Content and SEO Partner to Increase Website Traffic

Content and SEO Partner

To

Increase Website Traffic

We have all heard it said, Content is king. But what is content? Content is the text, hyperlinks, images, videos, (everything) on the screen. All content must work together, combining pieces of the puzzle to make one amazing picture. If we agree that content is a key driver of traffic to your site, then we agree that good content is compelling. But what makes content good? Good content is magnetic, complete with imagery and writing any high school graduate can understand. Achieve this with your writing to increase website traffic.
Tips to improve your writing:

1. Maintain a consistent style and form. Adopt a style guide.
   • Will you choose Oxford comma? Will you spell out dates or abbreviate? Maintaining uniformity on each page will make it easier for your readers to follow your posts.
2. Use a thesaurus. Use synonyms to allow search engines more opportunities to group your content with similar ideas and bring more organic traffic.
   • Incorporate a keyword search tool: Google Adwords, SEO Tools, or any several free sites.
3. Learn from the past. Former U.S. President FDR said, “Be sincere, be brief, be seated.”
   • Everyone is busy; direct and entertaining content will keep your visitors engaged.

 Moving on to search engine optimization (SEO). Initially, rooted in the metadata of a website and the pages there; today, technology allows search engines to account for so much more than metatags when assessing website value. The total value given to a website impacts where it falls on the search engine results pages (SERPs). While we don’t have a complete view of what boosts your SEO rank, some of the known value increasing factors are as follows:

• Domain-Level Link Features: links to your site from other credible sites.
• Page-Level Link Features: relevant linking out to trusted sites to substantiate your remarks.
• Page-Level Keyword & Content-Based Features: using keyword terms in certain parts of the HTML, i.e., title and header tags, image file names (and alt attributes).
• Page-Level Keyword-Agnostic Features: length of page, load speed/server response time.
• Engagement & Traffic/Query Data: search engine data on visitor traffic, click-through rates on the page and domain level
• Domain-Level Brand Metrics: the amount of mentions of the domain name in the Fresh Web Explorer.
• Domain-Level Keyword Usage:  using a high-value keyword as the domain name.
• Domain-Level Keyword-Agnostic Features: length of the domain name. Shorter domain names are better.
• Page-Level Social Metrics: number of social shares a page accumulates.

Spam Flags:

• Keyword stuffing
• Link stuffing
• Longer than typical domain names
• Ratio of follow to no-follow links, outside the norm
• Ratio of ads to site content is high
• Large site with few inbound links
• Linking to untrustworthy sites
• Links to the sub domain come from an unusually small number of pages.

Tips to improve Website traffic:

Recommended for You Webcast: How Important is Local SEO to Your Business?

1. Create a content calendar. Publish new content at least weekly, if daily is too much to keep up.
2. Designate a brand ambassador to author articles or blog posts on sites with large audiences,  create back links to your site.
3. Use social media to update your connections of what’s new on your site. (CAVEAT: Don’t SPAM, remember the rule of thirds.)

Web content standards have evolved making how you write is as important as what you write. Make your site a resource for your audience: provide information, make it funny, use images, and video, where possible.

What about you? Do you have a surefire trick to bring more views to your content? Share what works for you in the comment section below.

Originally published on The TechyMarketer’s blog.