SEO best practices are key for any website that wants to do well online in 2024. Most people turn to Google when they are looking for services or products. Google handles about 99,000 searches every second, which adds up to 8.5 billion searches each day. If your web pages show up high in the search results, you will get more visitors and make your site look more trustworthy.
Once you know what makes your website rank higher in search engines and what might also cause it to decrease, you will have a better understanding on how to improve your SEO results. Within this article, we will explain why effective SEO strategies are crucial for every website in 2024 and share 10 easy tips to help your site rank better on Google and other search engines.
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What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It is all about making your website and content rank higher on search engines like Google. Good SEO helps your site show up better in search results, making it easier for people to find you. Since most people use search engines to find online content, using SEO practices is important. It helps draw more visitors to your site and increases your traffic.
Benefits of SEO best practices
More traffic for your website
One of the biggest benefits of SEO is that it attracts high-quality traffic to your website. Unlike traditional marketing, which can be hit-or-miss, using SEO best practices ensures that your website shows up in search results when people are actively looking for what you offer. This means you reach them at a key moment when they are focused and looking for solutions, rather than when they are distracted by other activities, which generates more leads.
Boost brand awareness
SEO helps people notice and remember your brand by making sure your business appears often in search results. When people see your company frequently, it increases the chances that people will recognise and recall your brand. This repeated exposure builds trust and makes your brand more familiar to them.
Boost your credibility
Another benefit of SEO is that it helps make your site look more credible. When your site appears at the top of Google’s search results, people are more likely to trust it. Being on the first page makes your site seem more reliable compared to others that are lower down. It also increases the chances that people will click on your link rather than your competitor’s.
Make your website easier to index
Faster indexing is also a benefit of using SEO best practices. When you make your website easier to index, Google can find and list your new or updated pages more quickly. This means your content appears in search results sooner. With quicker indexing, you get better visibility on Google, leading to more visitors and higher click-through rates.
Boost conversion rate
SEO helps bring people to your website for free. Once visitors arrive at your site, the goal is to turn them into customers or at least get their contact information. The percentage of visitors who do what you want, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, is called the conversion rate. Your goal is to make this rate as high as possible. Since SEO increases the number of visitors to your website, it will also boost the conversion rate.
Decrease advertising cost
SEO best practices help you save money on ads and marketing in the long run. When your business appears on the first page of search results, you can spend less on ads and use that money for other things, like improving your content. Many businesses discover that SEO is cheaper and more effective than traditional ads. Often, within the first year, they find that SEO not only costs less but also brings better long-term results.
SEO best practices
This section will give you practical tips to help your website rank better on Google and other search engines.
Do keyword research
SEO isn’t just about getting any visitors to your site. It is about bringing in people who need what you offer and could become customers. To do that you have to rank for the keywords they are searching for, otherwise, they won’t find you, even if you are at the top of the search results. That is why good SEO starts with figuring out what words your potential customers are using in their searches.
Focus on UX
In June 2021, Google introduced its Core Web Vitals update, focusing on user experience (UX) rather than just content. This update evaluates three main factors: how quickly your site loads, how stable it is, and how responsive it is to user interactions. Google’s goal is to provide a better experience across devices, especially mobile, following its move to mobile-first indexing in March 2021. To stay ahead make sure to optimise your site’s loading speed, stability and responsiveness to meet these standards. Additionally, consider updating your website design to enhance these elements and improve overall user experience.
Use internal links
Internal linking or connecting one page on your site to other pages is a powerful yet often overlooked SEO tactic. Good internal links help search engines understand your site and make it easier for visitors to find their way around. Using internal links helps Google understand the context of your content through anchor text (the clickable words in a link) and highlights the value of your pages.
Remove or fix weak content
Every piece of content on your site should have a clear goal, like attracting visitors, turning leads into customers, or improving your site’s reputation. Regularly check how your content is performing to make sure it is effective. If something isn’t working, consider updating or removing it as it could hurt your site’s performance. Search engines favour the latest and most relevant information, so keeping your content updated can help you rank higher in search results.
Relevant meta titles and descriptions
Meta titles and descriptions are short summaries of your page that show up on search engine results. They help people decide if they want to click on your page and help search engines understand what it is about. To make them work well, use your main keywords at the start, add details like numbers or dates to make them pop, include a call to action (like learn more or buy now) and keep titles under 60 characters and descriptions under 160 characters. Make sure each page has a unique title and description.
Link building
Building high-quality backlinks is one of the most challenging aspects of SEO. Google doesn’t say backlinks directly impact rankings, but sites with few links usually don’t rank high. To figure out how many links you need, check how many links top-ranking pages have for your keywords. Start by analysing your competitor’s backlinks and trying to get similar ones with tools like Ahrefs. Focus on creating great content that naturally earns links from respected sources, like through guest posts, shareable infographics or participating in online communities.
Fix broken links
Broken links can hurt your SEO rankings. Google likes sites that are up-to-date and well-maintained, so too many broken links can make your site look outdated. They also cause crawl errors because Google’s bots cannot fully index pages with broken links. To follow SEO best practices, regularly check for and fix broken links to prevent any negative impact on your rankings.
Optimise images with alt-text
Images make your website more attractive and can help with SEO. To use them effectively, choose high-quality, relevant images instead of generic ones. Make sure they load quickly by keeping file sizes small. Also use alt-text (alternative) to explain what each image is about, so both people and search engines can understand them.
Mobile-first indexing
Since most website traffic comes from mobile devices, you should make sure your site works well on phones and tablets. Use a responsive web design that adjusts to different screen sizes and make sure your pages load quickly by compressing images and minimising heavy scripts. Google primarily uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking.
Optimise content for voice search
Voice search is growing fast and might soon replace traditional search. In 2023 60% of UK households with 16-24-year-olds had a smart speaker. Optimising schema markup (the language in which search engines communicate) for voice search helps search engines find your website faster and reach a bigger audience using voice search.
SEO best practices are always evolving because search engines and user habits change over time. To keep your site ranking high, it’s important to stay updated with the latest trends and techniques. Which aspect of SEO do you find the most challenging: keyword research, link building or something else? Let us know in the comment below.
