20 Tips to Improve Your Website’s SEO

Updated on January 4th, 2024 by Quertime Writer in Web Development

Whether you have a business website or a blog, you want to attract as many visitors to your site and reach the widest audience as possible. This means that you need to use certain strategies to boost your online presence. One of the best ways to drive in organic traffic to your website and make your site stand out among the sea of similar websites is to improve your search engine optimization (SEO). How can you achieve this? You will be glad to learn that there are countless tips you can use to improve your SEO.

Ways to Improve Your SEO

Here is a look at 20 tips to help you improve your website’s SEO:

1. Make the Structure of Your Site Intuitive, Clear, and Updated

The way you organize the structure of your website is extremely important for SEO as well as visitors. If you have a good structure, search engine crawlers will be easily found and index all pages and subpages. Intuitive navigation is also important, as it will help visitors find what they are looking for in the least time possible. Your website should have a “three clicks” rule so that any information will be available to the user in no more than three clicks.

2. Include One Primary Keyword in the URL

There may be a number of different keywords that use the optimization of the web pages in your domain. Experts say that the best way to do this is to focus on a single keyword phrase only and include it directly in the URL address. Additionally, keep in mind to use hyphens instead of underscores in URLs.

3. Use Hyphens in URLs

Many people make the mistakes of using underscores to separate words in a URL name. When this is done, Google will read it as one word. For example, search crawlers will treat “the_best_seo_practices” as “thebestseopractices.” Using hyphens will separate the words properly, making it much easier for users to read the phrase.

4. Take a Strategic Approach Towards Keywords

If there is no proper keyword research, it is more than likely that any SEO campaign will fail. The groundwork and stage for an SEO campaign is laid and set by keyword research. You should use keyword phrases that are as specific to your business as possible and have not a marketing vibe but an easy, conversational sound.

5. Adhere to an Originality Role

It is important to strictly adhere to an originality rule when it comes to SEO. This means that you should avoid texts that exist at two different URLs or duplicate content. When you republish articles from other websites, not only is it a potential copyright infringement but also duplicate content that can ruin the search rankings of your website.

6. Opt for a Static URL Address

Static and dynamic are the two types of web addresses available. You should choose a static one instead of a dynamic one. While both types of URLs are easily understood by search engines, human beings find it extremely difficult to understand dynamic URLs. Since you want to make things as simple as possible for users, it is best to opt for a static URL address for your site.

7. Use a Brief, Relevant and Descriptive URL Address

When visitors see a website, they should be able to tell what it is all about at a glance. If you opt for self-editing a URL address, not only will you work in favor of the optimization of the keyword but also make it easier for users to understand what they can find on a specific website. You can help in making a searcher’s life a little easier this way.

8. Avoid Over-Optimizing

It is extremely important to make sure that you do not over-optimize anything. People often think that doing so will help their website’s visibility and increase traffic. This is far from the truth. You need to avoid building links that use the same anchor text or keyword stuffing. You should bear in mind that Google penalizes websites that do not appear natural.

9. Use Meta Descriptions

Have you heard of Meta descriptions? They are short paragraphs displayed under title tags on the search engine results page (SERP). When you use a Meta description, it allows you to introduce your brand before searchers visit your website and actually see what you have to offer, whether it is products or services.

10. Find Keywords that Work For You

Because SEO is based primarily on keywords, the key to a good SEO strategy is to find out the words that users type when looking for websites like yours. When you have a list of relevant keywords, you will be halfway there. Using Google Keyword Planner is one of the most common ways to conduct a keyword research. You can use this free tool if you have a Google AdWords account, also free. Once you have an account and provide details about your website, a list of keyword suggestions will pop up and all you have to do is pick the ones that work for you.

11. Have a Mixture of Keywords Simultaneously

There are basically three types of keywords: generic, long tail, and broad match. Each attracts different amounts and types of traffic. To get a vast range of traffic, you should use the most effective and safest strategy, which is to mix these three different types of keywords. This way, you drive in diverse traffic to convert into potential customers.

12. Include a Location

It is important not to forget to include a location in your keywords. This will help in optimizing both your business and website for local searches as well as local clients. For instance, if you offer commercial cleaning services and are based in Miami, it is a good idea to let your potential customers know by using a keyword phrase such as “commercial cleaning services in Miami”.

13. Place keywords in Anchor Texts, Headlines, and Subheadings

It is important to bear in mind that not every spot on your website will provide the same exposure and SEO power to your keyword phrases. The best places to place your keywords in content’s structure are the headlines, subheadings, and bolded sections within a text and anchor texts. Additionally, you should never use the “click here” term when describing links. It does not provide any information on what can be found under a specific link and it also induces you to miss the chance to optimize a text link.

14. Optimize Images

It is important to use keyword phrases not only throughout the content of your website but also in the image description. Experts also believe that it is good practice to use words like “picture”, “photo,” and “image,” along with the keyword you have picked while describing an image that has an ALT attribute.

15. Publish High-Quality, Keyword-Rich Content

Nowadays, one of the most important factors in SEO is the content of a website. If you provide users with content that is useful and actionable, search engines will give your website a higher ranking in SERPs. To make sure that you get the best optimization results, it is also extremely important to update your content as often as you can and make sure that it is high-quality and rich in keywords. This will help in keeping your website fresh and ensuring your audience’s interest.

16. Use Unique and Valuable Content

With so many other similar websites on the Internet, it is important for yours to stand out. Your website will be rewarded by search engines if you thoughtfully use content that brings real value to your users. Make sure that you have informative, intelligible, and useful information to gain more exposure in the search results.

17. Check Content Grammar and Spelling

When speaking of high-quality content, it means that the spelling should be faultless. Because people do often misspell words that they are typing into search bars, some companies recommend techniques using misspelled words to optimize a website so that users poor in grammar can find it easily. However, you should bear in mind that using misspellings and poor grammar excessively can only harm the ranking of your website.

18. Link to Other Great Websites

It is important to link to other high-quality websites. You not only help in promoting their content but also let others know of your existence. It is as simple as that. And when you have high-quality content and information, those whose content you have shared will also be very willing to promote your site too. Quality link building is not about exchanging links but creating relationships.

19. Use Social Media

Nowadays, it is important to make your presence felt on social media. Millions of people use various social media platforms and praise from one person can set the ball rolling and get people to check your website out. The next time they need a product or service, your name will likely be the first that comes to mind. It truly is an effective Internet advertising strategy.

20. Find out What Your Rivals Do for SEO

Last but not least, you should keep an eye on what your competitors are doing for SEO – find out what keywords they use for optimization and monitor their rankings on SERPs along with your own. It is a good idea to do this every day. The idea is not to copy their SEO Strategy but use the information to find another, more unique way to optimize your website.

The tips mentioned above are a good start to improve your online presence and make your website more user-friendly. There are many other tips that you can use to achieve your goals for your website but these are some of the most effective. With their help, you can use effective strategies to ensure that you get good, sustainable results and make your website stand out among the sea of others offering similar products and services that exist on the Internet.

Author: Vishal Vivek

Vishal Vivek is the co-founder and CEO of a well known Indian Digital Marketing, Web Design and Social Media Marketing Company, SEO Corporation. From being an insomniac workaholic spending nights in the office to taking risky vacations in the Himalayas, Vishal has done it all and excelled at it.