Search engine optimization has always been a catch-up game with major search engines continually updating the algorithms that they use to rank links in searches. Los Angeles SEO Consultants and SEO specialists alike have to be on their toes to ensure that their knowledge is up to date. However, there are several core principles that are said to be fundamental that remain unchanged and will probably still apply even after a long time in the future.
An example of the changes in how search engines rank their searches is how targeting keywords solely for improving organic rankings no longer work although keywords remain essential. Keywords searches reveal so much about the user that it has become a treasure trove for search engines. It allowed them to profile consumers to improve targeted marketing as well as predicting the content that may interest the user. It also gave the search engines a way to follow trends by using frequent use of search keywords as a barometer for how hot current issues are.
There are so many SEO methods, techniques, and school of thoughts that will keep Los Angeles SEO Consultants and SEO specialists busy by making them decide which ones are important and which are safe to forget. Will link building still be as effective today? Will you gain more advantage by spending your time and energy on page SEO? How can you use title tags to help you with your rankings? And what of social media and the anyways that it has changed the SEO game? How can you harness all these new SEO developments to your advantage?
And quite simply, what do you need to do that will ensure a result that is favorable to you. In this article, we will talk about the SEO techniques that are known to work and give out tips that will remain usable for a long time.
Keep your site as fast as possible
A long time ago, when everything else on the internet was slow, you can get away with having a site that loads for a few minutes. Today, however, this is tantamount to killing any chance your website has of taking off. Even a single second of delay will have a great impact on the way users and indirectly, the search engines view your site.
Slower sites give a depiction of being untrustworthy because users tend to think that a slow website means the backend is a bit wobbly and thus may be a bit shady. If a website takes more than a few seconds to load, research shows that the user will immediately cease waiting.
Search engines themselves use speed as one of the categories in ranking pages against each other during searches. This means that, even if you have relevant content, should your website fail to meet the criteria that the search engine has set, then they will not put you on top of the search results. The reason why search engines make a point in doing this is that they attach their brands to the search results that they give the users. Should the user be dissatisfied with anything that their search engine has come up with, especially the ones on top, then their brand suffers.
Another ranking factor that is directly affected by the speed by which your site loads is the number of time users spend on your site. When a site has low retention rate meaning users do not spend a lot of time on your site, then search engines can rightfully proclaim your site to be boring or void of information relating to the keywords that were searched. This is in itself another aspect that could directly affect your ranking because of how fast or slow your website loads. If the user gets tired of waiting for the pages in your site to load then they will rightfully move on and thus hurting your search ranking.
Link building
While gathering as many backlinks to your site as possible is the name of the game for Los Angeles SEO consultants and SEO specialists, there is a lesser-known method to improve searches which is link building. This technique involves adding links to your website that goes to other sites relevant to the content that you are hosting.
There are some skeptics however about the effectiveness of such an approach because, at first glance, you seem to be giving up your chance to keep users from staying at your site for as long as possible. Search engines think otherwise however as link building is one of the key elements of SEO.
However, the links have to be relevant and should be linked to a website that the search engines would view in a positive light. Meaning they should load fast and are not blacklisted.
Always write for humans
While it is tempting to overload your website’s content with keywords that you know people would be searching for, it has been proven to be counterproductive in the long run. Should you have content that remains to be of interest for users then backlinks should come naturally from other sites who find your content to be appealing.
The mindset to create for humans should be at the core of SEO discipline because search engines are doing their best to create search rankings the same way that humans would.
Get help
There are plenty of websites that are already established which of whom have already caught the eyes of major search engines. Usually, links found on their domain are treated differently or are given priority as search engines trust that these sites will always provide relevant content within the topics that the keywords fall under. Examples of these kinds of sites are news sites, technical question and answer sites, and even social media.
Analytics
There is no better way to gauge how far you have come in your efforts to improve your site’s ranking than by performing analytics. Using these tools, you can continue to monitor your progress.
