SEO Optimization - 14 Concrete Tips That Nobody Gives You

SEO optimization is a challenging field, and whether we like it or not, when we talk about search engines, we refer mainly to Google. In this post, you will find a list of the main things you can do to optimize your site. 

If you do a Google search for: SEO optimization or site optimization, you will find a lot of companies that can offer you their SEO services. I did not write this piece to provide you with SEO services because I do not. I wrote this article so that anyone who searches on Google: SEO optimization understands the basics of SEO optimization and what it implies. It took me some time to understand, and with a lot of research, I managed to get where I am today. It’s not easy, but I would have definitely wanted to know all of these few years ago when I started blogging.

Whether you want to do SEO or want to outsource all or partly this activity, it's good to know what this SEO activity entails. 

So what could you do for SEO optimization?

1.   Use keyword planner

The first step you have to do from my point of view is to use keyword planner. The reason for this is simple: from the beginning, you need to know precisely what you want to get, what expressions you want to rank well in the Google ranking. Basically, without keyword planner, you are writing, and Google will index things that people are not looking for.

I will touch about this in detail in a different post; however, the basic idea is simple: establish on what expressions you want to do SEO and check in the keyword planner what volume of queries you have on the respective expression(s).

2.   Optimize your article titles

Basically, once you've decided to target a keyword or phrase, it should appear in the title of your article. It is essential to be relevant and precise.

3.   Link optimization

I prefer that once I have targeted a keyword, beyond the name of the website, the link should be precisely the keyword. It's also friendly to Google and users.

4.   Optimization of metadescriptions

When publishing an article, you must also add a metadescription. This is a kind of summary read by Google. Basically, from the title, link, and metadescription, Google understands what this post is all about.

Usually, but not always, this metadescription appears on Google. This metadescription must also contain the key phrase, be relevant to the expression you are targeting, and be attractive and connected to the user viewing it on Google.

5.  Optimizing the introduction and content

There are many theories about how often the keyword appears in the article. I personally do not think there is a 100% correct answer. Obviously, it has to appear a few times, at least 3-5 times, however, as long as you lie down with the insertion of the key phrase in the article, it is rather common sense.

When you feel that you are exaggerating, it is best to stop, because Google will draw the same conclusion. So, enter your keyword in the first paragraph, then in the text. The idea is that the keyword frequency should be natural once you write about that thing.

6.   Headings and subtitles optimization

When you publish a post, you can choose the title and subtitle. Think of these titles and subtitles as a kind of book content. These titles help Google understand the structure of your article. This content organization will obviously help the user as well.

Basically, in the titles and subtitles of the article, instead of choosing to visually identify the titles by placing a font size larger or smaller, you use the option of heading H1, H2, H3, or H4. I usually think of this structure before writing the article, but you can do it afterward.

7.   Optimizing images from content

When it comes to pictures, three things are essential:

• the relevance of the picture for the key phrase

• its optimization in terms of size (not to be too big, e.g., somewhere up to 100 KB or so)

• add another text  (alternate text) that contains the keyword at least on one of the photos (if you have more)

8.   Insert external and internal links

It is advisable to insert at least one-two links to other content on your site (inbound link) and one to an external website. Links that are relevant and helpful to the user shouldn't be artificially placed just because they need to be placed.

9.   Add tags and categories

At the end of the posts, you must add tags and categories. Here you enter relevant expressions to understand what topics your post is reaching. Here you can also enter phrases from the word family of the target expression, provided you touched upon it in your post. If you didn't even talk about it, but you decide to add it as a tag, you would risk a penalty from Google. If you use Squarespace like me, please make sure to differentiate between tags and metatags. Tags are just a uniform way to arrange your website, similar to categories; metatags are the important ones for SEO.

10. Relevant content is vital to SEO

When I say relevant, I refer first to your readers. If you do not have relevant and useful quality content for you will perform points 1-9 for no reason. Here's the line! If the article is not a good one, you can optimize for 1,000 years; you can try to enter as many keywords as you want, you can respect every rule from the book. Basically, you have to write with impact, whether we are talking about a product presentation or a resource article. This is where the first problem of external consultants appears. They can help you with points 1-9, but with this point, it is difficult for someone from the outside to create quality content that is relevant to your audience. I also heard complaints that people paid consultants that had no results. And I complained about this until I understood what a consultant can do and what she/he can't do. It is not his/her fault that the content is not relevant, because this is your responsibility as the owner of the website to know what’s relevant for your readers.

11. SEO strategy to target the first page in Google

You are probably interested in SEO optimization if you have come this far. Still, probably you are not only interested in SEO optimization in general, but you want an optimization that will get you to the first page in Google, and why not to the top positions? S Being on the first page sometimes is not enough.

Users, when they do Google search, 50% click the first position on average, second position 20-30%, third position Google below 20%, etc. Basically, if you are not in one of the first three positions, you attract less than 10% of those looking for that keyword.

This percentage may differ from domain to domain and may vary depending on how much the ad appears before the first position or how attractive the title and description of your site are. Basically, in addition to writing relevant to your audience, you must also write smartly to outperform your competitors. I KNOW!

12. Website optimization entirely for SEO

It is important to remember that points 1-11 apply to every page or post you put on your website. Basically, above, I didn’t just share some general tips, you have the things you need to do for each item, service, or product on your website.

When you think of website optimization or SEO optimization of the entire site, the basis optimization is on every article on your website. That is, the overall optimization of the site comes only later, and there are not many things to do. The basis optimization is in each article, meaning everything you post on the site. Basically, overall SEO optimization is the sum of all the optimizations you make for each content you publish on the website.

13. Use verification tools

For example, I use SEO doctor. You install it in your browser and check what you've done. It tells you if it's technically ok or not, and it tells you what errors you have. It's a useful tool; you can look for similar options. This tool also helps you to easily see what your competition is doing, because it gives you a summary of your competition. It is sometimes useful not to reinvent the wheel and see what the competition does.

14. Website loading speed is vital for SEO

Beyond your impression that your website is loading fast or not, it uses verification tools. The best ones are those from Pingdom and Google page speed. It tests the upload speed not only of the home page but also of each article once you publish it. If it gives you red, you need a programmer to help you. There are plugins, but here is another great topic that I can clarify on another occasion.