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SEO has become essential for almost every business owner and entrepreneur today. According to Forrester Research, SEO spending was expected to increase from $12.6 billion in 2017 to $16.8 billion in 2018. The SEO landscape keeps changing at such a rapid pace that staying informed and up-to-date is critical to success.

To optimize your site for Google and other search engines, you’ll want to focus on four main areas: technical issues, content structure, Meta tags, and page speed. Each of these elements play a role in the way your pages perform on search engines. Learn more about each area below.

Technical Issues:

If your website is slow or crashes frequently, then you have problems. This means that your server isn’t optimized for performance and that it can’t handle your volume of traffic. Your hosting company also plays a major factor in the overall performance of your website because they control the servers themselves. Make sure that you check out the recommended settings for your domain name and hosting provider. And don’t forget to test your site before you launch!

Content Structure:

There are several ways to organize content on your page. These include headings, subheadings, images, text posts, etc. Keep in mind that the order of each element affects its ranking on a page. Take stock of where your content falls within this hierarchy and try to move higher in the rankings.

Meta Tags:

When someone looks for something specific online, one of their first thoughts will be what keywords they need to use to find it. By using the right words and phrases related to your products, services and niche you can improve your visibility and boost sales. Some webmasters recommend making your title tag longer than 70 characters so that it contains all of the most important information people might type into the search box. You should also make sure to add a relevant description tag that includes those same keywords.

 Page Speed:

It’s important to keep visitors on your website long enough for them to see how great your product or service is. One way to do this is by keeping your page loading times down. A study conducted by Kiss metrics found that users abandon sites with page load time greater than 3 seconds. Make sure that any third party plugins (like social media sharing platforms) aren’t slowing down your site and that your images are optimized.

Focus on User Experience:

While it may seem like an afterthought, your user experience can help you rank better on Google. Don’t just look at your own site; pay attention to how well your competitors’ sites are performing. Pay close attention to how fast their content loads and whether or not there are errors or broken links throughout the site. Think about what makes your site different from theirs and work to ensure that it ranks as high as possible on Google. Remember, users’ experiences have a huge impact on conversions.

 Optimize for Mobile:

Since mobile devices now account for almost 50% of internet traffic, optimizing for mobile is critical to ensuring that your business has a successful online presence. Make sure that your site works properly without being redirected back to the home page. Also, think about what kinds of apps your customers would access if they were on a smartphone or tablet. Would they want to download a map? Or maybe a coupon code, discount or special deal? Consider the features that you offer through your app, as well as how many transactions you’re likely to get per day.

Social Signals:

As more consumers rely on social media to discover new companies and products, having a strong presence on these networks can benefit businesses in multiple ways. First, you’ll increase awareness of your brand among potential customers who will share your content across various social channels. Second, your followers will interact directly with your posts which gives your business credibility and encourages others to support your efforts. Finally, social signals will tell Google that your business is trustworthy and generate more organic traffic to your site.

Conclusion

Search engines value quality over quantity when ranking websites. In other words, while it’s always good to gain a lot of backlinks, a few high-quality ones could mean even more SEO success than a large number of low-quality pages. High-quality backlinks include links from reputable sources such as news sites, blogs, industry forums, YouTube videos and press releases.