Have you been struggling with the new Google algorithm updates? Maybe your website is not seeing the desired rankings. While it is easy to blame Google SEO preferences for this, it might actually pay off to go back to the basics.
Here, we will list a few of the core SEO functions that should never be ignored if you want to give your website ranking a boost.
 

SEO for Dummies Tips

Keyword Research

There’s a huge myth doing its rounds in the digital market. According to this rumor, SEO is dead and so is keyword research. In reality, SEO is not as straightforward as it used to be in the past. Currently, we use Google panda 4.0 update that enables all search engines and their spiders to understand the content and the context of focus keywords. If anything, keyword research is more important than ever for climbing up the SRLs.
Planning keyword research may not be as easy if you do not have help from your friends. The best friends you can have during keyword research include Google Keyword Planner, Wordstream’s Keyword Tool, FreshKey, UberSuggest and Soovle. These are really cool tools that will help you check on the frequency of your chosen keyword, the volume and the likely alternatives bearing the same meaning.
Using the correct tools will help you determine the aptest keywords for your articles/blogs. The salient features of good keywords are:

1. It usually receives a good amount of searches and generates good traffic.
2. It is not highly competitive and not too obscure either. Using high volume keywords can be a challenge for smaller sites.

• It is contextual and is a good fit for the products and services your website is offering.

For example, if you have a dental healthcare website, you can use variations of the word ‘dental’ like a dentist, orthodontist, orthodontic, prosthodontist or dentistry in context to convey your message to your readers and the search engine spiders.
 

Optimizing UI and UX

This is to help Google and the spiders understand what your website content is all about. Your content should make sense to both your readers and Google. This process involves smart placement of keywords and careful arrangement of your content.
Here are the cardinal keyword placement strategies everyone should know to become SEO friendly:
Always place your keyword(s) in

1. The title tag
2. Header tags (H1, H2, H3 etc)

• your content (there is not ideal frequency, but 5-6% for a 1500 word content is right enough)

1. The Alt tag for your images and descriptions.
2. The website or web page URL (example – www.abcwebsite.com/your-keywords/)

With the advent of semantic search, the use of keyword forms has become more lenient. Google search engine can now go through the entire content of the page and understand the entire context. So, technically, obsessing over the use of the exact keyword is a thing of yesterday. You don’t need to use your keyword exactly ‘n’ number of times; instead, you can use a variety of the keyword forms throughout your website to make more sense to your human readers.
The most recent updates rank you according to readability, keyword dispersal and the relevant use of the keyword forms rather than just the frequency in the previous versions.
 

Keep building the links

If you want to rank high on the SERPs forever, then you may need to spend more than 50 percent of your time on building links. Besides content, link building is another factor that contributes directly to Google rankings. This is a fact that has been confirmed by Google recently, as well.
Here are a few strategies that are infallible for link building:

1. To find out the sites that link to your competitors use tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs. You can ask these websites to link to your content as well.
2. It is the age of dense content. If you are not up for creating long for content, go for highly informative content with the smart inclusion of keywords.

• Post articles and share your content on high-quality websites in your domain. For example, you can look to publish your dental solutions that work and health-related blogs and articles on Medscape, Kidshealth.org, Healthline and Familydoctor.org.

1. If you are a local business looking for new customers and consumer-base, share your site with Google My Businesses and Yelp.

Build a reliable and interesting content archive.This may not be as difficult if you have a dedicated content/creative team. In case you do not have a team to churn out fresh content every day, you can turn to a mélange of free content creating tools:

1. Storify – this tool enables you to create interesting and contemporary stories using social media. You can turn people’s conversations on social media into gripping stories.
2. Piktochart – this is an amazing tool for generating fresh infographics that correspond to your content.

• Curata – this is an unparalleled tool for curating business-grade content for commercial websites.

1. Addict-o-matic – this is the best tool you can have that will enable you to search live websites for current videos, images and viral news to keep you up-to-date with trending topics.
2. Feedly–get mobile-optimized and contemporary content using RSS feeds. You will be allowed to browse websites and share content from all your favorite blogs, YouTube channels and news sites using this tool.

Try separating your content into archives, categories and subcategories. This will help your readers to easily find what they are looking for.
 

Use social media as much as possible

Don’t shy away from promoting your content on social media. Blowing your own trumpet in the age of Google Panda 4.0 actually, helps you get in the good books of Google SEO.
Google has clearly stated that links shared on Twitter and Facebook are none of their business.You can use social media platforms to their fullest for sharing your content, creating a buzz about your website, products and services. Investing in social media adverts is a brilliant way to get high rankings within your digital marketing budget. Do not forget to include your focus keyword like “dental”, “dentist”, “dentistry” etc in your metadata.
Search Engine optimization was never a walk in the park. With the advent of technology, new websites are particularly feeling the struggle to remain visible. But following these 5 basic rules will keep you afloat and easily visible within your niche.
 
See also: Top 8 SEO Trends To Watch Out In 2017