9 Simple SEO Hacks to outperform your competitors
SEO does not have to be complicated, but sometimes it seems.
You'll find many companies struggling to position themselves
above their competitors, even after doing things right, such as targeting the
right keywords, creating great content and having an XML sitemap. It's no
wonder that the return on investment is the biggest SEO challenge.
The challenges of SEO services, although there are several reasons
why your website does not have a higher ranking than its competitors, you can
always try several ideas to see if they make a difference. We are talking about
applying some simple SEO tricks to improve your chances of improving your
ranking.
To be successful with SEO, it is important that you have a
different mindset and understand that it is possible to achieve better rankings
with the right amount of effort. If you have been taught that SEO has to be
challenging unless you spend a ton of money on it, think again.
You can always apply some of the simplest SEO tricks used by
professionals and see amazing results in just a few months. Yes, a few months
is fast! SEO is a long-term marketing strategy.
But first, ask yourself...
Are you making these 3 SEO errors?
Before seeing how you can use the best SEO tricks to improve
your ranking, let's look at some of the mistakes you might be making when
applying SEO to your site. Because after all, you need a solid foundation
before applying anything else.
1. You still depend on obsolete practices
Google (along with the other major search engines) is
constantly changing / improving. Therefore, if you are not up to date with the
latest hacks and SEO techniques, you may not see any favorable results. It's as
simple as that.
If your campaign does not get a good return on investment,
find out if it still depends on outdated SEO practices. If so, it's time for a
change.
2. You have not worked on your website
The days when SEO was mainly related to external factors,
such as the number of links, are over. Nowadays, you must also have an easy-to-use
website design along with great content on your website to earn more SEO
points.
Not improving your website will not only make people leave
your site, it will also cause a bad impression on the powerful Google.
3. You continue playing the game of the blind
No matter in which niche you are operating or what type of
business you manage, you cannot depend on the conjectures if you want to
improve your SEO. In other words, you must set up your website analytics (a.k.a
Google Analytics) and track your goals. How else would you know what is working
and what is not?
To improve your SEO game, you need to have access to the
correct data and use it effectively to understand the reason behind your
failures. Stop playing the game of the blind and get a real vision of SEO.
Okay, it's time to see 9 simple but effective SEO hacks that
can help you outperform your competitors on Google and other search engines.
# 1: Focus on creating evergreen content
The evergreen content is not complicated. It is quite
self-explanatory. It basically refers to the content that, once created,
remains valid and valuable over a long period of time.
And since this type of content is neither decadent nor time
sensitive, it has the ability to attract new readers consistently. What makes
the publication of evergreen content is one of the simplest and most effective
SEO tricks that exist.
If you look around you, you will see that most of the
evergreen content focuses on issues that remain relevant regardless of when
they are published. This not only leads to the growth of traffic (both organic
and social), but also helps generate high quality leads over the next months or
years.
There is no doubt that news-based or "time-bound"
content has its own place and is crucial. But if you think about the content in
terms of getting a higher ROI, then the ever green content wins non-stop.
Help your brand build true trust and authenticity in the
long term. It makes you stand out from the crowd, especially when backed by
proper research.
Although not many brands realize this, but focusing on
creating evergreen content can help you improve your content strategy over
time.
Here are some common ideas for evergreen content:
• Detailed instructions guides
• Relevant case studies
• Reviews of authentic products
• Articles based on lists
• Cured blog entries
• Series of tutorials.
• Interviews with experts
• Better practices
# 2: Make use of rich snippets
Rich snippets make your listings on the search engine
results pages look different, unique and informative. Once you get to the
listings on the first page of Google, you must ensure that you are getting a
greater number of clicks. There are several SEO hacks to help you qualify
higher. But when it comes to getting a better CTR, the rich fragments take the
cake.
If you are not aware of the rich snippets, here is a quick
introduction:
The term "rich snippets" refers to the
"structured data tagging" that you add to the existing HTML of your
site. This not only helps search engines to better understand the content of your
website, but also helps visitors get more information about your page before
visiting it. So, yes, richer search results equate to a better user experience.
Now, the reason you need to use rich snippets is because
they simply lead to better SEO results. Of course, the title tag and Meta
description are already there to inform people about the content of your site.
But a rich snippet of code makes you look like a star among all the other
listings that are not using it.
When you use a rich snippet correctly, you are actually
taking advantage of an opportunity that others ignore. Because the rating shown
with your snippet tells the search engine that your product is worthy. The
positive experiences of your previous clients are a social test that can help you
get more visitors. And that is exactly what you are taking advantage of here.
Will the rich snippets help you move up in rank? No. But can
you improve your chances of getting a higher click rate? Of course yes.
# 3: Spread Homepage Link Authority
Your home page is obviously the star of your website. It is
where most people go or enter your website. When compared to other pages on
your site, it is also the page that naturally attracts the most backlinks.
If you are not smart in SEO, you will not do anything about
the link authority of your home page and you will not. But if you are
interested in applying one of the simplest SEO hacks, you will ensure that the
link authority of your home page is directed to other important subpages of
your website.
If you look at the top navigation bar of your website, you
will see that it already contains links to the main categories pages of your
website, which is fine. However, if you are not linking to pages that you want
to classify in the SERPs (from the body of your home page), you are making an
error.
It does not matter which pages are important to you. These
can be individual blog posts or product pages or landing pages. Adding links to
them in the body of your home page will eventually help you pass the link
authority to them. And since these links are contextual in nature, they will
pass even more link authority than their regular navigation links.
# 4: Implement accelerated mobile pages (AMP)
Have you noticed that, at times, the web pages that you open
on your mobile phone are simplified and simple? This is due to
"Accelerated Mobile Pages" or AMP, which is a coding standard for
publishers. It is one of those useful SEO hacks that are generally ignored.
You should understand that due to the growing popularity of
mobile devices, giving mobile users an excellent user experience is becoming
one day after day. Not only search engines, but also people. Therefore, the
main objective of AMP is to help publishers to provide their visitors with a
more refined user experience by quickly uploading their sites to mobile
devices.
Receptive mobile websites are excellent, but there are times
when they can be slow and clumsy. And that is the problem that AMP wants to
fight.
Mobile AMP Now, when it comes to the speed of your website,
even a few seconds of delay can make a big difference. Take the example of
Amazon, which is known to lose 1% of sales for every 100 ms delay in the
loading speed of your site.
While you may not be as big as the e-commerce giant, it
continues to demonstrate how important it is to have a fast website, especially
on mobile devices. Because according to Similar Web, mobile devices represent
56% of the traffic to the main websites.
So how do you implement AMP on your website?
First, you must maintain a minimum of two versions of your
content page:
The main, original version of your blog or article page.
The AMP version of the same page.
The disadvantage of AMP is that it does not allow
third-party JavaScript and any element of the form. Which means that your AMP
version of the page will not be able to use comments on the page, subscription
forms and other elements that you may have on your regular non-AMP page.
Here are some benefits of AMP in the context of search
engine optimization:
As you implement AMP on your website, you'll see that your
site is shown in the search results with "text highlighted in green."
This can lead to a higher percentage of long-term clicks.
If the pages on your website do not get left behind and open
quickly, the chances of people converting increase. So, yes, the implementation
of AMP can help you achieve higher conversion rates as time passes.
One of the most obvious reasons for having a high bounce
rate is the slow speed. What can make your visitors feel frustrated and even
bored in some cases? Given that the bounce rate is an important factor in the
Google SEO ranking, using AMP to improve the loading time of the site on mobile
devices makes a lot of sense.
# 5: Increase the rate of organic clicks (CTR)
Many times brands / companies do not realize the importance
of having a high click-through rate (CTR). They just focus and work on
improving their rankings in the search engines, which is great.
But what good is hitting the first page of Google if only a
handful of people are going to click on your link? Unless you are in the top
three search results, you must do more to generate more clicks.
When it comes to SEO, maximizing the CTR is crucial to get a
high return on investment. Having a good CTR shows that your website is
relevant to the search query. The more people you find and click on your
website in the search results, the more relevant your site will become in the
eyes of Google and other search engines. And yes, it also justifies the ranking
position of your site.
Now, there is no doubt that you will have a favorable click
through rate if your site has a high rating. But is it enough to classify well?
The answer is no.
To attract more clicks, you should also focus on other factors.
Here are some things you can work on to make sure more
people click on your website instead of your competitors.
Long-tail keywords:
Create content around long-tail keywords because they are more specific and
easier to classify. In addition, when you integrate long-tail keywords into
your site, you increase the overall volume of related search queries that you
can sort.
Meta descriptions:
your list in the SERPs can be differentiated from the rest with an effective
Meta description. Having a clear description of Meta tells potential visitors
what your page is about, which increases the chances of them clicking on your
link.
Descriptive URLs:
Regardless of the keyword you are targeting, you can include it in the URL of
your page and make it more descriptive. What can make more people click and
visit your site?
Title format:
when people explore search listings, the first thing they notice is the title
of their page. And that's exactly the reason why you should not make it
complicated by adding your brand name or something else at the beginning.
Instead, simplify it by focusing on the main benefit of visiting the page so
that more people are inclined to click on it.
Proof of headlines:
There is no perfect formula for writing an excellent header worth clicking.
That's why you need to test your titles to make sure you're using the best one.
You can test your headline variations with the many free tools available
online, on your social media page and through pay-per-click ads.
