SEO can be difficult, particularly when you consider that Google’s ranking algorithm considers over 200 factors to determine which pages appear at the top of search results.
SEO can be broken down into smaller tasks like any other significant task.
This guide will teach you 10 SEO tips to help your website rank higher in Google’s search results.
You can also download our FREE Bonus PDF, packed with more SEO tips explicitly tailored for ecommerce sites.
Use the Power of Internal Linking
The process of adding an internal link is to add a hyperlink between two pages on your website.
This simple tactic can be extremely effective in boosting your SEO performance.
Google crawls new pages using hyperlinks, increasing the likelihood that your page will be included in its index.
It spreads PageRank around your website (a formula that measures the perceived value of a web page by looking at how many and what quality pages link to it).
You can tell Google the relationship between pages and their structure.
This allows you to direct users to the most important pages of your website and keep them there for longer.
Here are some tips for implementing a solid strategy of internal linking:
Only link to relevant pages. You don’t want your users to leave after clicking because the page you linked to wasn’t related to what they initially looked at. Google will also need help understanding the hierarchy of your website if you add links to relevant web pages.
Use keyword-rich anchors- The anchor text is the textual, clickable part of the link. You can add layers of information to Google by using keyword-rich links. This will further strengthen the relationship between the two pages.
Only Add A Few. More internal links can be off-putting to users as they disrupt the flow of your website. Add only internal links to pages that make sense.
Avoid internal redirects- A redirection occurs when you add a link on a page that redirects to a different page. It is problematic because the server must first load the URL it was redirected from, then process the redirection. This can significantly reduce your website’s loading time if you have many of them.
Optimize the Meta description and page title of essential pages
Search results will show the page title and meta description as the first thing users see.
These elements could decide whether a user visits your website or your competitor’s.
They’re also one of the fastest and easiest ways to improve the ranking of a website.
Update Existing Content
Google’s Off-Page SEO is, and will likely continue to be a powerful way to boost a website’s visibility on organic search results.
Look at your competitors to find new opportunities for link building.
Ahrefs offers a great tool called Link Intersect that instantly generates a list by analyzing the domains from which your competitors have backlinks but not yours.
Enter your domain in Ahrefs site Explorer and click the Link Intersect Report.
You now have a list of websites from which your competitors have backlinks, but not you. By default, the results will show all opportunities, including those from any intersection. This means that if your competitor has a link from a specific domain, you’ll see it.
Selecting only domains with links from multiple competitors’ sites will help you narrow your search results and find the most suitable options. Then, click “Apply”.
Sort by Domain rating is an Ahrefs metric that measures the strength and quantity of backlinks on a website to determine which websites are most likely to be valuable for a link.
In the above example, 710 domains have at least two competitors with a backlink from the Referring Domain but not our example website.
Optimize Your Pages For Featured Snippets
Using featured snippets to increase the visibility of pages outside of the first page on Google is an effective way to boost their ranking.
Google’s search results display featured excerpts to give users quick answers to their queries. Here’s an illustration:
The featured snippets can be worth the investment because they are displayed before the organic search results and take up more space.
While there is no guarantee that you will be selected for a featured excerpt, here are a few tips to help increase your chances.
Select the Right Keywords. Not all keywords are featured in Google’s featured snippets. You must ensure your content is optimized for a keyword on which Google has already displayed a featured excerpt. Here is an example keyword without a featured image.
Optimize for Question-Related Key Words Use your favorite keyword research tool to find keywords phrased in the questions (or Google’s People Also Ask) section. It is because there are many featured snippets for these types of queries.
Check the Formatting for the Featured Snippet- Google’s featured snippets may be formatted as bulleted or numbered lists or tables. Make sure you use the same formatting when optimizing your content.
Give Short and Concise Responses- Featured snippets are usually short (generally 50 words or fewer), so ensure that your responses to your questions are concise and short.
Focus on low-hanging and low-competition keywords
Some keywords are more difficult to rank than others. The higher the demand for a particular keyword, the harder it is to rank.
It doesn’t matter if you have an established website or a newly launched one, optimizing your website with low-hanging fruit and low-competition keyword is a great way to improve your site’s visibility on Google gradually.
These are keywords that are already ranking but just outside the first page. These keywords can be found in Ahrefs Organic Keywords report. Filter the “Position”, and set the “Keyword difficulty” (KD, Ahrefs metric to measure how difficult it is to rank for a particular keyword within the top 10 rankings) to a maximum of 15.
After you have chosen a keyword, check out the competitors who are ranking high for that term. This will help you identify areas where your content can be improved. Check if your page’s title, headings, and meta description can be optimized. You can also add a keyword-rich internal link to any relevant pages of your website to increase relevance.
