Now that you have got your own online source, the next thing that you need to do is to ensure that it attracts regular web traffic. The question which arises is how do you ensure that? With hundreds and thousands of competing websites vying for the attention of online visitors, just how does one ensure that his or her website ranks on top of search lists? Well the answer lies in search engine optimization (SEO). Now SEO is something that doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a lot of creativity and persistence.
While there are some short cuts available to ensure high rankings, they are usually ‘black hat’ SEO techniques which are downright unethical, which may lead to your site being banned permanently by search engines. Let’s take a look at how SEO can rank a website up.
Keep a tab on Google’s algorithm changes
It is perhaps one of the most well-known secrets the world over. Google does change its algorithms quite frequently. While the company may not admit it, there are indications that it does so at least four to five times every year. You therefore need to keep your ears and eyes open to any, literally any kind of information that you may get in these matters. You can also talk to someone who is an expert in this field.
Major update announcements from Google are very rare. So, whatever information that people do get is only through hearsay from industry professionals. It is therefore not suspiring that changing search algorithms continue to be the most challenging aspect for SEO professionals. The best way perhaps would be to keep track of all the information with respect to algorithms. Make sure that the you go through online sources such as Moz’s Google Algorithm Change History, which is a wonderful place to find out about the updates.
Update the content
Another mistake that many website owners make is to not to bother about their content. Remember, online visitors are always looking for fresh content. Put yourself in their place and answer this simple question. Which are your favorite websites? Chances are that it would be online sources that update their content on a regular basis. Remember, no one wants to go through the same piece of write up, again and again. Make sure that your website doesn’t appear stale to online visitors. One of the simplest ways to ensure that would be to add a blog to your website. This way you can ensure that online visitors can get to read something useful on your niche, almost every time they visit your website. Another mistake which many people make is to just change the written matter. Remember ‘content’ can also means videos. It can also be slide shows. It could also be some catchy music. You therefore need to take into consideration every type of content when planning your SEO strategy.
How fast does your site load?
There are some websites which take forever to load. What do you usually do in such circumstances? Just wait for a few seconds and try opening some other site. Your site’s speed therefore is important if you want to improve web traffic to it. Remember, site speed is a key Google ranking consideration. There have been several studies done which clearly suggest that whenever there is a delay in page loading, there is also a decline in sales conversions on online stores.
One of the first thing that you need to do if your site is slow to load is to change its design. Too much of flash or animations, sometimes could be the reason for the slow loading process. Too many dynamic components too could be a problem. Removing big images is a good way to speed up a website. Too many JavaScript files could sometimes be the reason for the slowness. Moving to a faster hosting services could be another solution. A professionally done website, with minimal graphics is the best way to ensure that your website attracts a regular stream of visitors.
Register your website with Google
There are many who feel that they can ‘hide’ things from Google or other search engines, without realizing that if you want to ensure long term high rankings, then you need to play by the game and not resort to unethical means. It therefore makes sense to register your website registered with the webmaster tools.
There are some key reasons for registering your website. Once you do so, you will get notifications whenever there is some issue with your website. Besides this, you will also get information with respect to some crucial information about your website. For instance, you can find out the different search queries that online visitors are using to find your website. Similarly, you can get statistics on the number of incoming links. You can also keep track of the index pages.