore, if you have a list of keywords, you may think that you are halfway there.
The most common way to do keyword research is to use Google Keyword Planner. This free tool is open to anyone with a Google AdWords account and is free to use. After creating your account, you can get keyword recommendations by entering details about your site.
Your goal is to choose the most relevant and relevant keywords from the list. However, you should keep in mind that these keywords must be popular with users. Finally, you should try to choose medium or low-level keywords in terms of competition.
This is something that seems easy in theory. The most challenging aspect of the Google Keyword Planner tool is that it shows the average competition for those who have only been bid on paid ads for a particular keyword. When it comes to the competitive situation of organic results, the situation can change completely.
For this reason, one of the most important ways to follow is to compare the keyword difficulty by using different tools.
Google Keyword Planner is one of the best ways to start keyword research. Then you need to expand your inventory with more different keyword tools.
10. You should combine different types of keywords.
There are generally three different types of keywords: general, broad match, and long-tail. Each has the potential to attract a different amount of traffic. The safest and most effective strategy is to combine these keywords to get different types of traffic.
General keywords are made up of non-specific general terms. For example, “content marketing” is one such keyword. These terms offer a fairly high amount of traffic and are less targeted. However, the competition level of general keywords is quite high.
Broad match keywords offer a balance between traffic volume and site relevance. For example, “content marketing best practices” is one such keyword. Traffic from this phrase is much more targeted. Users who will visit your site may become customers or followers for you in the future.
Long-tail keywords are made up of long phrases. People are looking for more specific information while making such searches. For example, “How to create a content marketing strategy” is one such keyword. They don't bring much traffic. However, visitors are more likely to interact with you.
11. You should not forget to add location to keywords.
By adding location to keywords, you can make your site and business accessible to local searches and local customers. For example, if you offer content marketing services and you are an Istanbul-based company, then you should ensure that potential customers can find you by searching for “content marketing services Istanbul”.
12. You should include keywords in headings, subheadings and anchor texts.
Not every area on your site will give the same effect and SEO power for a keyword. The most important points where keywords can be used in the content structure are headings, subheadings, bold texts and anchor texts.
You should never use the term “click here” when describing links, i.e. creating anchor texts for them. This term does not provide any information about the link and gives you problems in terms of optimization.
However, if possible, you should include important keywords in the part of your site name.
13. You should place keywords naturally in the content.
Keywords should fit the context. If you do this excessively, your site will be caught by Google's algorithm and will fall into the background. Such sites are not attractive to both search engine crawlers and users. Keyword stuffing can directly affect your ranking as it creates negative user experience.
14. When optimizing a page, you should focus on a single keyword.
Optimizing a page for a single keyword is one of the best approaches. You can harness the true power of SEO by focusing on a single keyword. You can achieve this by optimizing titles and meta tags with keywords.
15. You should optimize images with appropriate keywords.
You should use keywords not only in the page content, but also in the descriptions of the images on the page. While trying to optimize images, you should not neglect to define ALT attributes by using words such as “image, photo, picture” together with the keyword.
16. After starting the SEO work, you should follow the performance of the keywords.
If you're not tracking your site's search rankings and you're avoiding examining where certain keywords appear on the search results page, you should stop doing SEO work. Site optimization is a long-term job and requires tracking all efforts one by one. When it comes to keywords, you should keep track of which ones rank best.
17. Share high-quality, up-to-date and keyword-intensive content.
One of the most important factors in terms of SEO is site content. If you can provide useful and applicable information to visitors, your site's search engine ranking will be quite high. If you want to get the best results from optimization studies, you should try to update the site contents. Thus, you can ensure that your site is up-to-date and your target audience is interested in your site.
18. You should pay attention to the spelling rules in the content.
High quality content must not contain typos. People often misspell when trying to search for something. You should not try to use keywords with misspellings in the content to target them. Too many typos in the content will directly affect your ranking.
19. You must ensure that the content is valuable and original.
If you want your site to stand out, you need to know that you are chasing a very challenging goal. You should know that you don't have a magic wand to achieve this. Search engines usually try to highlight pages that add value to users.
A site that contains original and valuable information will have more space on the search engine results page. Search engines keep these sites in the foreground and make an effort to ensure that people meet with options that will add more value.
20. You should prepare content suitable for your target audience.
It is not possible to create content that every user will be interested in. Your site will be in front of different users at many different times. However, your goal is not to please everyone. By creating content, you must meet the expectations of your customers.
You should create customer personalities based on the information you get from people visiting your site. You should go to the path of creating content by taking advantage of these personalities. You should delight your target audience by creating content that interests them.
21. You should carefully plan your content strategy.
Yes, you must have a strategy for creating content. Without this strategy, you should not publish content on your site. You shouldn't just think about what content you should offer. You should also determine how often you present content. This is extra important if you have a blog on your site. To create content, you must have a roadmap.
22. You must ensure that the content is easily readable.
In the internet environment, people go to the way of reading by scanning the texts. Therefore, you should have a clear structure for the content. You should use methods such as headings, subheadings, bullet points, and darkening text.
However, you can use images, give real-life examples, use infographics or include videos. You should put extra effort into making the content memorable. In addition, you should take care to use the keywords in the content in the most correct way.
23. You must correct all duplicate content.
Duplicate content is located at different URLs but contains the same text. Search engines do not like them and they lower the ranking of such sites as much as possible. Sometimes it is not possible to stay away from duplicate content. Especially if you have an e-commerce site, you will not be able to avoid them because you will place the same product on different pages.
In such cases, you should use canonical tags. With the help of these tags, you can indicate that the pages are related to each other and remove them from being duplicate content. However, you can use 301 redirects to redirect similar pages to a single page.
24. You should create a healthy link profile for your site.
Links to your site are one of the second most important factors in SEO. If you want to increase the ranking of your site, you should try to make use of the links as much as possible. From the first day you implement the SEO strategy, you should try to devote time to link building.
Trying to get links from reliable addresses that are relevant to your site is one of the most ideal steps to start. You should get links from places that will display traffic to your website and a behavior after the traffic arrives.
25. While getting links, you should focus on quality ones.
You should only try to get links from reliable and quality addresses. Thus, you can have the opportunity to get high traffic. If you want to increase your site's ranking, this will be a very positive effect. If authoritarian sites give you links, their authority is shared with you.
Thanks to these links, search engines begin to trust you more. When search engines see your site as a good source of information, they will rank you higher on the search engine results page.
Quality is always more important than quantity. This rule applies especially when it comes to links, content, and SEO. You should not forget that if you act in the opposite direction of this rule, you can have big problems.
26. You should not invest in sponsored links.
Communicating with authoritative blogs in your field, adding real value to them and getting links is much more important than buying links. Buying links will not bring you traffic. Moreover, it will not make you credible in the eyes of the readers.
Being on a respected site as a blog post, being the subject of a research, preparing an infographic or a presentation will provide a much more valuable link acquisition.
Real values generate traffic, followers, engagement and links. As long as you give something worthwhile to someone, you can get quality links in return. If you want to get results in terms of SEO, you have to disable the money.
27. You should link to quality sites.
By linking to other sites, you not only promote their content, but also make them aware of your presence. Linking to others has such a simple meaning. If you have quality content, people will share it and help promote your site.
To build quality links, you must communicate with others and have a certain level of relationship. You should not think about contacting people just for link exchange.
28. You should earn links by helping people.
Currency in the SEO world is nothing but links. You can get something in return by doing it to others, sharing your knowledge with them, adding value to them, getting them to apply something, or giving them free tools. Users are usually happy about it and want to link to you in return.
If you want to pay link money to paid campaigns, you should use the spending to help others, not to get links. Many non-profit organizations or organizations seek sponsors. If you sponsor them, you can get links in return.
If a domain name ends with .org, .edu, .info or .gov, they are far superior to others in terms of domain authority. Search engines rely more on such addresses. You can increase the credibility of your site by getting links from such addresses.
29. You should create content that people want to link to.
If you add real value to visitors, they will share your site with their friends and family. You won't even need to ask them for this. Because they trust you and accept the value you add, they will naturally gain links to you.
30. You should establish relationships with other sites in your field.
The algorithms of search engines are quite smart. If you get links from sites that are unrelated to you, even if they are of good quality, you will not gain any advantage in search engines. Moreover, these links can be seen as deceptive.
You should devote your time to sites in your area. You should connect with these sites, collaborate with them, add value to them and try to get the links in the safest way possible.
31. You should build a presence on social media.
It is true that links from social media are of a “nofollow” nature. They do not directly contribute to their ranking with this link. However, having a presence on social media channels will increase your traffic and give you more reputation in general.
The more visible the content you create on social media, the more likely people will be to share it. In this way, you can get links naturally and strengthen your link profile.
32. You should check out the guest posting opportunities.
Visitor authoring is a very popular method and extremely reliable for generating links. A blogger realizes this method by publishing content elsewhere. By publishing their content on a different site, the blogger can get a free link in return.
However, if you want this method to work, you should target high-quality blogs that are relevant to your site. In this way, you can add real value to your site.
33. You should not be a regular visitor.
Since many people do visitor authoring for links, Google now considers this to be against the rules. Visitor authoring should not only add value to both parties, but also add value to the user. SEO is always a long-term and time-consuming process. Moreover, it is now directly related to users rather than site owners.
As a result, people use search engines every day. If they cannot find the information they are looking for on your site, they will stop visiting your site and turn to different sources.
34. You should constantly monitor the quality of your link profile.
After applying SEO techniques, you should try to track their performance. As you try to build links, you should review how they contribute. You should focus on the hard work you put forth, not on the difficulty, but on what you gain.
35. You should check what your competitors are doing in terms of SEO.
You should always watch your opponents. You should review the keywords they use. You have to follow their rankings. You must do this daily. You should browse the sites they appear on and follow the content they share.
You should not make the mistake of copying their SEO strategy. You have to progress by developing your own strategy. You should never be afraid to change your own strategy. As long as you believe that you will get the right results, you can do it with peace of mind.
Each of the methods shared here will help you a lot in SEO. Each of these methods is user-friendly. If you are just starting your SEO adventure, the suggestions here will serve as an ideal checklist for you.