Search engine optimization is essential, but before creating a complex list with all the measures you need to pursue in order to optimize your site and content, please keep in mind that no one really knows the exact ranking factors Google uses to set search results. Experts believe that the true list of what Google looks at when ranking websites may be more a lot denser than everyone thought… somewhere around 10.000 ranking factors.
What’s pretty obvious, though, is that if you’re relying on people to find your website using Google search, search engine optimization (SEO) needs to be at the top of your priority list.
We will present you the best five ways to boost your SEO ranking. Follow these thoroughly and results will follow immediately.
First of all, your site needs to use the right keywords for it. There are two types of keywords in use nowadays, short-tail keywords, or keywords composed of very generic keywords, and long-tail keywords, more specific and made of more than one word.
Although short-tail keywords may seem more attractive because they’re searched more often than long-tail keywords, they will place your site in a very competitive market. So, unless you’re writing content for a large organization, like Yahoo or Microsoft, and your visitors are more likely to search for your exact product, you don’t want to enter into a keyword battle with such virtual influence. You will lose.
Instead, you could try adding long-tail keywords into the content on your page. You will definitely attract a larger number of visitors who are more likely to search for any combination of those long-tail keywords.
We recommend making a list of all your site pages and select two appropriate keywords for each of them. This is crucial, as your homepage, product and category pages need their own set of specific keywords. Once you have established which keywords to use per page, they have to appear in your meta tags, your URL and your page content.
This way, you will achieve the best SEO rankings. We suggest using keyword one around 40 times, while keyword two should be used about 20 times for maximal SEO results.
Next, you should optimize your on-site elements. Of course, tags are important, but not enough for a good SEO ranking.
“Good keyword research and interesting title tags and enticing meta descriptions that encourage searchers to click on your result are the essential SEO building blocks for any website”, as Reeva Cutting, from Cutting Edge Digital, believes.
Optimizing the meta data of your website is essential. For your meta description, make sure it gives users an accurate description of what’s on your page.
“A good meta description is incredibly important. It’s one of the main things people look at when viewing search results. Therefore, focus on creating informative and catchy meta descriptions that entice clicks and separate you from the competition”, said Samuel Meyers, of Glacier Wellness.
Once the meta data is taken care of, what’s left is the URL. Here is an example of how your website’s URL should look:
Not like this: https://yourdomain.com/what-is-an-seo-focus-keyword-6-things-you-need-to-know
But like this: https://yourdomain.com/seo-focus-keyword
Keep in mind always that long URLs get truncated when displayed in Google’s search results. Actually, Google is known to be on record as stating they prefer short URLs.
You want your URLs to be as clear and readable as possible. Also, underscores, spaces and any characters in your URL other than hyphens are to be avoided.
If your e-commerce site is complex, organizing its URLs is a must. We recommend this formula:
- com/category‐name(category page)
- com/category‐name/subcategory‐name(subcategory page)
- com/category‐name/subcategory‐name/subcategory‐name(sub‐subcategory page)
- com/category‐name/subcategory‐name/subcategory‐name/product(product page)
Last, but not least, you should start using https, as it represents an essential step to improving your search ranking. Basically all e-commerce sites include forms which require users to fill out their personal information. In order to encrypt and protect all this information, a Secure Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is the way to go.
On the plus side, Google has also confirmed that HTTPS is now used as a ranking signal, so if you’re not using https, your ranking can be substantially affected.
Oh, and here’s a bonus for you! Creating a mobile app for your website will surely boost your SEO ranking.
That way, a larger number of visitors will reach your e-commerce page/website and while they will be searching for keywords in your niche, they could find your app, and that creates a major boost in your search engine optimization ranking.