10 Easy SEO Hacks You Can Do Yourself
By Venessa Cade
March 4, 2019 • Fact checked by Dumb Little Man
Today, almost everyone uses search engines to find answers to their queries or solutions to problems they may be facing.
Do you know which results or suggestions they go for?
The top five!
And how do those results get in the top five?
It is because of their clever SEO strategy. So, if your website wants visitors or customers, make sure it appears on the first page. Once you achieve that, you will again need SEO to improve usability and user experience.
Don’t let this process intimidate you.
Here are 10 hacks that’ll help you learn how to do SEO yourself:
Avoid Large Images
It is very important to keep the image size to the maximum that is allowed on any particular page. This is to reduce its loading speed.
Many website designers ignore this. Apart from that, they do not pay much attention to the resolution of the images as well.
And as a result, their website’s ranking on SERP (Search Engine Result Page) is negatively affected. That’s because Google lowers the ranking of a page or website if it has a high loading time.
See Also: Drop In SEO Rankings: A Guide To Complete Recovery
Hunt for Keywords on Social Media
Although there are special tools for keyword research, you can also get ideas from social media platforms. In this way, you can get hold of certain keywords even before your competitors notice them.
All you have to do is read the comments on your social media or other forums carefully. Look for phrases or words that are repeatedly mentioned by people. This will give you an edge over your competitors.
You will not only end up incorporating those keywords in your blog before your competitors but you will also have answers to the questions frequently asked.
See Also: 9 Easy Ways To Use Social Media SEO
Use Rich Snippets
To increase the visibility of your page/website on SERP, use rich snippets. A couple of things that make for an attractive snippet are:
- Enticing meta description
- Unique meta tag
These two elements, if catchy enough, will help your snippet to stand out from the rest. Hence, grabbing more attention.
Include Your Address
It is important that you mention your geographical location. It does not matter if you have a brick and mortar presence or not.
If you do not include an address on your website, you can risk your visibility to the viewers. Google is likely to de-emphasize your listing, which will cause you to have a less chance of showing up for local search results.
Location Based Keywords
Use location-based keywords because Google now ranks results based on the searcher’s location. Therefore, including location-based keywords will act to your advantage. This hack is important for local businesses as well.
Right Keyword in the Right Place
Finding the right keywords is just half job done. You should also know the right place to put those keywords in.
Some of the best places to include keywords include:
• Title tag
• Meta description
• Headings
• Subheadings
• Alt text for images
Optimize Meta Descriptions
The meta description is one of the best places to incorporate your keyword in. It will allow you to rank better on SERP and earn more traffic. Because the better you rank, the better your visibility is, and the more people will click on your website’s link and visit it.
Link Analysis Tools
You can employ link tools to have a look at the best links that your competitor is using. However, instead of fighting to acquire a particular link, reach out for the hubs.
Find hubs that link to your multiple competitors. In case you are wondering, a hub is a website that links to the major players that exist in a particular niche. Therefore, it won’t have any issues in linking to you.
Watch Out for 404
Look for any URLs that are returning a 404 error on your page/website. See if there are any external links pointed at these URLs. If you come across any such URLs, fix them as soon as possible.
Use Modifiers
Come up with modifiers that are related to your business. Your keywords shouldn’t only be location or language specific. They should reflect your business and the related items as well. However, they should also be unique from your competitors.
A Word of Advice
Employing these hacks will help you a great deal. Apart from all these tips, do not forget to add your contact details on your website. In case the visitors have any queries, you should be easy to reach and you should offer an efficient response.
Just like when you call a customer service number and find the reps to be very skilled and extremely professional. Similarly, you should also aim to train your reps to be like that. They should be courteous and knowledgeable enough to resolve any issue at hand.
Venessa Cade
Venessa Cade is a writer by choice and digital marketing consultant with experience of working with various startups in the past 8 years. She has helped many online businesses and can proudly claim a big part in their success story. When she is not working which is not often, you will see her watching cooking shows nonstop – thanks to reliable AT&T service! Yes, her second passion is cooking.