SEO can be a complicated beast. Our team of SEO experts think about search every day all day, so how can you implement quick SEO wins to improve rankings without living and breathing SEO? We have 5 quick tips to help you get started. These should help you prioritize your efforts and make your site better for both Google and your users.
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SEO Quick Win #1 – Optimize For Already Ranking Keywords
Ranking takes time – especially ranking on page one. Take advantage of the keywords you’re already ranking for and amplify those rather than starting from scratch. I can promise you that moving from position 15 to 3 (page two to top three on page one) is typically easier than going from 100+ to 3.
Where do you start? First make sure you have Google Search Console set up for your site. It’s free. Do it. Google Search Console (GSC) gives you a ton of keyword data. You can see every keyword that your site ranks for, what page ranks and how many impressions and clicks that keyword generates. That’s powerful data to understand (and again, it’s free!)
Once you’re in GSC, export that list into Excel or Google Sheets to better filter the data. Start by filtering for terms that rank 11-30 or so. There isn’t a perfect range here but I want to look at the 2nd, 3rd and possibly 4th page keywords. These are nice “quick win” terms. Once you have that list, then sort by the terms with the most impressions. Note the URLs that are associated with these terms and start by optimizing those pages for those keywords. Where should you include these keywords?
- Title Tag
- Headers
- Body Content
SEO Quick Win #2 – Improve Internal Linking
Internal linking is an SEO quick win and is one of the most overlooked aspects of search optimization. There is incredible power in properly connecting pages on your site and using proper anchor text. When I talk about internal links, I’m not only talking about navigation and buttons but also blue links within copy. Search bots use internal links to build a map of a site. These links provide insights on priority, structure and hierarchy.
Where to start. First, I would look at the most important pages on the site. These are likely product categories or service pages. Make sure there are appropriate keywords attributed to these pages and make a document that associates these top pages and their top keyword.
Here is the secret I’m going to share: use Google search modifiers to help you build internal links. Go to Google and type in:
site:https://transistordigital.com/ “search engine optimization”
site:your domain + “keyword”
This is going to give you all the pages on your site that mention your keyword. Now go to those pages and add an internal link to the target page for that term. So for the “search engine optimization” example, I would link all those anchor terms to our https://transistordigital.com/search-engine-optimization/ page. This will immediately give more visibility and validity to that really important service page.
Check out this article on successful internal link building for more information on this topic.
SEO Quick Win #3 – Get Rid of Duplication
Google does not handle duplication well. Many times when there are multiple pages on one domain that have the same or near duplicate content, neither page performs well. We want every page to have targeted content, which is why removing duplication is our SEO Quick Win #3.
The first step here is to catalog all the content blocks that are reused on the site. Most sites have copy or sales propositions that are used on every or many pages – we want to avoid that if possible. This catalog should be on hand when you start to review copy. You’ll want to go back to your list of top pages and keywords and review the content. The goal is to have about 95% of the copy on each page be unique. This means that if you’re seeing those duplicate copy blocks, then you’ll need to write copy that is unique to that page. The newly written copy should either replace the repetitive content or help weigh out the use of the duplicate content in order to reach that 95% uniqueness goal.
You can use our handy dandy search modifier too (as seen in quick win #2). If you search for your keywords for optimization, you’ll see what pages show up and in what order for that term. All these pages are associated with that term according to Google, you can start here for duplication review.
If you’re struggling with a lot of internal competition, it may be time to work with a professional. We have a lot of technical tools to help with duplicate content – but it’s more than I can explain here! The Google Developer platform has great resources for duplicate content.
SEO Quick Win #4 – Use Structured Data
Already on to SEO Quick Win #4! Implementing structured data. This one is a bit more technical but Google has provided a lot of support features to implement this feature as of lately. Structured data helps Google and other search engines to better understand the content on a page. This data is also commonly pulled into search results. If you’re looking for a new vacuum or refrigerator, you may see reviews or in stock notes in the search results – these are driven by structured data.
Structured data is the most impactful when it comes to click through rate. People LOVE to see this extra information in the search results page and are much more likely to click on your site when they see this information. It’s also important to know that it’s not just for products! You can have structured data to indicate your businesses location or event information. There are a ton of different ways to use this tool to improve your online presence. I strongly recommend using the Structured Data Markup Tool from Google. This makes it really easy to tag your content and implement structured data.
SEO Quick Win #5 – Look at the Footer Navigation
Last but not least, is your site’s bottom navigation. The top navigation of a site is one of the most important places to review for SEO but a lesser known place to edit that can typically be an easier process is the footer. Beef up that footer! Add copy, links and locational indicators. This is a great place to add the links that are important for SEO rather than important for site structure (which can be limiting in the top navigation).
Your footer should include a few key elements.
- A brief description of your business. Think of a two line description of the site.
- Links to the most important pages on your site (more internal links!)
- Address, phone number and email address
Boom you’re SEO Quick Win geniuses!
Good luck with your optimizations and reach out to us if you have questions or need more help!
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