Another year has passed, and it’s time to check out the latest SEO tips and tricks.
The reason we write this guide every year may not be obvious to the average business owner. If you’re just starting out with SEO, it’s interesting to note that due to Google’s consistent algorithm changes, strategies, tips, and tricks must evolve over time.
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In fact, the majority of what worked just 5 to 6 years ago is not viable at all in 2020.
Believe it or not, keyword stuffing was indeed a real thing. Then there was the craze of private blog networks. And let’s not forget exact match domains.
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While last year was indeed a tumultuous year for the search engine optimization industry, most of the SEO tactics that worked will (thankfully) continue to be effective in 2020.
With thousands of clients subscribed to our services, we can see a lot of interesting data on search engines. This means a bird’s eye view of what works to gain higher rankings, and what does not.
So, let’s get to the brass tacks. Here is our list of the 5 most important SEO tips and tricks to consider in 2020.
1. Smart Targeted Keywords
Keyword research is an SEO tactic that (thankfully) hasn’t changed much over the years, and will likely continue to be one of the most important to get right.
It is a necessary prerequisite for success in link building, on-page SEO, and content marketing. Honestly, if you want to do business online, you will need to include keyword research to some extent.
To put it simply, effective keyword targeting underpins almost every successful SEO campaign. Click to tweet
Remember that keywords determine the relevance and visibility of your site for specific search terms.
Knowing how to choose the best keywords takes a bit of effort and practice. But don’t worry, it’s not rocket science.
We will cover the basics below. If you want a comprehensive guide, we have created one for you here.
Keyword Research Basics
Start by creating a narrowed-down list of topics, products, or services related to your business. Write them all down in a spreadsheet.
Next, we recommend using the free keyword research tool UberSuggest. It will give you a ton of useful data, as well as alternative keyword variations to consider as well.
So start by entering a keyword into the tool.
You can check the data it returns to learn more about the keyword. Then, make sure to click on “View all keyword ideas.”
Finally, export the data from each of your original keyword choices into your spreadsheet.
Now comes the fun part.
Scroll down this list and remove non-viable options. Some will be too competitive, and others will have too little volume.
The secret to success is finding the balance between competitiveness and demand.
Most of the time, high-demand keywords will be harder to rank for. So unless you have a big appetite and even deeper pockets, avoid the most competitive phrases.
Don’t worry. Often, broad and/or vague keywords get tons of monthly searches but low-quality traffic.
Keep an eye out for medium-volume keywords with a low competition index. These will have low “SD” scores, and decent search volume (a few hundred is good for niche terms).
If you’re struggling to find keywords that meet these criteria, try modifying your target search terms as follows:
- Incentivize action — To target potential customers, add action-oriented phrases like “for sale” or “for rent.”
- Include your location — If necessary, add location modifiers to target local customers and prospects.
- Be more specific — Add descriptors to long-tail SEO keywords that ensure more targeted traffic.
Speaking of incentivizing action, don’t forget to consider the searcher’s intent.
People type all sorts of things into Google. Sometimes, they are looking to navigate to a site. Other times, they may just be searching for images or a quick answer to a question.
In most cases, you will likely want to target keywords indicating that the searcher is looking to purchase a product or service. In other words, when someone searches for one of your target keywords, they should have “buyer intent.”
2. Follow Best Practices for On-Page SEO
So, you’ve done your keyword research and know which search terms you want to go after.
Great! The next SEO tip is another oldie but goodie.
Tried and true, on-page SEO is still a crucial step to achieving higher rankings.
Cutting corners on this one at your own risk. If you haven’t optimized the content of your landing page for specific search terms, you will find higher rankings exceptionally difficult.
To start, we recommend mentioning a keyword 2-4 times on its affected landing page.
Don’t get carried away. “Keyword stuffing” won’t help you in 2020. A long time ago, it might have worked.
These days, Google ensures that top-ranking content serves the user first. It shouldn’t be surprising that repeating a keyword over and over again doesn’t help users. It’s just annoying.
So focus on a natural writing style that incorporates your targeted keywords where appropriate. If you’re having trouble with that, try reading your writing out loud to yourself.
You might get a few side glances if you’re in a café, but no one said it would be easy.
Next, make sure your keyword appears in two key places.
- Page title
- Page META description
- URL slug
- H1 or H2
- Alt-image tags
Some of these are accepted as ranking factors in Google’s algorithm, and a few of them are helpful for improving CTR.
If you’re using WordPress, the easiest way to modify meta descriptions and page titles is through Yoast SEO (they have a free version). It provides a visual editor for your page’s snippet.
Believe it or not, that should do the trick!
Of course, there is much more you can do with on-page optimization to achieve the best results. If you want to go further, you can read our guide (which includes a free checklist to follow).
3. Improve Your Site Speed
Here’s an SEO tip that many know about but haven’t addressed.
Improving website load times can be a major issue. But it’s absolutely worth the time and energy, and sometimes you just need better WordPress web hosting, like Wpengine.
Not only can it improve your website’s visibility, but it will enhance your user experience and reduce bounce rates.
We will cover some basics here, but if you really want to make progress, we recommend checking out our site speed optimization guide. You can also see that we partnered with GTMetrix to publish last year.
Start by going to GTMetrix and running a report on your website, then bookmark the URL of the report it generates. You will use it as a reference for your improvements.
In this example, it’s pretty clear that this site is not well optimized for speed. Of course, you may or may not be aware that IGN is a media website. So we’ll cut them some slack.
Anyway, you probably don’t want your report to look like this.
A good load time to aim for is between 3 to 5 seconds. Under 3 seconds is excellent, but not all websites will be able to reach that level of optimization. It comes with trade-offs (fewer images, fewer marketing tools running javascript, etc.).
Scroll down your report and look for recommendations deemed “high” in terms of importance.
I know it will be a lot to take in. Fortunately, you can click on any of the items to learn more about the issue and how you (or a developer) could make relevant improvements.
For these SEO tips and tricks guides, look for the following.
- Optimize images: this one is relatively easy to fix. If you’re on WordPress, download an image optimization plugin like EWWW Image Optimizer or WP Smush. Both have free options, which can quickly optimize the file size of images on your website.
- Minify JavaScript and/or CSS: This simply means you can make some files smaller, saving load times. Again, WordPress has a variety of free plugins that can do this for you, like Better WordPress Minify or Autoptimize.
- Leverage browser caching: by leveraging caching, you can significantly improve load times for repeat visitors. To address this, try a WordPress plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket. Did you notice a pattern here?
As I said, there is a lot to do here. But it’s a good starting point.
This SEO tip is honestly pretty important in the grand scheme of things, so if you need help doing it, we recommend hiring a specialist to assist you. It’s worth it!
4. Mobile Optimization
If your site isn’t already mobile responsive, it’s time to check that box on this increasingly important item.
In recent years, Google has made mobile a priority and a ranking factor. And for good reason, I might add.
It’s “old news” that internet users are more likely to be on a mobile device than a desktop or laptop computer. But here are some recent data points to help visually prove the point.
Given these trends, Google has already begun transitioning to its mobile-first index.
Many site builders and themes (for WordPress, etc.) will come mobile-responsive “out of the box.” But that’s not a given. So the first step is to determine whether your site is mobile responsive or not.
Google has a free tool for that. Just click here, enter your website, and read the report it generates.
If you are responsive, great. If not, let’s talk about what you can do next.
First of all, this is not something you will be able to solve without a developer and a webmaster. If you are a typical small business owner, you will not possess the skills required to carry out this project.
Fortunately, you will have plenty of options.
A. If you already have an internal team or a developer, this should land directly in their wheelhouse.
B. You can hire a web design and/or development agency to take care of the task for you. Full disclosure, we do that at RankPay. Feel free to drop us a line if you want to hire us to help you.
C. You can use a freelancer from Upwork (or a similar platform) to assist you on a project basis. Just look for someone who has completed similar “go mobile responsive” projects in the past, and who fits your price range.
Whichever path you decide to take, be sure to check on this one. In the future, it will only become increasingly difficult for websites that are not mobile-friendly to gain higher rankings.
5. Build Quality Links
Okay, so we’ve covered some quick SEO tips for on-page optimization, keyword selection, etc. But what about off-page SEO?
While there are many ranking factors in Google’s search algorithm, backlinks have always been among the most important.
In fact, you may remember a long time ago when backlinks were so singularly important that low-quality link spam actually helped improve rankings!
But those days are long gone. In 2020, your link-building efforts must focus on quality rather than quantity.
So don’t go near Fiverr. Don’t buy links from cheap resellers. At best, they will have no impact. But often, they will actually hurt rankings, and may even earn you a slap on the wrist from Google in the form of a manual penalty.
Not good.
So for 2020 and probably beyond, let’s talk about how you can earn quality links.
Claim Lost Links
If you’ve updated a page’s URL or completely removed it, you may have some broken or lost links. Tools like Monitor Backlinks and Ahrefs can help you detect them and recover them by contacting the link source.
Contribute Content to Relevant Outlets
You may have noticed that guest posting has turned into a negative word lately. Especially because many writers have started to “churn out content” and recycle tired topics just to get a mention on a variety of low-quality outlets.
Don’t look at it that way.
Instead, think of it as opportunities to build brand awareness, hone your ability to communicate with an audience, and hopefully earn a relevant link.
Establish a list of relevant publications and reach out to editors. Just focus on providing value to readers, and you will do well!
Partner with Other Businesses
Find other businesses that help your target audience and try to establish a relationship.
You can do this by contributing content to each other’s blog or newsletter. You can also offer special deals to each other’s customers.
Either way is a great way to extend your brand’s reach, form a lasting and beneficial partnership, and earn a link or two.
Invest in Quality Content Marketing
In order to earn links naturally, you will likely want to invest in your website’s content.
The more useful content you have and the more you work to gain relevant exposure, the more likely it will be linked by other sites.
It’s a simple formula that really works.
But given the volume of content published every day, it can be hard to stand out. You will want to be creative, put in the work, and be consistent.
If you don’t have someone in-house to do this, consider hiring outside help. Once again, full disclosure: we have built our own team of professional writers based in the U.S. over the past few years, and we do this every day for our clients.
Conclusion
SEO tips and tricks are a dime a dozen. You’ve probably seen (and scrolled past) articles that include over 100 tips for higher rankings.
These guides are helpful if you have the time and energy to devote weeks or months to SEO.
Our goal with this guide, however, was to help you focus your efforts where they are most needed. Of course, that doesn’t mean the above tips are easy to implement. They will still take time.
But we believe these are SEO tactics that are here to stay. Thus, the time invested will continue to pay dividends for you for years to come.
Remember that search engine optimization and user experience have a lot in common these days. Be contextually relevant, stay focused on quality, and don’t rush things.
As we always tell clients, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good luck in 2020!
Town Press Media offers these services and more by calling 512-522-9008 or simply contacting us.
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