Short Summary
HOW TO INCREASE TRAFFIC ON SITE USING SEO?
BY: ANKITA SHARMA, VIDHYARTHI DARPAN
Imagine this: you have written the best article on an interesting topic which you want to share with the world. You posted on your blog post. It’s been a few days, with no comments or shares, or feedback from readers. What is going wrong? What is amiss, you wonder.
It is when SEO comes into the limelight. Search Engine Optimization is a process of introducing a sleek change for enhancing the web search so that the content with the most traffic shows up in searches.
Now how do you increase organic (unpaid, natural audience) traffic on your website? Read on to know how SEO can help you achieve this!
What is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization is a vital factor that affects how and what the audience search for content. SEO gives a boost to your reach by adding additional traffic to your website. It is with the help of proper implementation of SEO that you can gain higher ground on search engine ranking and land on the first page of Google Search!
Role of Keyword Research
Keywords are, in simple terms, what terms, words or phrases people search on any search engine (mostly it’s Google). Essentially the user looks for the most manageable word. The higher the occurrence of SEO keywords, the more will be the reach. However, the content you are putting in public should be relevant to the target audience. The addition of useless, distractive, out-of-context keywords can hamper the interests of the audience. For this, you need to get into their mind and ask questions like what exactly do I want & where can I find it?
How to increase traffic on site using SEO?
Though you can find plenty of tips and tricks elsewhere, the below mentioned are basic methods to increase organic traffic by optimizing the search engine.
Site speed
Time is precious for everyone – be it a working professional or a researcher or an eager, impatient kid who wants to learn about cricket pitch. Therefore, the speed at which a site opens is crucial for the user. Mostly, if it takes more than 2 seconds to present the material, people’s interest vanishes. Likewise, people don’t fancy the small circular loading signs on any image. Visuals are as important as the content. Few things you can do to avoid (or at least reduce) this are:
- Optimize picture quality. Reducing the image pixels and size by 30-40% makes the site function faster.
- Store cache data to smoothen the user experience by permitting faster loads due to previous encounters.
- Remove unnecessary elements and plugins not-in-use to prevent overloading of the website.
Make your site secured using HTTPS://
Google takes stringent control of unauthorized websites. An extra ‘s’ stands for ‘secure.’ Its presence in your website HTML goes a long way in guarding user and website confidentiality. Factually, Google gives a red warning against the un-secured sites, leading to a turn-away from potential users. HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) ensures private experience and protects from third-party attacks & interference. You need to get an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate from your hosting website to implement HTTPS.
Moreover, Google recognizes SSL certifies websites as one of the minute factors that affect SEO ranking. Even Google Analytics prefers HTTPS driven site that also preserves referral data. After all, when you’re generating or transferring vital data, you need to take the utmost precautions.
Engage with your audience
It cannot be emphasized enough. Conversations and connections are what motivates others to check out something. The longer the user stays (or genuinely absorbs the content), the more acknowledgment your site will gain in Google’s eyes (SEO ranking, in this case). According to Google Analytics, the time spent on each website affects the bounce rate. Bounce rate is defined as the percentage of single-page sessions or how long the user spent on your site without any interaction. About 30% bounce rate is deemed healthy.
Be mindful that people visit those sites repeatedly where they found quality and valuable content. Hence, your priority ought to be creating beneficial content. Add creative images, posters, flow charts, infographics for immediate understanding of the matter. Write concise sentences and use simple language. For better perception, use pointers, and bullets.
Be specific about the product.
The needs of your end audience differ in different instances. For example, if your site deals with selling motorbike; some people like a red, motorbike with max power and high fuel capacity, while some prefer golden with a digital odometer. What sounds better? ‘Bike for sale!’ or ‘Red Hero Honda for sale.’?
Keywords are directed predominantly towards what exactly users are searching. Short (One or two words) keywords have numerous competitors whereas 5-6 pertinent terms (known as long-tail keywords) have comparatively low competitors and high chances of showing up on the first page. It will pull organic, genuine viewers.
Think like a visitor – Ask Questions
Get into the mind of your target audience. If your niche lies in food marketing like a restaurant, ask yourself – what is trending currently in food blogs? How to made Kaju-katli from scratch? What ingredients are surfacing for the best recipes in the prevailing weather? and so on. You will be surprised what search engine history consists of. Most of them start with How, What, Where, and When. If you put forth audience-driven questions and provide answers for the same, Google Analytics notices and features an appropriate part of your article.
User-friendly (mobile)
Today, most of the business happens on mobile phones. We squander an extraordinary time on mobiles. It is why the handling and performance of sites need to be mobile-friendly. The website should be adept to mold itself according to the device such as mobile, tablets, desktop, etc. The responsiveness and compatibility ratio of sites need to align with mobile functions. Like the screen size, fonts, clickable ads, links (internal & external), website speed, etc. should adjust with the device.
You can check devices adaptability using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Just paste the URL of the website, see the score, and make changes accordingly.
Write concise meta-description
Meta-description is what you observe right below each search result. It indicates a summary of the search result. This fragment describes the essence of your page. Depiction of meta-data should be well-researched with targeted keywords to assist in SEO.
The character limit for meta-description is 275. Try to accommodate your summary within this. Your description should be direct, relevant, captivating, engaging, and short.
Visual treat – Use images & videos
Adding tutorial, explanatory, or educational videos on your site is a plus. Since 55% of the audience searches for video content, you need to focus on delivering what users mostly demand. If you are a video publishing website, you need to optimize your editing, scrutinizing, and posting video content. By focusing on prominent factors such as thumbnail quality, duration, proper keywords in title and description, and most important – Quality Content, you en-captivate the user’s attention.
Back links
Back-links are links directed to another article/post internally in your post. It generates a series of associated posts related to the content at hand. Back links are a great way to earn audience confidence as more sites reference or cite your articles, Google gets the impression of “worth-reading” and the popularity of the article. This way, your site ranking enhances on the search engine. It is, therefore, imperative to connect to similar niche websites to grow your reach.
Conclusion
SEO is easy provided you know the basics of SEO and a little of human psychology. Now when you know the fundamentals of SEO, go on, and start working on it!
