SEO is a battle of attrition. It's not enough to just write good content; you have to make sure everyone finds it. That's why I recommend writing for humans first, then optimizing for search engines. If you forget about these two groups, neither will be happy with you or your website.
Search engines are an important part of your online strategy. They're how people find your content. But they're not the only ones. You also need to think about human visitors who don't use search engines. In fact, you should do both simultaneously.
Forget about keyword stuffing. This technique is outdated. Google wants to see you using real-world terms and phrases in your posts, tweets, and comments. The more natural your content sounds, the better off you'll be. Don't worry about making it sound like someone wrote it; let your voice shine through.
Focus on UX. People want to know what to expect from your website. You need to make sure every page has clear information and easy navigation. Your users will thank you later. And if something goes wrong, at least they'll find their way back to where they were trying to go.
Make your pages mobile friendly. More than half of web traffic comes from smartphones and tablets. Make sure you're giving them the best possible experience.
Build great anchor text. When other websites link to yours, you want those links to point readers to specific areas on your site. Anchor text is the best way to accomplish this without looking too spammy. Make sure every piece of content has a unique name so each link can stand out.
Use descriptive alt tags. These tags help you describe images. Search engines understand that images are often worth a thousand words, so they reward sites that include them.
Avoid broken links. You don't want to lose potential visitors because the site loads slowly or doesn't display properly. Keep your site fresh by fixing any broken links. It's free to get started.
Remove everything that slows down your site. Too many plugins slow things down even further. Unnecessary code can also cause performance issues.
Format content for featured snippets. The search engine snippet tool makes sure that people searching for certain phrases will find your content. It does this by displaying snippets of your post above the search results. The snippets are usually three lines long. If you want to boost your chances of appearing, make sure your title is between 50 and 300 characters.
The snippet displays some information about your site and provides a short summary of your content. These snippets are displayed prominently as well. Google rewards sites that offer up featured snippets. The more of them you show up in search results, the higher your ranking will be.
Add social sharing buttons. Search engines value sharing options. They know that social media shares increase the amount of people visiting your site. Include buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Vimeo, YouTube, and Flickr.
Use canonical URLs. Canonical URLs tell search engines which version of a page to index. For example, when you create a new blog post, add "blog" after the URL but before "/new/post". Then, when you update the content, include "blog/2015/02/01/post-title.html" instead. This prevents duplicate content from showing up in your search rankings.
Keep track of competitors' updates. Check your competitors' sites to see what changes they've made since you last checked. This is especially helpful if you notice similar themes popping up. Try to keep ahead of them by updating your content accordingly.
If you're interested in learning more about SEO, check out my guide to SEO basics. You can learn how to improve your site's visibility and traffic with WordPress.
Google and Bing give preference to sites that don't block robots. However, they won't penalize you for doing so. If you're concerned about being blocked, consider creating a privacy policy. It's quick and easy to set up.
The easiest way to rank high is to focus on quality content. Writing for humans first ensures that your content stands apart from the rest. Search engines love it too. So start focusing on building relevance through your content by following these tips.
This article wasn't written to be read word for word. Instead, it was designed to spark ideas and provoke interaction so that others could contribute. I encourage you to leave comments below. What would you add? What did I miss? What questions do you have? Do you disagree? Share your thoughts! I'd love to hear them!