Search engine optimization can be a tricky thing to have to try to figure out. Google provides a moving target with changes happening every day. Google can’t seem to make up its mind on what it wants us SEO webmasters to do. However, we have used 9 SEO tricks and tactics over the years that still are true today and provide amazing results, helping new websites conquer organic traffic.

Meta Tags

Overlooking meta tags, such as page title tags and descriptions, are my first under-utilized item to bring up. Under-utilizing these tags does you no service. They may not provide much for SEO for Google, though occasionally Google likes to use them as ranking factors. 

They do provide a lot of information to users when they search for your site. The meta title and description is the information that shows up in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) and is a brief description of what your site and pages are about and provides some valuable information to attract readers to visit.

Title tags should be around 60 characters, give or take, and the description should be about 150 characters. Again, this changes constantly, but staying close to these numbers will make sure you don’t frequently have to change them once you find ones that work for your page.

Heading Tags

Heading tags on the actual page is another mixed-up SEO tactic. Recently it was said that there is nothing that states that you are only allowed to have one H1 tag on a page after many of us in the industry have thought that for a long time. I wouldn’t go using all H1 tags on a page, but I wouldn’t now freak out if you use more than one. 

Think of it this way. H1 is the main title for the page – it describes exactly what the page is trying to convey. H2-H6 are subheadings. H2 would be the first subheading, and H3 would be a subheading of H2, and so on. If you took only the heading tags, it should create a readable bullet point or outline of the entire page. 

Alt Text & Images

Google cannot tell what an image is that you put on your site. Image alt text is the only way you can convey your image to Google, allowing it to rank in the image search results. I’m sure you have seen or heard at least once that a specific key term was taken over by people all using that key term on their image alt text, then changing the search results altogether.

Ensure every image on your site has alt text and even some geocoding for some local SEO needs. Want a guide on Geocoding images? Check out Search Engine Land’s guide to geocoding images for local SEO.

Content

Content is king in the online world. The more content you have on your site, the better the chance your site will rank for a specific search query. One page per longtail keyword and providing good, usable, long-form content is the best way to work with Google and have them rank your site. 

Focus on having around 1000 words on a page at minimum. We know that doesn’t work for every page – who has 1000 words on a site’s contact us page. But for the most part, sticking to having a good amount of useful content will help your rankings on search engines.

Once you build out your main pages, adding additional pages is the next step to increase your content. You can do this by increasing your main pages or by adding a news or blog section. 

The news or blog section can be a place that you update regularly. The best practice is to update the site at least once per week or more. Make sure to do keyword research to know what you are going to talk about. Work using a headline studio such as CoStudio or title generator like the one at SEOPressor to work with your keywords. Generate topics people are looking for, and assist you with making sure your title is optimized.

Keyword Research

Keyword research tools are available all over online. My favorites are Ubersuggest and SEMRush, but Ahrefs and many others exist online. Finding the one that works best for you will be the first step in your keyword research. 

Once you figure out which tool to use, you start by searching for your main keywords and seeing where you land compared to your competitors. If your competition ranks higher, why? What are they doing differently than you are doing? Find out and start adjusting your content to fit.

Look for areas where there is a gap in content as well. Does your customer not answer a common question with their information? Then answer that questions on yours. If a search term exists and you nor your competitor shows up, get in there. 

Finally, work towards longtail keywords, especially at the beginning of your site development. Longtail keywords may not have as many searches as shorter and more generic keywords, but they have a better ROI and eventually help you show up for those more generic keywords. Don’t ever disregard the longtail keywords with only 10 searches per month. Those 10 searches may lead to actual paying customers faster.

UX/UI

User experience and user interfaces are both SEO triggers and one of the most significant triggers today for Google and other search engines. If visitors come to your site, but the page is unusable, unreadable, or doesn’t provide the information the user is looking for, then the rankings for the page and the site as a whole will begin to decrease. 

Making sure to have a good user experience and a good interface is essential to your rankings. Make sure not to have things popping up all over as people are trying to read the content. Keep all links visible and easily accessible. Don’t have a bunch of spam links or ads all over your site. Don’t use a font that most of the population finds unreadable even though you think it looks fantastic. These types of things all play a big part in a site’s usability.

Headings

Headings need to capture the attention of your audience. Not optimizing your headings to grab the attention quickly will get your information overlooked. BUT don’t be clickbait – most people hate clickbait, and you will have an abnormally large bounce rate, hurting that page’s rankings and could even damage your site rankings over time.

Your headings should give a quick overview of your page or article, explaining exactly what you are trying to convey to the reader. Optimizing your headings for both the reader and search engines will have the best rankings. Look at the top search results for any inquiries you make daily and see what shows up and what you click. Paying attention to this will give you a good overview of what to do when creating your headings.

Mobile Friendliness

Most users are on mobile devices now. Over 68% of all website visits in 2020 were completed on a mobile device. That means that if your site is not mobile-friendly, you miss out on a lot of traffic. It also means that starting in mid-2021, Google states your site could be penalized in search results if it is not mobile-friendly. 

Today’s website developers, whether you are doing it yourself or with an outside agency, have a built-in way to develop the site to be mobile-friendly. If they are working on your site and not making sure you are optimizing for mobile, they are doing you a disservice, and you should move on. If they don’t offer or add it as an extra cost in your website development, they are not following best practices. 

Colors and White Space

Today, having high contrast colors, especially with links and buttons on your site, is a great way to increase your sites’ usability and performance. Find a color that works for your brand and shows up well on a website’s interface. 

White space is also great as this provides a break between items on your site. Use white space to help group like items together and offer a visual cue to your visitors. It also allows the use of things like images and icons to represent the information better. 

Finally, by using colors and white space, mobile usability can increase since not everything is jumbled together, and there is high contrast between various elements on your site.

In conclusion, these are just some of the main ways to implement the best SEO tactics when creating your website and down the line when adding content to your site. Like a fine wine, the older your site gets, and the more content you develop, the better it will become, showing up more on search results. Keep working on your site and watch it grow.