6 ways to improve your SEO that you’ve probably never heard of
Optimizing a website for search engines is a vital component of establishing online visibility. With so much competition in the market, businessowners, entrepreneurs, and marketers need to ensure that they stay on top of keeping their website search engine-friendly with frequent updates. Here are six things you should look out for to better your SEO that you probably don’t know about.
1. Alt text optimization
Incorporating descriptive alternative text (alt text) for images is a fundamental aspect of web accessibility. Alt text serves as a textual description of images and can help users who use screen readers or have images disabled. Beyond accessibility, optimizing alt text can significantly impact SEO.
When crafting alt text, make sure it's descriptive, concise, and includes keywords. This text provides context to search engines and enables them to better understand the image's content and purpose. When you incorporate keywords naturally into alt text, it can enhance a web page's relevance for related searches, potentially boosting its ranking.
For instance, instead of a generic description like "image001.jpg," opt for descriptive alt text like "Red Bicycle Racing in Mountain Terrain" to improve both accessibility and SEO.
2. Proper heading structure
Organizing your content by using proper heading structure not only helps certain users in navigating that content, but it can also assist search engines in better understanding your page's structure and relevance.
Make sure you’re using heading tags like H1, H2, H3, etc. to logically structure your content. The H1 tag typically represents the main heading of the page, followed by subheadings in an organized hierarchy. This type of arrangement not only improves readability for users, but it also signals the importance of your content to search engines.
Maintaining a clear and coherent heading structure provides a roadmap for both users and search engine crawlers, enhancing the overall accessibility and SEO of the webpage.
3. Descriptive link text
Hyperlinks with clear and descriptive anchor text can contribute to a more accessible and SEO-friendly website. Meaningful link text (like the purple links you see throughout this article) provides context to users about the linked content and helps search engines comprehend the relevance of the linked page.
Marketers should avoid using generic phrases like "click here" or "read more." While they may seem like the obvious choice, these are commonly overused and won’t always spark motivation to click anything. Instead, incorporate descriptive anchor text that accurately reflects the linked page's content. For example, instead of "Click here for our services," opt for something like "Explore our range of digital marketing services."
Descriptive link text, just like alt text, not only helps visitors using screen readers, but also can significantly contribute to search engine crawlers' understanding of the linked content to help enhance your website SEO.
4. Mobile optimization
Mobile devices are dominating internet usage (duh). Improving the mobile user experience can help ensure a seamless experience across various devices to help improve their website.
The key is to prioritize responsive design to create a website that adapts and functions flawlessly across devices of different screen sizes. Search engines prioritize mobile-friendly websites because they consider them more user-friendly and relevant.
A mobile-optimized website not only enhances user experience, but can positively impact SEO, as search engines typically favor mobile-responsive sites in their rankings, leading to improved visibility and reach.
5. Page load speed
Page load speed plays a critical role in user experience and SEO. Slow-loading pages can negatively impact user engagement and bounce rates, thereby affecting SEO rankings.
Businessowners can optimize page load times by compressing images without compromising quality, leveraging browser caching, and minimizing unnecessary scripts or elements that impede loading speed. Tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights can help identify areas for improvement.
Improving page load speed can enhance your visitor’s user experience and reduce bounce rates. It can also signal to search engines that the website is efficient and user-centric, resulting in higher SEO rankings.
6. Color contrast
This is a tip that I recently learned from a close friend of mine (hi, Sam!).
Ensuring adequate color contrast on website pages is a pivotal aspect of accessibility that is often overlooked. Low contrast between text and background colors can hinder readability, especially for users with visual impairments. Using tools like WCAG-compliant color contrast checkers can help in assessing and adjusting color combinations for optimal readability and accessibility.
By verifying contrast ratios between text and background colors, businesses can help improve readability for all users, align with accessibility standards, and contribute to a more inclusive online experience.
Implementing an effective SEO strategy doesn’t have to be overly complex, and can make a world of a difference, especially to new businesses, in the long run. Frequent efforts that can enhance user experience and accessibility can contribute to your website ranking higher in search engines, ultimately helping to increase sales and conversions over time.