We've all been there - desperately trying to rank on the first page. And while some of you have succeeded in that, it's true that search engine optimization (SEO) is not what it used to be. In a nutshell, ranking on the front page of Google got a lot harder and complicated.
Today, we are listing all the things about SEO you did not know, and which may help you rank higher and get the traffic you deserve. So, let's start.
1. Viral Content Won't Help You a Lot
We all know viral content is great - but when it comes to SEO, even if you have millions of pieces published on a daily basis, it won't help. It's the unique content that stands out when it comes to SEO, while the viral one can be great only in the short run.
2. Overlooking SEO Is Bad For Your Business
Every company deserves to stand out, reach the global audience and have an online presence that works 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. So, why on Earth would anyone try to overlook SEO? Being visible on the search engines guarantees you the most targeted traffic to your website.
3. Don't Duplicate, Repurpose
Google and the other search engines don't like websites that duplicate their content. This is a sign of lack of effort and may get your website penalized. So, if you need to duplicate a post, at least try to repurpose it and better it each time you post it. Of course, in a new version.
4. Your Content Must Be 100% Relevant
Google's algorithm is now so advanced, that it can track every word of your content and how relevant it is to your industry. In a nutshell, everything you write or code on your website must be related to your focus or the focus of that separate webpage. From image tags to HTML tags, titles and subheadings - everything matters.
5. Mobile-Friendly Is The New Ranking Standard
Knowing that in this exact moment, there are more people who search on their mobile devices than on their computers - it's clear why Google has given advantage to mobile-friendly websites. If yours isn't one of them, you should definitely consider optimizing it that way.
6. Websites Are Broken Into Segments When Ranking
Ranking a complete website is million times harder than ranking it page by page. In fact, everything boils down to this, unless you have a site that is just a landing/squeeze page. However, just because they are segments doesn't mean it's difficult - in fact, ranking websites page by page is easier and better for your website.
7. You Might Need To Rank Only For A Few Terms
In order to be successful in SEO, you have to rank for dozens of search items.....Which is wrong!
The truth is, you don't have to rank for every single keyword to get the most traffic and sales. If you are in a micro-niche or have a narrow target market, you can get away with ranking for one, two or three terms - and focus on dominating the competition on them.
8. You Can Use SEO To Target Different Global Markets
Yes - ranking your website in different countries is entirely possible, thanks to SEO. One way to do that is to buy many country-specific domains and use them to rank high for keywords in each country separately. Don't forget to translate your content, though, because only that way this would work!
9. Google Is Not The Only Search Engine
We know we always say 'Google this' and 'Google that', but there are a lot of other search engines you can rank on and get great results. From Bing to Yahoo and as of recently YouTube and Amazon as well, you can use your SEO strategy on every search engine and step-up your game.
10. More Pages Doesn't Mean Better Results
Having the largest number of pages on your website doesn't mean that Google will index every single one of them and help you rank better. SEO is not a numbers game - and it never will be.
11. The Top 5 URLs on the SERPPs Get 75% OF All User Clicks
This means that if you are in the top 5 on the front page, you will be getting your fair share of clicks and traffic. If not, try harder to get there!
12. 75% of SEO Is Off-Page And 25% IS On-Page
Just because everyone is now trying to rank high on the search pages - the game has changed. Three quarters of the SEO game now depend on your incoming and outgoing links, references and other things, while only one quarter depends on your on-page SEO efforts.
13. Don't Optimize For Search Engines - Do It For People
Keyword stuffing, multiple subheadings stuffed with keywords and text that doesn't sound natural is not a way to rank higher on Google. Instead of wasting your time on counting keywords and stuffing as many as you can into one piece of content - try optimizing your posts so that you can help your followers.
In the end, you must accept the fact that SEO is changing as we speak. The bottom line is that it will always be something that is driven by our true wants and needs. So, as long as it's valuable, informative and user-friendly, your SEO strategy is on a good way to the top.
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