There was a time when those who learned how to optimize their websites for the search engines were considered game-changers in their respective fields. Search engine optimization, or simply, SEO, was indeed a force to be reckoned with when it first started taking off. But it’s been a decade or more since.
Nowadays, you won’t be able to find an industry player that isn’t aware of SEO tactics or strategies that can help them attract a larger audience. In one way or another, everyone knows that SEO is the best driver for their success, or it will if they know how to use it properly.
That’s why you can’t stop at just knowing the basic foundations of SEO or how you can apply its concepts to make your website more visible online. Doing the bare minimum won’t be able to get you anywhere near the first page of the search engine results, let alone any of the top spots.
You might already be doing a fine job of using your SEO skills to gain traction for your website and turn that traffic into sales, but so are hundreds of your competitors. Assume that they are all vying for the attention of the same markets that you are targeting. If you don’t start leveling up your game, you’ll be forced to bite the dust.
The world of digital marketing is highly competitive and fast-paced. Anyone who’s anyone will know to keep up-to-date with the trends and gauge which ones are worth following. Aside from SEO, they’ll also start doing core web vitals optimization, which can affect your overall ranking. So if you want to stay in the game, here are four factors that you better start prioritizing:
1. Mobile-friendliness
In the digital age, your audience will expect you to meet them where they frequent, which is the internet. Most of the users that you’re targeting will likely be using their mobile devices instead of their desktops, which is why you should make sure that your website is equipped for mobile access.
Aside from that, Google, one of the biggest search engines to date, ranks mobile-friendly websites higher on the results page because they are adjusting to the needs of their market. If your website takes longer to load, doesn’t automatically resize to fit a mobile device, or is difficult to navigate, you’ll risk being beaten out by other websites on the results page.
2. Optimized Content
If you’ve been doing SEO for a while, you’ll know that keywords play a big role in website rankings. But it’s not enough to fill your content with inorganically placed keywords because they might be considered spam. Web crawlers will want fresh, engaging, and relevant content every single time, which is what you need to provide.
By optimizing your website’s content, you will be able to hold the attention of your audience longer because you’re offering something that adds value to their lives. That’s why your content should be your hook, line, and sinker. And remember, content isn’t limited to the written format. You can play around with photos, videos, or even interactive content to increase your potential to rank higher.
3. SEO Technicalities
SEO is a digital marketing tool, so of course, there’s always a technical aspect to it. You can’t rely on your engaging content to lead the way alone; you must focus on learning how to optimize for the search engines based on the technical rules of SEO as well. This will make you more well-rounded.
The technical aspect of SEO includes strategizing how to insert keywords not only in your main content but also in your meta-titles and descriptions. Another way is to discover the use of alt and header tags, which can make your content easier to digest. Through this, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience.
4. Website Accessibility
Lastly, your website won’t rank higher on the results page if it’s inaccessible. If the web crawlers can’t access your website, then surely, your target audiences won’t be able to access it as well. Your website accessibility highly depends on you to have the right and safe kind of URL.
These days, people on the internet can never be too safe because one wrong click on a sketchy link could allow a virus to enter their device’s system. This means that not only should you ensure that your website is accessible to the public, but it should also be safe enough for your users to enter.
SEO belongs to an ever-changing digital landscape. The strategies that you know today might prove to be useless tomorrow because they have been replaced by more timely tactics. That’s why you have to continuously seek out ways to improve your existing skills and pick up new ones. This is how you can stay one step ahead of the competition and remain in the game.
