Search engine optimization (SEO) has become an important part of marketing strategies in a variety of industries across the globe. Business 2 Community reported: 89 percent of customers begin their buying process with a search engine. In addition, organic search "drives 51 percent of all visitors to both B2B and B2C websites."
If your website is not generating a ton of traffic, one possible reason could be due to poor SEO - it is not getting found online (or at least not getting found for the right search terms). Assuming your content is on point (well-written, targeted, and keyword friendly with engaging graphics), try the following SEO tactics which when executed correctly, could turn a lack of web traffic around.
Migrate to HTTPS from HTTP
Google has said that websites with HTTPS (Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol) vs. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) get a small ranking boost. Currently, the boost affects less than "1 percent of global queries" but it may "strengthen over time."
Like the 'S' in HTTPS suggests, websites with HTTPS are more secure than websites with just HTTP. Google has also said that security is a top priority. When Internet users search the web, Google wants them to have a "secure" connection.
When migrating from HTTP to HTTPS, be sure to 301 redirect each of your HTTP links to the new HTTPS links then re-submit your site index to Google in order to prevent 'page not found' problems.
Go Responsive or Bust
In short, responsive web design can be defined as one website for multiple screens. What this means is: gone are the days of having to create a separate mobile website. Now you can create a responsive website that will fit all screens on all devices from desktop computers to mobile phones. Responsive websites look better on mobile devices (unless you hire a web designer who does not know what they are doing) and are thus more user-friendly.
Speed Up Your Web Page Loading Times
Think about it ... you visit a website and it takes what feels like forever to load (15 or 30 seconds) and what do you do? Forget even waiting the 15 seconds. If you are like 40 percent of Internet users, you abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load according to Online Marketing Guru Mez Homayunfard. Mez went on to suggest two ways to speed up slow load times:
1. Consider code structure. JavaScript often takes the longest to load [among other codes].
2. Compress large video, image, and other media files to reduce the bandwidth of your web pages and response time.
Add Schema Markup to Your Website
Schema markup is a type of code that goes on websites. What it does is simple: returns better results for Internet users when they search. Schema markup is also known as a type of 'structured data' and has been identified as "rich snippets."
There are a few different types of schema markup and the ones you use are dependent on the needs of your business. For example, there is Organization Schema Markup (for generating
brand signals) or Schema Local Business Markup (used to indicate your physical address, hours, and payments accepted).
Carefully Use Co-Occurrence in Copywriting
Co-occurrence refers to how often related keywords appear on a web page together. Google looks for words that have some type of relationship that occur over and over again when Internet users search for a particular keyword phrase.
When writing for co-occurrence, you need to figure out (typically using some sort of keyword research tool), which words people naturally type in the search engines when they search for a product or service around your business. Add those long tail keywords to your body copy, H1, H2, and ALT tags to give Google a better understanding of what your web pages are about and which pages to return per search.
For more information on SEO, visit Huffington Post SEO News.