If you are a website owner or a web developer, then you’d know how much of an advantage it would mean to have a lot of visitors clicking your page. Your site’s content may be as interesting as they could be. However, that’s not enough for you to get your target audience from checking your page out.

The goal you should have is to boost your search engine rankings. Take note that with the Internet, everything is possible. You’re not the only website owner or developer. There are literally a million more of your competitors out there. Thus, what you want is to get that leverage among other web pages. Search engine optimization (SEO) may be tricky for some as it involves understanding the algorithm of the search engines. But it doesn’t have to be as tricky as you think it is! Here are some of the things you can do to optimize your website for higher search engine rankings:

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1. Reach out to SEO experts.

If you’re new to this scene, then you’d really find it hard to figure out the right keywords you should include in your website for it to be more searchable. It involves a lot of guesswork and analysis to understand the search engine’s keyword algorithm. Without these, no matter how relevant and useful the information included in your website is, your page wouldn’t even stand a chance at landing on the first few pages of the search engine.

So, what’s the best thing to do? You can avail of the services of a link building agency. The company would help look for relevant sites that may link back to yours. The services of a link building company also often involve reaching out to these relevant websites and suggesting ways they can link back to your website. This is one of the fastest ways to build links. Many of these companies aim for contextual links from high authority websites. These links have good SEO value.

2. Perform proper Keyword Research & incorporate these keywords into your website content as naturally as possible.

Although adding relevant keywords to your webpage may increase your site’s ranking, there are some SEO quotes you should bear in mind to make your website truly work.

Dave Naylor of Bronco once said that his “rule of thumb is [to] build a site for a user, not a spider.” You can have all the keywords that could boost your site’s ranking which likens it to building your website for a spider or the web in this sense. Contrary to popular belief, the goal of SEO is not only to rank number one among your competitors. The purpose of SEO is to generate views, leads, and sales for your business.

At the end of the day, you should be able to reflect on this simple mantra: who cares about algorithms if the users don’t want it?

3. Make your site engaging and easier to read.

As much as possible, try to keep your articles short. Or if it cannot be avoided, try to keep the sentences short. With every information that’s accessible online, users usually don’t have the time to read an entire page full of lengthy words. Subheadings which can automatically draw your reader’s attention to that part works well in breaking up content.

For example, you have a lengthy post about dogs but what the reader would only like to know is the typical lifespan of a Golden Retriever. Without subheadings, the user may still take some time to skim the page altogether or even choose another site. But with subheadings, just a simple scan would ultimately lead your reader to the part where the topic is discussed.

Sure, the search engines matter but optimizing your content so that it is appealing and engaging to your target readers will give your website long-term deeper value which will ultimately translate to higher search engine rankings.

4. Build your website with a variety of backlinks.

Google has finally released the ultimate factor when it comes to ranking, and yes, it’s all about the external links. This means that you’d have to incorporate other links on your website’s content. However, not all links would work on this one. Apparently, Google flags down those with low-quality links such as blog comments and paid links. What you need to have are high-quality links which do not only make your content more useful but are also a good sign of growth in terms of Google Rankings. Put in a diversity of external links to your site. You can use blogs, forums, product pages, and news sites to build a more “backlink”-approved site.

5. Switch your site to HTTPS.

Have you ever visited a website that said your connection wasn’t private and would lead you “back to safety”? This usually happens when sites don’t have HTTPS yet. HTTPS sites are more secure and have higher SEO presence over HTTP websites. Although there are a lot of steps before you can fully move your website to HTTPS, in the end, not only will your site be protected from malicious threats, but it also increases SEO ranking.

6. Optimize for voice search

In this age of “Hey, Siri” and “Okay, Google”, it is very important that your website can come up in voice searches as well. You can do this by moving beyond optimizing for keywords into optimizing for questions. When people use their voice-assisted devices to search for something, they don’t blurt out related keywords to whatever it is they want to search for – they ask questions.

Long-tail keywords are what you need to optimize your content for these voice searches. Identify terms that have three or more words that are related to your website and create high-quality content around these long-tail keywords.

So maybe, SEO isn’t too hard after all? Once you land at the top of search engine rankings, remember that a website’s place in the SERPs is never permanent. So, keep yourself updated on SEO trends and make sure your website keeps up to the demands of search engines.