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Top 10 SEO Tips That Are Still Applicable in 2014

February 19, 2014

Unlike popular opinion, SEO isn’t free. For the amount of time and money that you invest in it, you might consider paid alternatives to traffic instead. That said though, optimising your website for SEO certainly isn’t bad. The following are some tips and guidelines that are still applicable in 2014 after the many Google updates.

1. Titles and Subtitles

Titles and subtitles on your website should both contain keywords that are related to the topic of your article/website to optimize it for any search engine. Short snappy titles work better than long titles that are hard to read. The same can also be said of subtitles.

2. Longer Articles

Most articles that can be found on the web are between 400 and 700 words in length. Gone are the days when short entries were the norm. Instead, people want to read good-quality content instead of just glancing at short snippets of content. There is a risk of your website search engine ranking diminishing due to articles that are shorter in length.

3. Original Content

Increase your audience by making sure your articles are original, and that your website is continually filled with fresh material. As long as your website is kept up to date and is original, readers, and search engine bots, will keep coming back to see what your website has to offer. Out-of-date information, or information that can be found elsewhere, will reduce your website’s readership.

4. Keywords

Keywords should be placed not only in the titles and subtitles of a text but also in the main body. Try to keep all keywords related to the topic you are writing about.

5. Keyword Stuffing

While keywords are important, avoid overusing or spamming your keywords. If there are too many repeated keywords in your article, it will likely be penalized.

6. Readable URLs

Keep URLs readable and simple as they not only get better click rates, but improve your SEO rankings. Confusing or unreadable URLs are often ignored by search engines.

7. Description Tags

There are no optimization techniques that are used in descriptions. For this reason, it is better to try and keep description tags short. Making sure you have a unique description for each page on your website helps guide search engine bots through the pages on your website, improving SEO.

8. Bounce Rates

The longer you keep a reader on your website, the better your bounce rate is going to be. On top of content, a well-designed website is essential, both in terms of aesthetic appeal and performance. The aesthetic design of a website shows it to be a serious website and one where useful information or entertainment can be found. Having a website with fast access speeds and high up-time will also improve things for not just search engine bots, but for your visitors as well. Imagine trying to access a website that’s incredibly slow – you’ll most likely give up and go somewhere else instead. For a recommendation for a good and reliable web host, I’d recommend Vodien.

9. Avoid Advertisement Penalization

Having advertisements on your website is always a good idea for monetisation; however, there are a few cautions that can cause your website to be penalized. Try to make sure the advertisements on your website are relevant and avoid any inappropriate advertisements at all costs. Advertisements in the style of pop-ups can interfere with the smooth running of your website and should also be avoided.

10. Sitemaps

In order for your website to be seen and noticed, it needs to be crawlable. One thing that you can do is to generate a XML sitemap of your website that will help search engine bots follow the links and structure of your website. In addition, in order to encourage search engine bots from continually coming back to crawl your website pages, there is a need to update them regularly with fresh content.

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