SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a gem when ranking the website is the primary goal. Everyone knows that ‘Slow and steady wins the race’ & that’s exactly how SEO works. Unlike immediate success (Paid ads), SEO takes time to be involved in SERP (Search Engine Results Page) rankings. Once it starts to take effect, SEO will benefit you in the long term, and sometimes, your pages or content will stay in the top search engine ranking for many years. Search engines always favor those who follow the right path when it comes to SEO and increasing organic traffic for websites.
Some data & insights
In 2000 there were 32.8 million search queries globally and now, it surpasses 7.8 billion search queries per day (source: https://www.internetlivestats.com/).
A study from Hubspot shows that 88% of marketers have already invested in SEO, which will significantly increase (source: https://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-statistics/).
So now you know its importance in marketing, let’s dive into the most important parts of SEO that cannot be compromised.
10 Most Important Parts of SEO That You Should Get RIGHT Now!
1. Keyword Research
Keywords are a great SEO strategy and are the match between viewers & your content. When someone types their query and our website’s content matches it, then it will be a perfect combination of SEO for search engines. Make sure you know what keywords/phrases your target audience is using to find your products and services. We can also use trusted SEO tools or keyword research tools to identify their volume and other key metrics for impactful SEO strategies. This is a part that carries a lot of weight. So if the SEO you’re doing is for a serious business, we recommend hiring an SEO expert rather than figuring out yourself along the way.
2. On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization includes optimizing individual website pages to rank higher & earn more organic traffic for the website in search engines. This includes optimizing meta tags (title, description, headings), URL structure, image alt tags, internal linking, and much more. We can include some attractive lines in our title & description so that users will click on our page straight from the search snippet, but it should be relevant following our keyword research. This SEO strategy will help to increase the click-through rate of your pages in search engines.
3. High-Quality Content
Always try to create valuable, informative, and engaging content that satisfies user intent & provides solutions to their queries. Content should be well-researched, original, and frequently updated. Content should resonate with the vibe of the user’s expectations that they are looking for in the content. It will help to develop a loyal audience base that leads to a growing online presence. Remember, you’re now competing not only against other content creators but against Artificial Intelligence or AI, like ChatGPT, Gemini, Bard, etc., as well. This may sound like an uphill battle, but AI is still not there where it can compete with genuine human creativity and intelligence. Besides, you may use AI to your advantage, nobody’s stopping you, just don’t rely 100% on it, and always proofread what it spits out.
4. Mobile Responsive Website Design
Making your website mobile-friendly is crucial for SEO. In 2023, mobile visits increased by 313% compared to desktop visits (source: https://www.semrush.com/blog/mobile-vs-desktop-usage/). This trend is continuing to grow.
Ensure your website is a mobile responsive website & provides a seamless user experience across all devices, including smartphones & tablets. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites for search engine ranking and increases organic traffic for websites. Make sure your website’s SEO is done efficiently for search engines, and it should not have any structure or schema-related issues.
5. Page Speed Optimization
SEO also includes improving website loading times or Page speed optimization to enhance user experience & decrease bounce rates. There are still websites running that make you question your internet speed and give nostalgia to Gen Z and Millennials. Don’t be that website for others. Search engines have always favored pages that load quickly and tend to increase their search engine ranking.
Part of this SEO strategy is to optimize your website’s First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) because these metrics mirror your website’s loading speed. We suggest using the Epiphany Infotechs’ Free SEO Audit tool (recommended), GTmetrix Audit tool, (both use Google Lighthouse under the hood btw), or any other reliable online tool to audit your website’s structured data so there will be no hindrance in gaining organic traffic for the website.
Now, optimizing for page speed can be very hard. It may require frontend as well as backend optimization, and still touching a 90+ score would be a dream, but don’t be discouraged, and don’t let this one slide. Get professional help if you need to. Also, remember that your homepage is not the only one that matters; every single optimized page of your website gives a boost to your SERP ranking.
6. Link Building
Acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your industry can be an impactful SEO strategy and helps to improve your website’s authority & credibility in the eyes of search engines. Google stated that a good Domain Authority (DA – a ranking score developed by Moz) score will not affect your website’s search engine ranking, but time and again, real-world experiments conducted by SEO experts across the world, have proven otherwise. It’s still the highest weightage factor in off-page SEO.
DA represents the quality of your backlinks & how is the relation of your website with other trusted sites on the internet. Google, literally has Trustworthiness in their E-E-A-T quality guidelines. E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, was given to us by Google in late 2022. Quoting directly from Google developer’s documentation, “While E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor, using a mix of factors that can identify content with good E-E-A-T is useful. For example, our systems give even more weight to content that aligns with strong E-E-A-T for topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. We call these “Your Money or Your Life” topics, or YMYL for short.” So, yeah, E-E-A-T up.
Focus on more natural link-building strategies & avoid spammy tactics. You can run guest post campaigns, and press releases, create high-quality backlinks, link insertion into already published relevant articles, etc., to maximize your link-building efforts and improve search engine ranking from email marketing.
This one’s a lot and has a steep learning curve. If the mission is critical and you’re still a rookie, get help from or hire an expert.
7. Technical SEO
Optimizing technical aspects of your website such as crawlability, indexability, site structure, XML sitemaps, robots.txt, canonical tags, and schema markup to ensure search engines can properly crawl, index, & understand your content. You can use SEO internal linking to provide relevant content for your readers so they can easily navigate to the related informative pages of your website.
Technical SEO plays a significant role in search engine ranking your website. Fixing all the technical errors will help you to stand out in the current Digital marketing competition.
8. User Experience (UX)
Improving website usability, that is user experience (UX), by enhancing navigation, organizing content logically, and engaging visitors to minimize bounce rates.
Bad user experience may lead to disappointment among visitors. Still, the positive user signals can indirectly impact your search engine ranking & it will also help in gaining organic traffic for the website and user retention.
9. Local SEO (if applicable)
If your business has a physical location or serves a specific geographic area, optimizing your website for local search can help you appear in local search results.
Local SEO includes optimizing Google My Business profile, local citations, and obtaining positive reviews. You can also list your website on other business listing sites. Besides helping you to build your presence locally, it will also provide you with backlinks & help to gain organic traffic for the website.
10. Monitoring SEO Performance & Analysis
It always helps to regularly identify the down points in your search engine strategies & fix them immediately. Keep looking at the search engine ranking of keywords to monitor their present positions & responses. Regularly tweak your campaigns and upgrade your arsenal with every new information and SEO trend.
Monitoring may sound boring, but it’s crucial, and you have to get it right. Epiphany Infotech’s team can help you with this. We continuously monitor our clients’ website performance using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, third-party software providers, and our proprietary methods and tools. We track key metrics such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, link-building profiles, user behavior, and much more, depending on the client’s marketing budget.
Monitoring SEO performance & Analyzing this data helps us to identify areas for improvement & adjust our client’s SEO strategy accordingly.
Bonus Tip: Save Time By Using AI SEO Technique
As aforementioned, in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, AI SEO has made an impactful difference, presenting us with valuable opportunities to leverage its capabilities. Despite its complexities and fear, AI SEO techniques can empower us to pinpoint core web vitals, create quality content, devise impactful SEO strategies, and unlock an ocean of benefits. However, it’s crucial to adhere diligently to Google E-E-A-T guidelines before embarking on AI SEO-focused content.
In the End
At Epiphany Infotech, we have implemented these ten strategies, among others, to our client’s website SEO and have seen many folds of growth in their organic traffic for website & revenues. Implementing a great SEO strategy will push your search engine ranking to new heights. It doesn’t matter if you’re just a blog writer, business owner, artist, e-commerce business owner, or just anyone with a website; include these strategies in your website SEO to surpass your competition in search engines.
