Consider the following 5 essentials to get the most out of your SEO.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the utilization of keywords and algorithms to ensure your website is seen in search engine results. With thousands of new sites launching each and everyday, it’s up to these formulas to index and filter each one and properly display them based on the user’s inputted search terms. Basically, they ensure that when you search "cookie recipes", you’re not inundated with rapid oil change locations and basketball stats. Neat, huh? So, how do you keep your website from falling by the wayside? Let’s take a look at some SEO essentials:

Great Content

As we always say, content is king, and it’s no different with SEO. The general rule of thumb is to write for people first and search engines second. This means you should always focus on useful and engaging information. The more powerful your content, the more people will share it across the Internet. This means additional traffic and backlinks, which are crucial to SEO search rankings. 

Eliminate Duplicate Content

Each page on your website should be unique. If more than one page contains similar information, it can lead to confusion not only with the users but also within SEO algorithms. 

External Links

When other trusted sites link back to your page, it works wonders for your rankings. At the same time, shady or untrusted sites can just as easily work against you. So, how do you ensure your site is featured where it needs to be? There’s no solid answer for the question, but there are things you can do to influence such a decision. You can create content that is relevant to or about the site you want linked on. You could engage with these trusted companies via social media and build interest first hand. Or you could feature content that links to their site and inquire about them returning the favor. This step not only increases your sites visibility and traffic, but it can also associate your company in new and exciting ways. If the New York Times runs an online article about an news piece from your website, you’ll become instantly elevated in the minds of potential customers, due to the rich history of the NYT. 

Anchor Text

Have you ever search for a keyword, clicked a link and spent the next 10 minutes looking for where the item is? It happens to a lot of websites, especially lengthy articles. A good way to assist users and help them avoid headaches is to include anchor links on longer pages. It not only allows users to find their content more easily, but search engine spiders will use this information to understand what the page content is all about. 

Image Attributes

Sure, images are pretty to look at but they also serve a purpose. Always be sure to fill out image information including titles, captions, alternate text, etc. This allows images searches to index and catalog the visual elements of your page. And since visual searches on a steep incline, leaving these fields blank could make all the difference in reaching and acquiring potential customers. You shouldn’t use this space to cram in more keywords. Instead, use the fields to their fullest potential. The more specific the content, the more likely your images are to appear in the appropriate results. 

SEO is crucial to the success of any website. These are just a few of the elements you need to look at, when developing a new site or adding new pages to your current one. That’s why hiring a web design agency is so crucial. They have the expertise to ensure each and every one of these elements is utilized correctly. After all, if you build a website and no one can find it, what’s the point?

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