Search engine optimization (SEO) is still one of the most important things you need to do if you want to have decent traffic on your website.

The problem is, Google changes its SEO algorithms regularly, so if you are not keeping an eye on it, you may find yourself slipping in the search results. Here are some SEO tips that can keep you up in the search results.

If it Slows Down Your Site, Get Rid of It

Page speed is a huge factor in SEO. If there is even a one-second delay in your page loading, your conversions can drop by seven percent. Since so many phishing sites are slow to load, many people associate a site that takes too long to load with a site that is not trustworthy. In fact, if a website does not load within three seconds, 40 percent of people will abandon it, while 47 percent say they expect a site to load within two seconds.

Google has made speed a key factor in SEO rankings. So even if you do everything else right, have every page of your site perfectly optimized, you will still go down in the rankings if the site is too slow.

Figure out what plugins are on your site that is slowing you down and get rid of them. You may have downloaded some plugins through WordPress that you are not using but having them active is what is slowing you down. So take the time to sift through your plugins and determine what ones you are not actually using.

Keyword Use

Targeting the right keywords can be tricky. If you are not using the right ones, you are not bringing the right traffic to your site. You need to optimize for relevant keywords, but make sure you do not optimize for too many keywords.

Every page on your site needs a main keyword that is specific to that one page. Google will usually rank only one page, so if you use the same keyword on every page, it may end up choosing a different page than what you would prefer.

When you research keywords, it is important to keep in mind that just because something has a high ranking does not necessarily mean it is good for your site. The intent behind using the keyword is just as important as the word itself; you have a specific audience you want to reach and if they would not use that keyword to look you up, you should not waste time on that word.

You also need to optimize long-tail keywords on your site, because those are becoming more common as voice search gains popularity. If you have a WordPress site, you can set up a focus key phrase to help with long-tail searches.

Keyword Placement

Where you put your keywords is just as important as what keywords you use. You want to put your keyword in the title tag for the page, the URL (permalink), and in the first 100 words of the content on the page. When uploading images to your site, include any pertinent information to the page in the title, description, and alt attributes of the image. The file name for the image needs to reflect your keywords as well.

From there, you will want to sprinkle keywords in the rest of the content, but that main focus keyword for your page needs to be in all three places to help boost your SEO rankings.

Permalink

When you add a new page to your site, whether it is a new blog post or a page for a new product, you have the option to make a custom permalink. If you do not do it, you may end up with a default one like site.com/p10 (signifying the 10th page on your site). Instead, you should customize it with your target keyword, so it is site.com/keyword. Something this simple can have a big impact on your SEO.

Video Content

Video marketing is a popular form of content that can be great for your SEO. You can turn your bigger articles on your site into quick videos to bring in more interest; many people would prefer to watch a quick video over reading an article. In fact, 45 percent of people said they want to see more video content available. Cisco believes that 82 percent of online traffic will be for videos by next year! If you have been ignoring video content, now is the ideal time to start getting into it and boosting your traffic.

Featured Snippets

When you make a Google search and you see a paragraph at the top of the search results that may be the exact answer you are looking for, you are looking at a featured snippet. If you scroll down in your results, the page with the featured image is usually several places down in the results, but the content on that page is worded to answer a specific question, thus making it the featured snippet.

Take the time to research the questions your users want answers to. Then, write blog posts that specifically answer those questions, and try to format your posts so that it is clear you are answering those questions.

Research has shown that when a search does not have a featured snippet, the top result will get 26 percent of the clicks. If there is a featured snippet, the top result only gets 19.6 percent of the clicks. Getting those featured snippets can make a difference in your SEO.

Link Building

You may not want to include external links in the content on your site since it takes people off your site, but it is a critical part of your SEO. When you write the blogs and other content for your website, linking to other sites with authoritative content can help boost the authority of your content in the eyes of your readers, and it helps your readers learn more about the subject. If you provide valuable content and links, readers are more likely to keep coming back, since you have trustworthy information that you have backed up with other trustworthy sites.

Conclusion

We hoped these SEO tips help keep you up in the search results.  Check back for more tips from the Seattle Digital Marketing blog!