For those who think SEO to be their nemesis, we have a message – SEO is not difficult. It was never difficult either. SEO appears difficult due to the ever-changing facet of Google algorithms.
Let us simplify this for you. You need to optimize your site and the content for your human users. Search engines will, to the most part, take care of themselves, says SEO Durban team.
Why haven’t you been successful as SEO?
If you have not been as successful at SEO as your competitors. It might be because you have been worrying too much about the search engine crawlers rather than your human audience. The secret is – the bots are also concerned about your human audience right now. After the Hummingbird update, bots have become human to a certain extent. They can “understand” what your website content is about. They can analyze and contextualize your focus keywords.
This means bye-bye keyword stuffing and mediocre backlinks. The good part is – Google now has 200 factors that decide your page rank. As per Rand Fishkin’s latest interview, it is even impossible for an SEO superstar like him to focus on all of them at once. The smarter way out is the 80/20 rule. Its principle is quite simple. You focus on only 20% of the task and enjoy 80% of the results. So, you can start today by focusing on 4-5 factors you were missing out, but Google bots were not.
Where do you start optimizing?
The best place to start is content. Start writing long-form. Convert all featured blog posts to long-form. Start with at least 1500 word posts with about 1.5% keyword density. Do not study your keywords or Google will know! The ideal way is to include your keyword at least once in the first 100 words and then keep the density once in every 200 words. Include your keyword in the title tag and the Headers.
Neil Patel is the guru of online marketing. He went from 0 visitors to over a million by hopping on to the long-form content bandwagon.
Start with 1000 to 2000 words
Bots like long-form. Throw in a couple of useful links, optimized images and videos for fun. Give your blog a little link juice too. The best way to create long-form content is to conduct thorough research. You may have the habit of rewriting tantalizing posts, hoping for some rebound traffic. That will not do. The bots perceive this as a duplication. So, while you keep wondering why you do not see enough traffic, Google is penalizing your page for plagiarism.
Get fresh ingredients
You need new content. Write simple but compelling content that human readers will love. Throw in a line or two about new political happenings and controversial Hollywood split-ups. People like to read a little bit of gossip after the end of a long tiring day. Throw in a little bit of humor too.
Research your competitors
If you are drawing a blank on your next blog, check out what your competitors are writing. Competitor research is the key to successful content strategies. This will give you a good inkling on how your next blog post will perform on a given topic.
Stay on the clock
Create a writing and posting schedule. There is blog brilliance like Brian Dean who works and researches for 20 hours to make one post. Unless you are following his footsteps, you should keep your readers entertained with at least one post in 24 hours. If you are running out of content, you can refurbish old content or create polls, debates, discussions, and contests for getting user-generated data.
Throw in a little visual
People tend to get bored with black and white. You need to interrupt the monotony with visuals. This is usually a right sized photo or a small video about what you are writing. Optimizing your photo is very necessary for your blog and page loading speed. We have seen humongous pictures slow down entire web pages to drive people away. Your page should load within 1.5 seconds at maximum. Include medium sized images in JPEG, BMP or PNG formats.
Keep the links ready
While conducting research follow all the links. Save them for future references and as plausible outbound links. You can use Google Docs. The easiest way for blogger beginners is to start with heads and subheads, then progress to the body of the post. Once you finish writing the article move to the introduction. Finish it off with an exciting conclusion that gives shape to your observation and opinion.
Wrapping up
Readers go to your blog to find something interesting, informative and easy. They do not want complex sentences. Give them something they will enjoy and will share with their friends for a pleasurable read. The best way to optimize your content for a search engine is to optimize it for your readers.