How Do I Improve My Website SEO?
Every year I ask one small question because knowing the answer to that question can change everything on my websites.
How Do I Improve My Website SEO?
If you’ve set up a website and think that’s it yet are wondering why you get nothing from that website - think again and make sure you read this.
Despite what you read online about every new fad my own and my best clients always come through search or referral. So it is critical for a consultant and filmmaker like me to stay in heavily in-tune with my website traffic.
Sometimes I fail completely and frankly, that’s fine.
Now …
Every now and then - maybe once a year - I review my traffic in serious depth. This means I go through all of my high-entry pages, meta data, traffic statistics, conversion data and targeted traffic (which is far lower but more specific for me)
I have to say I’ve been putting this off for a long long time because I knew it was a bit of a mess in the background. It was. I also knew this would devour time. It has.
So my priority job when I came back from a six-week break in Tbilisi was - web traffic.
The day arrived, I switched on my Mac and then I sat down and began going through everything.
It wasn’t bad I would say it was in a critical state. Critical for me means fix it or die.
Here we go.
And just quickly to share with you the tools I use.
Google Analytics (critical)
And this time …
And a few tricks from my own Word and copy expertise.
My SEO Catastrophe.
Once getting started on my websites I very quickly discovered just under 270 web pages on one of my sites - blogs - weren’t listed due to a small error after moving the site from WordPress.
My main page on one of my big websites had dropped dramatically in listings.
My high-traffic webpage that was doing amazing was now a very low-traffic webpage.
I could go on, but it’s almost depressing to tell you. Now I know I say depressing yet it’s exciting at the same time to fix this stuff. So I got started to fix it so I could once again improve my website SEO.
Now, of course, fixing SEO takes time and here is what I wanted to tell you.
I have spent 12-14 hour days every day of the week on SEO, learning SEO (again) and applying SEO since coming home from my six-week break.
I have read page after page after page to learn more and what’s happening right now in the world of SEO.
I have watched endless videos and tutorials online to get more edge.
In other words, in just a week I have once again become what I would say - an SEO expert - but only for myself and only for a week or two.
One thing I do want to say is the basics of SEO have never really changed all that much. Everything you need to know you can find at the links in this article. You can fix it yourself.
The traffic moral of this story is very simple.
I have a website that has been live since 1998. Just because of its age traffic isn't a privilege. Also, these days Google and others used to love giving us free traffic. Not anymore. They have become a corporate monster (275 billion last year turnover) like everyone else. Proof? If you type in the word copywriter look at all the corporations that now get privilege before real experts of high content sites.
To keep your website traffic rolling and increasing your website really does take a ton of thankless background work. This is the only way to improve your website's SEO.
Yes, it should ALWAYS be monitored at least once a week (especially if selling products) but website SEO should go through a major overhaul at least once a year.
When I began fixing my SEO a week or so ago my traffic had dropped by 15% (in one week by over 80%).
When I checked this morning traffic has risen again by 5%, but I will take that because in my experience it’ll grow quite quickly.
One of my main key phrases has also gone from position 47 in Google to position 12 in just one week. I expect that and others to climb as soon as my site is reindexed. My number one keyphrase is now position two in Google.
I have submitted my site to be reindexed despite it is done automatically. Why? Just in case.
And …
I have rewritten almost all my main pages. I have carefully measured everything done on each page. All pages now rank at over 90% optimised. For me, that’s a win.
The lesson here for me is just don't leave it as long next time. That is the best way to improve my website SEO.
I asked my assistant Angus, the same question … “how do I improve my website SEO?“ Here is what he replied.
Reply from OrangeBeetle assistant, Angus.
Alan, please read below.
Improving your website's SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves implementing various strategies to make your site more visible and relevant to search engines. Here are some key steps you can take to improve your website's SEO:
Research relevant keywords: Identify the keywords and phrases your target audience is likely to use when searching for your products, services, or information. Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz's Keyword Explorer to find popular and relevant keywords.
Optimize on-page elements:
Title tags: Use unique and descriptive titles for each page, incorporating relevant keywords.
Meta descriptions: Write compelling and concise meta descriptions that entice users to click through from search results.
Headers: Structure your content using header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) and include keywords where appropriate.
URL structure: Create clean, descriptive, and keyword-rich URLs for your web pages.
Image optimization: Optimize image file names, alt tags, and captions to improve visibility in image searches.
Create high-quality, valuable content: Develop well-written, informative, and engaging content that caters to your target audience's needs. Focus on creating original and unique content that adds value. Use relevant keywords naturally throughout your content.
Improve website speed and mobile-friendliness: Make sure your website loads quickly and is mobile-responsive. Optimize images, enable browser caching, minimize HTTP requests, and consider using a content delivery network (CDN) to improve website speed.
Build high-quality backlinks: Earn links from reputable and authoritative websites relevant to your niche. Focus on quality over quantity and aim for natural backlinks. You can achieve this through guest blogging, creating valuable content that others want to link to, or by reaching out to industry influencers.
Enhance user experience (UX): Ensure that your website is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and provides a positive experience for visitors. Improve website usability, reduce bounce rates, and enhance the overall user experience.
Optimize for local SEO (if applicable): If you have a local business, optimize your website for local searches. Create and optimize your Google My Business listing, include local keywords in your content, and encourage customer reviews.
Utilize schema markup: Implement schema markup on your website to provide search engines with more context about your content. Schema markup can help search engines understand and display your content in rich snippets, improving click-through rates.
Monitor and analyze: Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor your website's performance, track keyword rankings, identify issues, and gain insights into user behaviour. Use this data to make informed decisions and optimize your SEO strategy.
Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, and it takes time to see results. Stay up to date with the latest SEO trends, algorithm updates, and best practices to ensure your website remains optimized for search engines.
End of Reply from Angus.
So the next time you ask, “How do I improve my website SEO?’ here is a real reply from someone that does it as part of his business strategy.
How Did I Improve My SEO Update - 4-Weeks In.
I published the article above on June 2nd.
Today is July 5th. Here is an update on the results taken from the screen in front of me right now.
Visits Up: 362%+
Uniques Up: 401%+
Pageviews Up: 135%+
How did we do that?
To be frank it isn’t easy and takes a ton of time but here are the basics of what we did.
Mountains of research into all things SEO
Targeting our main entry page or highest-ranking pages
A major review of our overall SEO Strategy
Review all page titles
Review all page descriptions
Review all content for harmony with keywords
Make the changes needed - but test carefully
Measuring and tracking the progress every single day
Making changes needed to improve every day
New content - we added dozens of pages, a podcast, new social media and other stuff. Maybe 60 new pages in a month.
Added more rich content, changed all tags in our rich connect and honestly just a ton more of stuff.
This whole process took time DAILY. It also took an expert that is
This included one thing we noticed.
Impressions were not getting click-throughs on some pages. This meant the description and title weren’t strong enough. So they all had to be reworked and changed.
What I will say about SEO is this.
It’s time-consuming - hire an expert unless you have time to learn all of this stuff.
My wife is an expert. She has SEO for breakfast. She handled most of this from one of our other businesses at www.SocratesBike.com
But if you are doing this yourself OMG it can devour days and weeks of time.
I will say this.
The basics never really change but your search terms or keywords probably have changed. A long-term strategy is needed always to make SEO work. If you are not doing this long-term - Just pay for traffic.
I do of course pay for traffic but my reality at www.OrangeBeetle.com is that my best clients come from search rather than forced Ads - paid!
We have aimed to increase the traffic by 1000% and we are well on track to do that. I will keep you updated.
A reminder…
Today is July 5th. Here is an update on the results taken from the screen in front of me right now.
Visits Up: 362%+
Uniques Up: 401%+
Pageviews Up: 135%+
How did we do that?
Hire an expert - www.SocratesBike.com - and at least get some advice on what your issue is right now.
Alan Forrest Smith