SEO Best Practices
December 2, 2022

You may do several things to improve your Google rankings.
However, it's crucial to master the basics first.
With those words:
Make sure your website adheres to the most recent SEO best practices. That's the starting point.
Your SEO Checklist
We must go over some of the most crucial SEO rankings criteria before discussing our SEO best practices checklist.
Let's start by discussing Google. Users can use Google as a search engine to get results depending on their search terms. They work hard to deliver the greatest, most useful, and most informative results to users at every level.
If your page loads slowly or lacks multimedia, it generally won't be regarded as the finest. Therefore, before considering pages for ranking, Google considers a comprehensive list of qualities your site's pages should have.
1. Page Speed
Users are likely to leave your website pages if they load slowly before they can read the content you offer. Therefore, Google considers page speed when ranking your site because they know and understand that consumers get impatient when a page loads slowly.
2. User Experience
Google wants each visitor to your website to be happy. Because of this, if you offer a user experience that is less than satisfactory, they won't rank it highly.
3. Site Responsiveness
Visitors to your website use a variety of devices in addition to desktops to view it. Because of how common smartphones and tablets are, Google considers whether or not your website is mobile-responsive. As a result, visitors will have the same experience seeing your website on any device.
4. Links
Yes, backlinking is still the most effective strategy to develop authority in 2022, and this won't change soon. How quickly and far you move up the ladder is greatly influenced by the quality of your backlinks. Not every backlink is created equal. Each year, the trend toward favoring quality over quantity grows.
5. Content
One of the main ranking factors that Google takes into account is content. Content is crucial because there would be nothing to rank your site for without it.
You must produce content that focuses on crucial keywords in your industry if you want it to rank highly in organic results. When writing your content, there are many factors to take into account.
6. Security
Google takes security into account when ranking websites. SSL security is indicated by a https at the beginning of your URL rather than a http, and it demonstrates to Google that you value the privacy of your site users.
7. Website age
A newly launched website won’t begin to rank immediately. If your website is more than a year old, you are already in a better position.
SEO Best Practices You Should Follow
Best SEO practices are measures intended to raise a website's rankings.
On-site optimization, keyword research, and link building are typical best search engine optimization practices.
In actuality, only 63% of people who use Google to search ever click on a result from the second page of results. Which is why having a high Google ranking is so important.
The best way to present yourself is to adhere to SEO best practices such as:
1. Match content with the intent
Every search query is driven by search intent, often known as "user intent."
Google's first aim is to comprehend and fulfill users' search intentions. As a result, all of the web pages that appear on page one have passed Google's criteria for search intent.
You must comprehend search intent and produce content that reflects it to appear on Google's first results page.
Four common forms of search intent are as follows:
- When someone is attempting to learn more about something, it is informational intent
- Finding a specific website or page is referred to as navigational intent
- Commercial intent is when a potential customer wants to learn more before buying
- You have transactional intent when someone intends to take action or make a purchase
2. Make sure your title tag and meta descriptions are compelling
Two of the most significant meta tags on your page are the page title and meta description.
In SERPs, title tags are clickable headlines (search engine results pages).
They let Google know what the subject of your page is. And they are essential in terms of SEO.
Giving users a short glimpse into the content of a result depends heavily on title tags, including why it relates to their inquiry.
Searchers frequently utilize it as their primary source of information when choosing which result to click on.
Therefore, it's crucial to have intriguing names on your website.
In general, title tags should be between 50 and 60 characters. This will prevent word breaks on desktop or mobile SERPs.
Some other title tag best practices you should follow are:
- Add your intended keyword here
- matching the search query
- Keeping your title tags unique
- Don't overuse keywords
- Keep it brief and descriptive
In general, meta descriptions should provide viewers with information and interest by providing a concise, pertinent overview of the page's content.
They operate as a sales pitch, persuading searchers that the page is precisely what they are looking for.
Google often cuts off meta descriptions at 155–160 characters.
So, be sure to provide a concise and precise summary.
Here are some tips for writing compelling meta descriptions:
- Make each page's meta description distinct
- Put some action in your copy
- Add your intended keyword here
- Match the search query
3. Internal links
Internal links are crucial because they provide a hierarchy of information on your page and assist Google in comprehending the information on your page.
Internal links can improve your results when appropriately implemented.
Internal linking from high-ranking pages on your website to pages that want improvement is a smart strategy for SEO.
Typically, this entails linking previously successful pages to more recent ones. This is because older pages usually have more credibility.
You can use it as a convenient shortcut to employ internal links without having to review each page on your website individually.
Despite this, you should continue to watch out for broken internal links. They can hurt your SEO efforts.
4. Boost user experience
Google closely monitors how users interact with pages. User experience (UX) is crucial in boosting search rankings.
Page speed is crucial for enhancing user experience. But it's only the beginning.
Here are a few additional SEO pointers to make sure users enjoy their time on your website:
- Use headers and subheadings: When used correctly, headers and subheadings (H1, H2, and H3) improve both reader accessibility and Google's understanding of your material.
- Make your content pleasant to the eye: Visuals aid in your writing comprehension. To make your point, use relevant screenshots, videos, and photographs.
- Pop-ups should not be invasive; they irritate website users. Use them cautiously, as Google has devalued websites with annoying pop-ups since 2017.
- Utilize white space: A successful design must have white space. The Interaction Design Foundation asserts that white space enhances concentration, branding, and legibility.
- Make your website mobile-friendly: Due to Google's use of mobile-first indexing, mobile-friendliness is crucial for UX. You may check how well your site performs using Google's mobile-friendly test.
5. Have SEO-friendly URLs
Users and search engines can determine the topic of the destination page by looking at the URL structure.
Think about structuring your material such that logical URLs can be created. And in a way that is most understandable to them.
In light of this, here's how you can begin making properly constructed URLs:
- Use short URLs: According to a Backlinko study, short URLs typically perform better in SERPs than long URLs.
- Include your target keyword: To improve your chances of appearing higher in search results, always include your target keywords in the URL.
- If necessary, add categories or subfolders. For instance, if you're selling products, you might have a "store" subcategory. This facilitates site navigation for both users and search engines.
6. Publish useful content
Creating and publishing unique, helpful content may improve your Google ranking.
Not the duration of the content, per se. That is unimportant.
Instead, try to address complex issues, provide insights from your data, and dispel myths.
Finding themes that are popular in your business is an excellent tactic. Then produce content with fresh perspectives, information, and angles.
Google wouldn't rank anything without content. So to make sure Google wants to rank your material, make sure you follow these best practices:
- Remove dated and out-of-date content
If your website has seen better days and your most recent blog post was written in 2007, think about editing some information.
Links on these pages could point to redirects, 404 error pages, or a host of other problems that could damage your website's reputation. Remove any keywords targeted on older pages if they are wholly unrelated to your industry or have lost value.
- Update outdated, still-useful content
If your content only requires a refresh, seize the chance. Take the effort to update any sites that target excellent keywords but have broken links or inaccurate information if you want to give them a greater chance of ranking.
- Create fresh, fantastic content since Google appreciates a consistent flow of new material
It indicates that you're proactive and looking for new chances to rank in search results. Your new content should be based on the keywords that are most crucial to your sector, and you should be careful to take search intent, or what users are looking for, into account.
7. Consider getting an SSL Certificate
SSL certificates guarantee that consumer data supplied to your website cannot be intercepted or stolen. This is an absolute necessity, particularly for e-commerce websites.
Purchase an SSL certificate, activate it following the instructions, and put it on your website to guarantee that users are protected. Potential clients will be pleased, and you'll also meet one of Google's top-ranking criteria.
8. Optimize your website for mobile
One of the most important items to cross off your list is ensuring that your website looks fantastic on all devices. We've already discussed how important it is for your website to be mobile-responsive.
- Make your call-to-action buttons big enough for mobile
If you have tiny buttons all over your website, neither desktop users nor mobile users will be drawn to your button. Remember that everything, including buttons, is smaller on a mobile device. Because of this, you should ensure that your buttons are large enough to click on a little device.
- You must add img-responsive tags to your photos if you want them to display correctly across all devices.
This ensures that when your website pages are reduced in size on mobile devices, your photographs will also be reduced.
- Engage a technical services company
Making your website responsive requires much behind-the-scenes work. Consider working with a full-service digital marketing agency if you need specific assistance.
9. Monitor your links
Google considers links when determining your website's ranking. Outbound links demonstrate your trust in other websites, internal links join your pages, and inbound links serve as votes of confidence.
Make contact with websites to ask them to link to your content if you've discovered that there are few of them doing so.
By reaching out to people in your industry who might be willing to link to your content, you can persuade them by posting a link on their website.
Be careful who you link to when writing content. Don't just link to the first result you come across.
To let Google know that you only give reliable content, make sure the sites you link to are of the highest caliber.
Review your website pages and link to the new content when you generate it. This will help you build a solid internal linking profile. Internal linking will make it easier and faster for Google to find every page of your website.
To Summarize
There are quite a lot of things you need to look out for and do if you want to rank high on search engine results consistently. It might get overwhelming, but tapping a full-service digital marketing agency can help you stay on top of things.
