Simple SEO Tips to Get You Started!

We are going to share with you 7 simple SEO tips. These tips are going to get your search results on the up. You’ve probably heard of all the good things search engine optimization (SEO) can do for your website. In fact, optimizing your website for search engines (like Google) is one of the most effective ways of increasing website traffic. You will see that come of these tips show how content for SEO will benefit your rankings too.

With more visitors comes more conversions – and then more growth for your business.

But the complexity of SEO can be intimidating. In reality, SEO can be as simple or as complicated as you make it.

Some of the more simple and accessible SEO tasks can be done by anyone that has access to the website. These simple steps will have significant effects on how well your page ranks on search engines and can get your foot in the door when it comes to SEO. 

At First Page, we work with clients in a wide range of industries and sizes. If you don’t know how to SEO your website and lack the budget to hire a professional SEO agency, read these 7 simple SEO tips. They will make your web pages faster, rank higher, and drive more organic (free!) traffic to your website.

How can crafting new content or optimizing old copy with target keywords help?

This is key when it comes to simple SEO tips. Content for SEO on your website is one of the biggest ranking factors in the eyes of search engines like Google. Every search query has a search term or keyword. By including these keywords in your content, you can help Google identify the fact that your content is relevant and can help the searcher – think of it as a little indicator for Google’s algorithm. Following this, Google will then place your web page higher in the search results. 

Knowing which keywords to target can be difficult, but there is plenty of software out there that simplifies the process and allows you to target a range of keywords to grow your traffic. Google’s own Keyword Planner is a useful tool, while using the search bar simplifies it even further – simply see what Google suggests. 

How readable is your content and does it offer value?

Google’s algorithm rewards websites with readable content that offers some form of value to users. If your page has a lot of long paragraphs without headings, it’s likely overwhelming and people won’t be encouraged to read it, and therefore get value from it. Making your content readable is one of the simple SEO tips to implement.

When we think about content for SEO, it is not just about keywords. Your content needs to add value to the reader. By value, it means to help solve a pain point for the reader. Readability is also key for content for SEO. Your sentences should be short and concise.

Remember to split up your content with clear headlines and write content that provides a new or unique angle to what already exists. The most effective way to do this is to put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer when you write. Think about the keywords you’re targeting and what they reveal about the searcher’s intent – aka what they actually want to know – not what you want to tell them. 

How can including a healthy amount of external and internal links help?

External links help with ranking. This includes not only adding more content from different sources, but linking out to them in passing throughout the content. 

External links to other high-authority websites help build your own website’s credibility, and are vital for SEO. 

Internal links, on the other hand, are key for helping users find their way through your website. Having a well-structured website that is easily navigable is a cornerstone of any properly optimised website. 

Can simple SEO tips like getting other websites to link to your page (backlinks) help?

The best way to get backlinks is by building a quality website that has something of value. Once you have a good web presence, people will naturally want to share it.

However, there are several other ways to get other websites to link back to yours. You can, of course, pay for links – but this is not recommended as websites are less likely to be relevant to yours. One tried and tested method is guest posting on other high-ranking sites that are relevant to yours. In return for your content, the website host will link back to your website.

Why is ensuring all your SEO technical aspects are in line important?

There’s plenty going on behind-the-scenes in a website that we don’t notice on a daily basis, many of which have an effect on your SEO. While it’s true that some of these (such as schema.org markups) require a more in-depth understanding of SEO, some are quite simple. Here’s a couple big ones to watch out for:

URL structure

• Choose a static, not dynamic URL, that you edit yourself.
• Make sure that your URLs don’t contain numbers unless necessary, whether it be in a date or if the page is in a listicle format. Numbers can quickly get outdated, and updating URLs will hamper your SEO efforts.
• Use hyphens not underscores to separate words

Check for broken redirects

• These are essentially dead-ends for users, and they will likely leave your entire website if they encounter one. Make sure that all redirects are working as intended.

Remember to not forget about off-page content

Not all the content you write will appear on your actual web page. Two important yet commonly undervalued aspects of a web page are its meta title and meta description.

Your meta title and description should be enticing and concisely sell what the page is about. It’s important that your meta title has one of your target keywords in it so when people are searching for something on Google or another search engine they will find and make a connection to your page. Likewise with the meta description – this should provide context as well as include any keywords you might have been targeting throughout your content.

Learn how to write SEO-friendly meta titles and meta descriptions with First Page.

Is compressing image files to improve page speed helpful?

Pages with large file sizes will load much slower than pages with smaller file sizes, which means visitors might get frustrated and leave your website before they see the content they were looking for. This can lead to lower conversion rates on your website. 

Fortunately, speeding up a web page is easy once you know about it – compressing images is one of the most effective and quickest methods to do so. Use websites like https://compressjpeg.com and don’t forget to reduce the resolution to only what you need. Aim for around 100-300kb per image. 

In sum, what can these simple SEO tips do for you?

Following these tips will help you get your web pages ranking on the first page of Google more often. If you want to learn more about SEO or think you could benefit from a fully-fledged SEO campaign, don’t hesitate to get in touch with First Page.