Every business needs SEO (even freelancers, like myself). Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps you capitalise on organic website traffic. A whopping 75% of people don’t go past the first page of Google, so you need your content to rank as high as possible.
As a busy business owner, you’ll appreciate these seven quick and easy tips to boost your SEO.
Run your website through an SEO tool
As a freelance writer, I have a better-than-foundational understanding of how SEO works. But I still appreciate the convenience and thoroughness of SEO tools that can pick out exactly what I need to do to improve a website.
I use UberSuggest for myself and my clients. Just plug in the URL and get an instant SEO score and recommendations on what to fix. You’ll spend less time on guesswork and can jump into immediate action.
Add internal links to your blog posts
Another piece of low-hanging fruit – link to your own content. Links create a better user experience by providing additional insights that are relevant to the content they’re already engaging with.
Google likes to see a mix of internal and external links. But too often, website owners will link out to reputable sources and neglect their own.
Make it a goal to add at least one or two internal links to every blog post. Internal links help search algorithms better understand your content, which can help them display your content in relevant search results.
Ask for guest blog posts
Writing guest blogs for other websites can help you build your backlinks, increase web traffic, and improve your authority. But there’s another side of the coin to consider – asking for guest blog posts for your own website.
I added a guest blog post page to my website where others can submit their pitches and get published on my blog. I’ve received a number of pitches as well as several new contacts added to my network.
When you open up your site to other writers, you’ll gain a wealth of free content to share with your audience. Plus, when you publish others’ content, they can share it on their networks and even link back to it. Those backlinks add up quickly in building your domain authority and earning additional traffic.
Add keywords to your titles and headers
Your titles are like first impressions to search engines. If you don’t include a keyword in the title (and the section headings), algorithms will have a harder time understanding what your content is about.
Think about the terms your users might be searching for and how your content will match their needs. Then, go through your blogs and other website content and start adding keywords in the right places.
Include your own meta descriptions
Your content title and meta description might be the first things your audience sees in search results. This sets the tone for what they’ll find if they click through to your website. That’s why you don’t want to leave your meta descriptions to chance.
If you do not specify a meta description, the search engines will write one for you. It may or may not be good enough to attract your audience’s attention, so take matters into your own hands. Meta descriptions should be around 158 characters and contain your target keyword.
Aim for long-form content
One of the many factors of SEO is on-page time. If a user spends a lot of time on a page, Google and other search algorithms take that as a good sign. It shows your content is worth reading and exploring!
One way to increase your on-page time is to make longer content. If a user can skim it in a few seconds, they’ll get what they need and bounce. But if they have to scroll or watch for a while, it increases their time on the page.
Long-form content is any written content that’s over 1,000 words or video content that lasts more than 10 minutes. You can make your written content longer by adding images and videos into the mix.
Hire an SEO freelancer
There’s so much value in using freelancers to expand your business. When you don’t have the right skills or your people are already tapped out on time, enlisting a freelancer gives you a short-term solution without long-term costs. You can find SEO freelancers on marketplaces like Fiverr that specialise in keyword research, link building, and website optimisation. Pay only for what you need and get expert, immediate results. It’s a win/win!
SEO was a lot easier before all the recent Google algorithm updates – and before everyone else started doing SEO. The bar is constantly rising, so make sure you’re treating SEO as a continuous process and not a one-and-done activity.
