Search engines use alt text to identify the content of a page, since bots can only read text. Adding alt text to images lets search engines understand what the image is so they can include it in relevant searches. Optimizing images to rank well in search is a must for an increasingly visual web: a good logo or some eye-catching graphics can be as effective at attracting visitors to your website as your written content. The day may come when links are less important to rankings, but that day hasn’t arrived yet. Keep in mind that you don’t need to think of Google as your audience. You write for your visitors and not for Google.
Add valuable insight to the content you create
With your website already cleaned up and shining with outstanding quality content and internal SEO methods (keywords, meta tags, etc), you should have a strategy to get your website noticed by others. As you may
well know, Google has altered and changed its algorithm majorly in the last few years, introducing update after update to help the cream rise to the top. In turn, this means that SEOs and marketers have had to greatly alter their approach to SEO. In short, you need to paint a vivid, unique picture of your product by not only describing it, but by answering the standard who, what, when, where and why questions. What if I was to tell you Google has a powerful collection of tools that tell you exactly how often they crawl your site, what they think it’s about, and even suggestions on things they have trouble with? And that you can have it? For free? You’d want it, wouldn’t you?
Set-up Search Console (Webmaster Tools) Account
Your online competitors may not be who you think! By taking a broad look at your sector from an online perspective will help uncover potential opportunities that you are missing out on. Target local
trade by including place names in your search terms and keywords. This is particularly important for small business website SEO. When it comes to local SEO, it’s more important than ever that you optimise your on-site and off-site SEO strategies for clients and customers who may be searching for your local business. Local competition is heating up, and if you’re not on top of your rankings, you can bet your competitors will be. When building your content, it’s important to remember to give the
crawlers enough to bite into. A hundred words typically isn’t enough copy
for these crawlers to read and understand what the content is about. And
this content shouldn’t be stuffed with keywords either, as some search
engines (as you’ll learn in later sections) punish websites for keyword
stuffing. Links don't matter that much for ranking in the Featured Snippet when you already rank on page one of Google.
Why Doesn’t SEO Always Work?
When it comes to search engine optimization, creating a mobile site should be at the core of any solid SEO plan. Getting more traffic is top of mind for any business owner, so the thought of mastering ecommerce SEO has probably crossed your mind once or twice. Whether you purchase a separate domain (recommended) for your blog, or host it on a blogging service or a subdomain of your own site, try to ensure that your URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for. We asked an
SEO Specialist, Gaz Hall, for his thoughts on the matter: "Including a Contact Us page on your website and putting the link in the navigation not only makes for good user experience (especially if you have an ecommerce site) but can also potentially earn you some Google juice."
A Few Reasons Why These Algorithms Sometimes Fail
Search engine guidelines have evolved from the long-running abuse of search algorithms by aggressive Web marketers. Most of the guidelines put into place by Bing, Google, and other search engines are reactions to deceptive marketing practices. The guidelines are as close as you will get to having a check list of things that lead to penalties and algorithmic downgrades. Company blogs have
been proven again and again to do wonders for businesses. Among other things, having a company blog will improve your SEO and allows you to become seen as an expert in your field. Gaining backlinks is tough, as it involves convincing a website to share your website with their audience. It’s a hustle to pitch your proposition to these websites, which usually is a guest post, sponsored link or asking if they would link to a resource on your site. Google started penalizing mobile unfriendly sites in 2015. And they’re likely crack down even more in the future. If you want to make your site mobile-friendly, I recommend Responsive Design.