Easy SEO for the savvy blogger!
If you’ve been in the web game for a while now, you’ve probably heard a lot about search engine optimization. SEO is the main way you drive organic traffic to your website, right?
In fact, the #1 result on a search page tends to get 33% percent of the traffic.
The trouble is, the rules of the game are constantly being tweaked by Google and the other big search engines. Here are three easy SEO tips that will help you stay ahead of the curve in 2017.
1. Delete your site’s dead pages
If you’ve been creating content for your website for a while now, chances are your site has accumulated a pile of pages that aren’t serving your business very well. What do I mean by that? Content that’s no longer relevant, orphaned pages, unused categories, pages created by plugins you don’t use anymore. That kind of stuff.
Every single extra page on your site that’s being indexed by the search engines is a lost SEO opportunity. Your site’s bounce rate will go up if users are clicking on the search results and not finding what they want on your site, and that hurts your rankings.
So how do you know if your website has any wasteful pages?
Do a google search like this: 
The number of results that google spits out for your site should make sense. In this case there are 223 pages and posts on lyndsayphillips.com which is a good sign. If there were thousands of pages coming back as a result I would know I’ve got some issues to deal with.
Give this tip a try and see how many pages your site Google has in its index. Start trimming the pages and redirecting links that don’t make sense or aren’t relevant anymore and you’ll see a quick boost in the traffic to the pages that actually matter to you.
2. Optimize your headlines for click-through rate
According to a recent research paper published by Google: “Click-through data has proven to be a critical resource for improving search ranking quality.”
This means that the CTR (Click Through Rate) of the pages on your website is a very important factor that Google uses to determine a page’s ranking in search results. So, what does it mean to optimize for click through rates?
Basically, you want to make your headlines so irresistible that searchers are compelled to click on your links. There are couple ways to do this but here’s one of the easiest.
Take a look at the ads that appear when you search for keywords that you’re targeting.
For example, this is what pops up if you search “virtual assistant Canada”.
The companies buying those ads may be spending thousands of dollars a month to get those top spots. So you can bet those ads have been tested and tweaked to get the best bang for their owner’s marketing dollar, and that makes them a great place to start.
Look at the kinds of words and formatting they use and incorporate them into your headlines and description tags. Based off our example here, the ads put a special emphasis on fast results and affordable prices, so I would incorporate similar wording into my headlines.
3. Build those backlinks
The number of websites that link to your page has always been an important factor in ranking high in the search results. Creating awesome content that people naturally want to share is something you should be trying to do already, so here are few quick tips to score some extra backlinks.
Give Testimonials
Companies love to share their customer’s success stories.
Are there any products or services you use that you love? Consider sending the company a testimonial. Make sure they know they can use it on their website.
These companies will often include a link to your website as part of your testimonial to prove that your a real person.
Depending on the Authority of the company’s website, these kinds of links can give your site a major rankings boost.
Blog reviews
If you’re selling a product or service, consider giving it to bloggers in your niche for free. Just ask for a mention or a review on the blogger’s site.
Google the niche your product or service would fall under and make a list of the blogs you find. Reach out to the owner’s via email and offer them your product or service for free.
Here’s the trick – you can’t make the review or link back part of the deal, you just have to trust the blogger on the other end. Sure, some of them will take your freebie and vanish, but you can get a ton of quality backlinks this way, not too mention some positive word of mouth in your niche.
Blog Aggregators
Blog Aggregators are essentially lists of high quality blogs in a variety of different niches.
Getting your website listed in an aggregator like Alltop.com, is an easy way to get some decent backlinks fast.
All you have to do is register your site, add in some simple code to prove that you’re the owner, and wait for a human being to verify your site. Once that’s done, your website is listed and bam – another solid link.
Bonus Easy SEO Tip: Your Google+ Profile
Your Google+ profile is another opportunity for a potentially high quality backlink. Just add a link to your website in your Google+ profile. With enough activity and interaction on your Google+ page, you build a pretty strong backlink.
Now it’s your turn
Take these easy SEO tips and start driving more organic traffic to your website.
For help with your content marketing, implementation of your blogs, increasing blog traffic, and social media efforts – know at Smooth Business Growth we have your back! Give us a call at 484-284-0933 or go to www.smoothbusinessgrowth.com.
