Here Are More SEO Best Practices To Help You Rank Higher In 2020

SEO experts and site admins should always be aware of the latest SEO best practices that can help websites rank higher in 2020 if they want to stay relevant against the online competition. As a continuation of yesterday's post, here are the remaining tips to further improve your visibility.

5. Utilise Internal Linking

Internal links are crucial as they create an information hierarchy for a website, as well as helping Google to get a better understanding of its content. They can instantly boost your ranking if utilised properly.

It’s a widely recommended SEO method to add internal links from top-ranking pages into your website content, in pages that need boosting.

In addition, you can also utilise SEMrush to isolate and repair internal linking issues on your website. This can be very useful when identifying issues with the website's internal link structure.

• Run a website audit for your website on SEMrush to get an audit report.
• Go to Internal Linking and click on the "View details" button.

Here, you can see all the internal linking problems on the website and then it’s simply a matter of proceeding to make the required fixes.

6. Boost User Experience on your Website

Google closely monitors how users interact with your content. This is why user experience is among the key aspects needed to enhance your search rankings.

Page speed plays a huge part in boosting the UX of visitors on your website.

Below are a few more tips to guarantee that users have a great experience when they visit your website:

• Utilise subheadings: If you use subheadings (H1, H2, H3) properly, this will help Google understand your content well and make it more accessible to users
• Create your content visually appealing: Lots of studies have shown that visuals help people understand website contents more easily. So it's a great idea to make use of screenshots, videos and images to demonstrate your points.
• Avoid utilising intrusive popups: Since 2017, websites have been penalised by Google for utilising intrusive popups. This is not just bad for SEO, but can also annoy users. Therefore, avoid these whenever possible. You can still use them to grow your email list, display them to users who have spent longer periods of time on your website, or use exit-intent popups.
• Utilise white space: This is a basic factor of great design. Based on Crazy Egg’s research, white space used in between paragraphs as well as in the right and left margins escalate comprehension by 20%. So make sure you use this white space to make your content more eye-catching and easy to read.

7. Insert Keywords in Your URL

URL structures are usually taken for granted in SEO. But a good URL structure can give both search engines and users a good idea of what the destination webpage is about.

Google explains:

"A site's URL structure should be as simple as possible. Consider organizing your content so that URLs are constructed logically and in a manner that is most intelligible to humans (when possible, readable words rather than long ID numbers)".

Here's how you can craft a good URL:

• Keep the URLs short: Short URLs are better than long ones in SERPs, based on studies made by Backlinko.
• Utilise keyword-rich URLs: This will help increase your chances of ranking better in search results.
• Eliminate unnecessary stop words: Consider eliminating stop words to make your URLs look precise and neat.

9. Concentrate on Obtaining More Authoritative Backlinks

While Google's ranking system and search algorithms have undergone several changes, the search engine still treats backlinks as a ranking factor. They view these backlinks as votes of confidence.

If your webpages have lots of backlinks, it escalates the chances of ranking higher in SERPs. That means it's crucial for you to concentrate on building these links for your website.

However, many backlinks aren't created equally. Some backlinks can ruin your rankings, while others can boost it for particular search queries. This is why you must prioritise authoritative backlinks over other kinds.

You can build high-quality backlinks to improve your rank for your target keywords. Among the most efficient ways to get authoritative backlinks is by duplicating the link building techniques of your closest competitors.

For this, you can use the Backlink Gap Tool offered by SEMrush to understand the backlink profiles of up to five competitors, which means you can check previously untapped link building opportunities.

To do this, you need to:

• Go to Gap Analysis —> Backlink Gap.
• Enter your domain and four of your top competitors' domains, and click "Find prospects."

This tool will provide a table and graph with a comparison between your inputted five backlink profiles domains. This will show the latest link building activities your rivals are using.

You have to choose your domain in the drop-down menu above the table to determine link building opportunities for your website.

Note that the websites linking to your domains will not be included in this list, only your competitors’. With this tip, you can now start your campaign to make good use of your rival's most authoritative backlinks.

9. Publish Long-Form Content

Now the last of the SEO best practices: publishing long-form content. Google ranks long-form content more highly than shorter articles. This is according to several studies, such as the latest SEMrush study on top-performing articles.

Long-form contents usually consist of 3000+ words that get 3x more traffic, 3.5x more backlinks, and 4x more shares when compared to content with only an average length, according to the research.

In short, there's a strong correlation between search performance and content length.

Hence, you should consider publishing one or two well-researched, long-form contents which include great information that is helpful to Google users. The search engine wants you to concentrate on the needs of the user, making that your focus rather than simply SEO. This is a great way to keep readers and then convert them to buyers. But still, SEO is also crucial.

You should target keywords that strike a great balance between keyword difficulty and search volume when you’re writing long-form content for your blog.

Most often, long-tail keywords have low search volume. But in some cases, they could help meet your consumers' needs. If the search volume is too low, focus on mid-tail keywords with low to medium keyword difficulty.

For this, you can utilise SEMrush:

• Enter your keyword(s) in the SEMrush search bar and click the "Search" button.
• The Keyword Overview report will provide key data, including total search volume, keyword difficulty score, and more.

Scroll down the page to view questions, related keywords, and keyword variations. Click the "View all" button under all the sections to check various types of seed keyword(s) with useful keyword metrics.

You can identify which keywords are good to target in creating long-form articles with the help of data like this.

In conclusion

All of these SEO best practices are great starting points if you’re looking to gain higher search rankings. Competition to reach the first page results of Google is fierce, no matter what the niche is. But if these best practices are implemented correctly, you can expect to keep up with the latest SEO trends at all times to stay relevant and ahead of the game.

What You Need To Know About The Current Google Indexing Issues Affecting Search Results

Google has recently published a statement warning SEO companies UK wide and site owners alike that the search engine is currently facing indexing issues, which may lead to stale search results.

The exact extent of the problem isn't yet known at the moment. Equally, the term "stale search results" is also vague.

This has happened before, and when Google faces indexing issues, it usually involves one of two things.

Either previously indexed articles have fallen out of Google's index, or fresh content aren't being indexed.

If the current problem is due to the latter, then that would explain Google’s messages to site owners about stale search results.

But it is not necessarily the case this time. To check whether this issue is relevant to the current situation or not, you should do a site search for your domain, hit on Tools, and filter the results to "past 24 hours" or "past hours".

This is the best way to see if your new content is being indexed. Right now, it looks like various sites appear to be indexed; so this is probably not the current issue, at least not on a widespread scale.

But no one will know for sure until Google gives more details. As of now, the real cause behind the problem is difficult to identify.

Information in these news articles first appeared at https://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-best-practices/ and https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-is-currently-experience-indexing-problems/371137/. Head to these links to find out more.

Get your business kicking online now by generating more traffic to your website and reaching page one of SERPs. Visit Position1SEO now to find out how our professional SEO services can help.