This information applies to small websites that have like less than 50 pages or so. Larger sites can benefit too. But websites like news agencies or eCommerce website might need to spend more time and effort, probably some money as well into SEO, because optimizing a website with thousands of pages and even more keywords might be a daunting task.
SEO Tips in under 10 minutes
Here's a less than 10 minute video on all the SEO you should know as a start-up. It is a summary of what we'll discuss about in this post.
1. Use Webmaster Tools and their email forwarding
The first thing to do, if you haven't already done so, is to verify your site ownership withGoogle Webmaster Tools. It is a very useful service, or rather a group of services. Google Webmaster Tools provide you a lot of features. One very useful one is email forwarding. If you enable it, Google will send you emails informing you of any problems it found on your site, such as site inaccessibility, malicious content, malware (virus), crawl errors, and a large number of 404s (not found errors, or broken links). Having this kind of information can be extremely useful, so that you can troubleshoot and correct any errors that might harm your website's reputation.
2. Run background checks on your domain
If you bought your domain from someone, then you should always run background checks on your domain to see if it's clean. One good way to do this is, go to Webmaster Tools, and look for the keywords listed there for your domain. They might cause harm if they are irrelevant to your domain name or niche.
You can also run a site search on Google. To do this, go to Google and search "site:www.YourDomain.com". Replace 'YourDomain' with your own domain name. This should bring up some pages that are, or were present on your domain. Another way to look into past information is to go to DomainTools and look up your domain. You'll see thumbnails of your domain from the past.
This step is important because if your domain was previously held by spammers or scammers who hosted malicious content, then your website won't rank well in Google. If you find such a case, you can take a look at Webmaster Guidelines, or file a reconsideration request about this.
3. Use some Analytics program
It is always good to have some sort of statistical data for your website. It is advisable that you set up some Analytics program, preferably Google Analytics. Even if you don't need this information for now, you'll need it for later. So why not start now?
4. Fetch As GoogleBot
Fetch as GoogleBot is another great feature provided by Google Webmaster Tools (GWTs from now on!). You can submit a URL to GWTs, and it will tell you whether it was redirected appropriately, and what information it downloaded. That way, you can see what information Google looks for. You can also tell Google to not just crawl, but also submit to index or that URL. That way, whenever you update your site, you can trigger that entire process to happen by Google, and have it available to searchers even faster.
5. A user-friendly site design
A great site design is the key to your success. First impressions always last, so make them count. The best way to do so is, think from the point of view of a reader, and ask yourself these questions. Can you navigate easily enough? Can you figure out easily where you are, and how to get to your desired content? These are crucial questions that must be answered. Another question is, are the pages focused? Sometimes, people merge topics into a single page to save time. This might save yours, but wastes the readers'. So avoid this practice. Don't create very long content which the reader must scroll a long way through. Split your content if necessary.
6. Relevant calls to action
Calls to action will help you increase your conversion rate. But don't take them for granted. For the best conversion possible, you need to have multiple and different, but relevant calls to action on various pages. For example, you could urge users to subscribe for email newsletters on one page, share your service on another, buy your product on yet another, and so on. Since there are different types of customers, that way, you can target them all according to their needs. Not all will buy your products, for example. Nor will everyone share your services or subscribe for newsletters. So keep all these calls to action, and keep them on separate pages, so readers might not feel swamped.
7. Titles and descriptions
every page should have a unique topic, a search engine friendly title, and a unique meta description about what that page is about.
Always use keywords in your file names. Let's say you add an image about SEO. You should rename it something like seo_tips.jpg or 'SEO Tips.jpg. Never use something which is meaningless such as image0001.jpg etc. Another best SEO practice is to use meaningful anchor text for your links. Never use meaningless words as anchor texts, for example 'click here'.
8. Don't participate in link building schemes
Never, ever purchase backlinks from link building schemes. They are always spam. They are cheap backlinks that will harm your site more than they'll help you. And even if they did start out as quality links, they won't be once other people start buying links from the same source.
9. Don't hire a rogue SEO.
They will promise you immediate search engine rankings. And if they do,don't trust them. They're probably too good to be true. And even if they do improve your rankings, it might be due to black-hat SEO, or other unfair means, which Google will eventually stamp out, hence ruining your website's ranking.
10. Site load time
Now, I've been meaning to come around to this point. Site load time is a very talked-about subject. And many people insist that it is the most important point. Even Google says that they aim for times under half a second. Well, we have an entirely different perspective on the debate, and we beg to differ on some level. Here'sour reasoning.
First of all, let me remind you that it's all about user experience. What good is a fast loading site if users can't figure out how to navigate through it? Attractive navigation bars and widgets can make it very easy for the users to browse through your site. But they come at a price; the site load time. Is it worth it though? We believe yes, and no. Google says they aim for half a second. That's almost impossible for most people, especially bloggers who need to have widgets to make their sites look great, and also host memory-intensive ads to make a living for themselves. So no for websites, but yes for blogs. Blogs can't compromise on the user-friendliness.
Generally, a load time in the range of 5-10 seconds in considered fine.No more than 10, but anywhere under 10. If it crosses 5, then don't worry. Just provide a great user experience in other forms. If you can manage that, and still go under 5, then you are in an ideal condition. But don't think about it too much though. Of course it is important, but not so much that you should kill the visuals for it. Tell me in the comments below, what would you rather have? A blog that loads under 10 seconds, and has a great navigation and user interface, or a blog that loads in one second, but has a shoddy interface, so much so that you can't figure out where you are?
Conclusion
In the end, it always boils down to this; how well you connect with your audience. No matter how great your website is, no audience = no traffic, and no interaction = decreasing traffic everyday. Always interact with your audience, and answer their questions. Make them feel engaged. Also, share your content on social media to expand your exposure. You know the drill. We've been talking about this in a lot of posts about increasing website traffic. Hope you will take away something from this post too. Good luck :)
