When it comes to optimizing your website for search engines, there are certain techniques almost everybody knows about, like carrying out keyword research and including valuable keywords in article headings, content and meta tags. However, some techniques are less obvious, yet can still deliver great results. Here, we take a closer look at some of the hidden SEO strategies that can boost your website’s ranking on search engine results pages.
Choosing the Right Domain Name
In general, because domain names are not a direct search engine ranking factor, many marketers do not really think about how they affect SEO. However, your domain name can have a big impact in several indirect ways.
For example, as a Moz.com article explains, including a keyword in your domain name can help search engine users to quickly establish what your website or business is about. This may make them more likely to click on the link to your website and convert. That, in turn, could help to improve your ranking on search engine results pages in the future.
You also need to think about other ranking factors, like backlinks. It is going to be much easier to attract backlinks to your homepage or landing pages if you have a simple domain name, which is easy to type and remember. A more complex domain name increases the scope for typing errors, meaning you will not benefit from the intended backlink.
Prioritizing Voice Search Optimization
Many companies have still not fully explored the role that optimizing a website for voice search can have on their business objectives and digital marketing efforts. Of course, this is actually good news, as it allows you to get a head-start on rivals and gain a competitive edge over businesses that choose not to invest in this area.
The best ways to optimize your pages for voice search include using conversational language and researching long-tail keywords or keywords that are also questions. Schema markup can provide search engines with valuable context that may increase your chances of becoming a featured result, while it can also be a good idea to publish a FAQs page.
Publishing Long-Form Written Content
Most marketers understand that publishing high-quality content is the key to a successful search engine optimization strategy. However, far fewer realize the value of regularly posting long-form written content and instead choose to focus on publishing blog posts and articles that are around 500 to 800 words in length.
Despite this, long-form content is one of the real secrets to lasting SEO success. In fact, a Backlinko SEO study found that the average length of a first-page Google search engine result is more than 1,400 words.
The reasons for this are numerous. Long-form content is typically more in-depth, more useful to readers and more likely to attract backlinks from high-authority sources. Longer content also gives you more room to implement SEO techniques effectively without hurting the actual quality and readability of the content.
Final Thoughts
SEO is incredibly important for websites, because a huge amount of traffic comes from search engines. Using the techniques provided, you can gain a competitive advantage over rival websites and boost your ranking on SERPs.
