SEO can be an intimidating topic, this article outlines some of the basic concepts to help you understand how to set your website up for success.
Keywords
Keywords are what tell Google what a page is about and who it is for. In the past, simply having the right keywords on a page could help you rank, however, today things are a little different.
As of 2023, Google is focused on content authority. Meaning they are looking for experts on a specific topic, a site that covers the topic in detail and shows they are the expert. Content is way more important than keywords in 2023.
So how does this work in practice? Here are some tips:
- Focus on Topic Structure over Keywords: meaning, cover the topic in detail rather than simply adding keywords.
- Use specific keywords: keywords such as “real estate agent” are useless in most cases. Focus instead on long tail specific keywords, such as “real estate agent in New Jersey” or better “real estate agent on 32nd NJ”. Other examples could be “apartment realtor in [area]” or “family home real estate agent in [area]”.
- Focus on the content plan over individual pieces of content: if a site writes five articles all to do with “selling an apartment in New York”, Google will see them as an expert of selling apartments in New York. This is more valuable than one very well-written article.
Tags
Tags are a great way to reinforce your keywords. I would use them to focus on specific, long-tail keywords as discussed above.
Titles
Titles should be eye-catching and on topic. It’s no longer worth trying to stuff a keyword, and is better to focus on a descriptive catchy title that answers the question someone may be asking in Google. Try to focus on titles that are 60 characters or less.
Descriptions
Descriptions should be punchy, and descriptive, and it's always good to include a call to action. Try to make descriptions between 120-150 characters.
Images
One of the top ranking factors in Google at the moment is site speed. If your site is slow, you can kiss SEO traffic goodbye. One of the biggest culprits of slow websites are images.
Images should always be converted to WebP to ensure the site speed is not impacted by the image.