If you're new to online business and you're feeling intimidated by Search Engine Optimization or like it's a mystery, don't worry. You're not alone. Even the professional optimizers don't agree on which SEO tactics are the most effective.
That said, you can't just stick your head in the sand and ignore SEO if you want to leverage the search engines to help people find your website. Fortunately, Kim Garst, a marketing strategist, author and speaker who has been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, has boiled all the good and bad advice down into a list of seven SEO tactics you must employ on your website.
Kim's list of SEO tactics that work in 2021 includes:
- Use Your Keywords Throughout Your Content. Notice how I'm doing that in this post? Do you see which phrase I'm optimizing for?
- Use Heading Tags to Show What Your Content is About. After I write my posts, I go back and add headings first to help the reader and second to add my keyword phrase.
- Focus on Writing Longer, More In-Depth Content. This post is NOT an example of that. But I suggest you read this post instead.
- Make Sure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly. I use Thrive Suite to make sure my site looks good and is mobile friendly.
- Optimize for Featured Snippets. This tip is GOLD!
- Focus on E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Even if you're just starting out, you are the only person on your specific journey with your ideal readers. Write for them first, then optimize for the search engines.
- Connect Your Site to Google Search Console. I use the Site Kit plugin by Google to connect my website to Analytics, Search Console, and AdSense.
What do I need to do first?
Make sure you go to her website, read the article, and click the links to see the research and resources she recommends. And if you have a WordPress website (and if you don't, I can help you with setup your WordPress website!) stop what you're doing now and go install the Yoast SEO plugin. It's what I use on this site — including this post! — to make sure my posts and pages are optimized for the search engines. Yoast has a free version, but I like it so much, and saw enough value in the premium version that I upgraded.
If you're interested in generating free traffic that is ready to hire your company or buy your products, go read Kim's post and find one thing to take action on today. Go see for yourself!
Not sure which SEO tactics to start with?
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