When was the last time you visited a website that came up on the second page of the Google Search Results? – The answer is probably never.

With 31% of all clicks going to the first site on the search results page, it is clear that you need to be aiming for this converted spot. However, with well over a billion websites online, you’ve got some tough competition to get to that spot.

So, how do you get to be number one on Google? Through search engine optimization (SEO).

This article, we’ll give you a run down of SEO marketing and share some of the top tips you need to follow to get your site performing well.

Speed Up Your Site

We live in the age of instant information at our fingertips. Finding out the answer to a question can take just a second with powerful search engine algorithms sorting through billions of pages to return the right one for you.

Users expect pages to load instantly, and if your site takes longer than three seconds, you may find that people will move on to the next site.

The likes of Google and Bing know this. That’s why page load speed is an essential ranking factor that you need to be aware of.

Use Page Speed Insights as a way of finding out how your site stacks up in terms of page loading speeds.

Speed up your website by ensuring it is not too cluttered and that images and compressed. If you have unused plugins in the background, be sure and deactivate them to lighten your website’s load.

Don’t Forget You’re Targeting Humans

As previously mentioned, there are powerful algorithms that decide where a website will rank. With this in mind, it can be easy to get bogged down in pleasing these algorithms and filling your site with the things that you think Google wants to see.

This can lead to keyword stuffing and filling pages full of links. It is essential that you only use keywords and link building in proportion. If you rely too heavily on it, you’ll create content that is not great for humans to read.

This is where the need for natural SEO content marketing comes in.

But the algorithms can also tell when keywords have been used in an unnatural way in your content, and you may get penalized in the search results. Not only this, but your unnatural content is not going to be enjoyable to read, meaning you’ll lose your reader.

It is essential that you pay attention to the right analytics tools when it comes to SEO digital marketing. You need to know how people are finding their way to you, and what they’re looking at when they get there.

While your site may have its own native visitor tracker, you’ll get more in-depth information from Google Analytics and Google Search Console about the search terms people are engaging when visiting your site.

This data can then be used to analyze and further optimize your content.

Build a Backlink Strategy

Within your website’s content, make sure that you use internal backlinks to other relevant parts of your website. The links that you select should be high-quality, and they should add value and depth to the content you’re creating.

In addition to including internal links, you should use high-quality external links to information that may complement your own content.

Whenever you make great content on your site, you will want other people to link to it. Having others linking to your page and your content gives it authority in the eyes of the search engine—the more reputable the site that is linking to you, the better.

Try to build up a relationship with bloggers and influencers. Offer to provide guest posts on reputable sites. All of these techniques will help you get quality links back to your site.

Make Sure Your Content is In-Depth

If you want to rank in one of the top spots on the search engine results page, then you’ll need to ensure you’re creating high-quality content.

Aim to produce content that is 1,000 or more words long as search engines favor longer content as it often implies there is more information.

Write Great Meta Descriptions

Every page that you produce for your website should have its own meta description. This should be unique and relevant to the content.

Often, this is the first thing that people will see when your content appears in their search results.

Encourage Social Sharing

Although there is no definite link between the search rankings provided by Google and sharing content on social media, social sharing should be a part of your SEO marketing strategy.

There is some suggestion that pinned and tweeted content will help your rankings.

Including social share buttons on your site helps encourage people to share the content.

The algorithms behind the top search engines change very often. As technology and user trends change, so too do the needs of the search engine.

Keep up-to-date with the latest changes in the way that search engines work and make sure you optimize your content following the latest guidelines.

Use a Professional SEO Company

Although many SEO techniques are simple to instigate, there is a lot that needs to be done. Optimizing your content is an ongoing process, and you’ll need to make continual changes to ensure you’re competitive in the rankings.

You may want to hire an SEO expert to make sure that you’re always pushing for that number one spot on the search engine results page.

Improving Your SEO Marketing

This guide to SEO marketing has touched on many of the basics of SEO. This is a massive field, and it is continually evolving. Once you start working on your site’s SEO, you will find that you learn so much.

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