Your 4-Step SEO Tune-Up

Your 4-Step SEO Tune-Up

 

So, by now you probably realize that SEO is one of the most complex activities you need to engage in. This is due in part to the fact that it is ever-changing (and faster than ever it seems these days). The multi-faceted aspect of search engine optimization also makes it feel so daunting to some people that they are tempted to just throw their hands up and run away without even trying.

 

Before you do that, however, take a breath and check out these 5 relatively easy ways that you can tune up your SEO program—and results.

 

1. Say Goodbye to Sub-Domains…and Hello to Sub-Categories

If your domain (home URL) is swimgear.com, then a sub-domain would be goggles.swimgear.com and a sub-category would be swimgear.com/googles.

 

There once was a time when having sub-domains was very “cool”. However, in the post-doorway algorithm update, that is not the case. Every sub-domain essentially competes with each other—and with your primary domain—for search result placement and, therefore, traffic. A sub-category on the other hand supports and builds up your primary brand and boosts your SEO opportunities.

 

2. Add Navigation to Your URL Structure

In reality, this is just another way to think of the first tip above. Think of your overall site navigation. You likely have some sort of way of structuring and categorizing your site and offerings. Why do you do this? To help people more efficiently find what they are looking for. Adopting the same approach in your URLs can give the same type of assistance to search crawlers.

 

As you create your category-based URL structure, make sure that you keep a focus on SEO friendliness. Use terms that are logical, clear and easy to understand by bots.

 

3. Amp Up Your Metadata

What is a search result page? A listing of links that hopefully match a search query? Sure, but it’s really more than that. Every search result page is really a head-to-head contest between you and your competitors. Who gets the click is the “winner”.

 

The goal of SEO is not really to get a page 1 listing, it’s to get the click-thru. Remember, site traffic impacts SEO ranking. Therefore, every click-thru can improve site traffic which can improve SEO. It’s a connected web for sure.

 

So, with this in mind, take a fresh look at your title tags and metadata—are they compelling? Will they win against others in that head-to-head contest? Would they make you want to click thru?

 

4. Overhaul Your Anchor Text

Once you’ve managed to get someone to your site, your SEO work is not over. You want to keep people there. One way to do this is to offer the right information and help them work through your site. While “Click here to read more” is clear to the reader when on the page, it says little to search engine crawlers. And, yes, you can be sure that crawlers are looking at this data. It’s not just your home page that can show up in a search listing after all. Put more detail into your anchor text like, “More about swim goggle fit”, for example.

 

As you can expect, these four steps are far from an exhaustive list of things you can—or should—do to keep up your SEO game. However, they are four things that are relatively accessible and that can make more of a difference than you might imagine.