Nothing is more frustrating than your SEO strategy not working for you. You spent all this time optimizing your website only to not get any results. If it’s been longer than six months without any movement, it’s probably time to reevaluate your SEO strategy. We put together some SEO tips to boost traffic to your website. Start with these, and see if your metrics change!
1. Reassess Your Keywords
Choosing keywords for each page on your website is a little like a guessing game. Yes, there are analytics that can help you choose keywords you have a good chance of ranking for, but that’s all it is: a chance. And sometimes the keywords you choose aren’t the best and could be a reason your SEO strategy is not working.
Check Your Metrics
Check the analytics for each page on your website to see how well your keywords are working for you. Ubersuggest is one tool we use to do this for our clients. You can see the keywords you rank for and the page they are linked to. Then, you can see how much traffic you earn from those pages.
Align with User Intent
When choosing new keywords to target, align them with user intent. When your keywords match what users are actually searching for, your content is more likely to appear in search results for those queries. For example, the keyword ‘apple’ could refer to the company or the fruit. Keeping user intent in mind will help you choose relevant keywords for each page of your website.
Try Long-Tail Keywords
Another tip is to use long-tail keywords, which typically have less volume but are more targeted. The more specific you can be with your keyword choice, the more qualified leads you’ll drive to your website. There’s no confusion about what they’ll get upon landing on your website.
2. Improve On-Page SEO
When faced with an SEO strategy not working, check on-page optimization issues. On-page SEO is the process of optimizing each individual page on your website to improve its search ranking. These are a few ways you can improve your on-page SEO.
Optimize Your Content
Write high-quality, engaging, and valuable content people actually want to read. Meeting the needs of your audience through content is a great way to improve your search rankings. Strategically incorporate keywords into your blogs that your target audience is searching for.
Metadata
Write creative and strategic SEO titles and meta descriptions for every page on your website. They should both include the keyword you’re targeting on that page. Make sure SEO titles and meta descriptions are unique for that page – don’t copy them on multiple pages!
Header Tags
Proper use of H1, H2, and H3 tags helps to structure your content. It enhances readability for users and helps search engines understand the content on the page. Each page should only have one H1 tag, then use H2 and H3 tags where appropriate. Incorporate keywords into these heading tags, too, but only where it feels natural.
3. Enhance Technical SEO
Don’t get scared of the word ‘technical’ 😊 It simply means ensuring your website meets the technical requirements of search engines so you can improve your rankings.
Website Speed and Performance
Your website should load as quickly as possible. Search engines recommend pages load in under two seconds to improve bounce rates. Use PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement regarding your website speed on both mobile and desktop. These are some common issues we see with page speed:
- Large images (try Tinify to fix this!)
- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files are too big
- Lack of browser caching
- Slow server response time
- Too many redirects
- Lots of animations or videos
Mobile-Friendliness
All websites need to be mobile-friendly. A responsive web design adapts your website’s layout to fit any screen size. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its rankings so your website must meet the expectations of search engines and users. Again, PageSpeed Insights will give you some areas for improvement!
URL Structure
URLs default to the page’s name, but you can (and should) edit URLs to be simple, descriptive, and SEO-friendly with relevant keywords where appropriate. One thing to note about URLs is you need dashes in between the words. It’s how search engines recognize spaces in the phrase.
- Correct: /this-is-good
- Incorrect: /thisisbad
4. Focus on User Experience (UX)
All search engines care about is providing a positive user experience, and serving the best search results possible. If you can also focus on user experience, it will improve your rankings. People won’t bounce as quickly and you’ll earn more qualified traffic.
Navigation and Site Structure
Your website should be easy to navigate. Don’t make it hard for people to find what they need! Logically group content in your navigation menus and on subpages, like your blog. When users can easily navigate your site, they are more likely to explore more pages, spend more time on your site, and engage with your content. Clear navigation also helps search engines crawl your website and find your content.
Internal Linking
Internal linking makes it easy for people to find other relevant content on your website. This blog has links to other pieces of content that are relevant to this topic that we think you might find valuable. Internal linking improves user experience and helps search engines discover and index your pages – it provides a pathway to every piece of content and identifies other relevant pages.
When editing your internal linking, keep these tips in mind:
- Use Descriptive Anchor Text: Ensure your anchor text (or the hyperlinked text) is descriptive to provide context.
- Link to Deep Content: Don’t just link to the homepage or top-level pages; link to deeper, more specific content to help with indexing and authority distribution.
- Monitor and Update Links: Regularly review and update your internal links to ensure they remain relevant.
5. Build Quality Backlinks
If you find your SEO strategy is not working, invest in building quality backlinks. Backlinks (links from another website to yours) are a huge part of your off-page SEO strategy. There are many benefits to building high-quality backlinks, such as:
- Building authority and trust with search engines
- Increased organic traffic
- Faster crawling and indexing from search engines
- Improved brand recognition
Despite this SEO tip to boost traffic, we don’t recommend buying backlinks, but here are some ways you can naturally increase the number of links back to your website:
- Create high-quality, sharable content
- Guest blog
- Guest podcast
- Build relationships with influencers and industry experts
- Promote your content through social media, emails, and online communities
- Join business directories
We hope these SEO tips to boost traffic help fix your SEO issues! You can also try the steps we outline in this free guide. You don’t have to stick with an SEO strategy that’s not working. Switch it up (after giving it plenty of time to perform) and see if your analytics change. If you’re still having issues, reach out to us! We’d be happy to do an SEO audit to take a deeper look at your website and SEO metrics. Request one here!
