Every brand or business with a new website struggles with one question: what are the best SEO practices for a new website? How do I improve my brand’s ranking on Google? and so on… SEO practices include a long list of things you need to follow to get a better ranking. In this blog, we will look at the top 10 SEO practices you must follow to reach the top on SERP.
Table of Contents
Top 10 SEO practices for a new website
- Keyword research
- Domain name
- Images optimization
- Optimize title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Indexable content
- Submit sitemap
- Site loading speed
- Internal Linking
- High-quality content
Conduct a keyword research
Understanding how to conduct keyword research is a crucial part of SEO. This lets your SEO plan flow smoothly. Your keywords will help you rank on the search engine result page. To appear on the top, you will need to do a thorough research of the keywords that suit your website. Using unnecessary keywords will hurt your rankings.
You will find several SEO tools that will help you with keyword research. You can use Google’s Keyword Planner, a free tool that will help you discover new keywords and determine each keyword’s cost, monthly searches, etc.
Choose your domain name carefully
Domain names play an important role in SEO ranking. It helps the algorithm figure out what your website is all about. Choose a unique yet relevant name; this will help your audience remember your website’s name. Another way to increase your chances of ranking higher is to include your primary keyword in your domain name.
If you are confused between a long list of names or don’t have one in mind, you can use online tools to help you develop a few options you can choose from and, most notably, what’s available.
Optimize images on your website
With every image on your website, your chances are ranking increases. One way to optimize your images is to rename your images to match the keyword you plan on ranking on and include alt texts to all your pictures. Another way is to upload photos with less file size yet high quality.
Optimize your title tags
Title tags are HTML tags that appear as the title or headline of your website on SERP. Optimizing your title tag means including your primary keyword in it along with keeping it short. Do not stuff your title with keywords; using your primary keyword once is more than enough.
Come up with unique meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are like click-baits; they summarize your website’s data to give users an overview of your website. Your meta description appears under your webpage title. Remember to incorporate organic keywords that will appear in bold to users looking for something related to your website. Think of it as a place where you pitch to millions of users to click on your website through your title and description.
Write indexable content
While writing content on your website, you must try to interlink important pages with each other. You can do the same with your website’s blogs; you can link your homepage and website within your blogs. This will help Google understand that you have some pretty important information to share through your content and pages, helping with your SERP ranking. Another practice you must follow for better ranking is, update old content so that the algorithm looks your way for new content and doesn’t forget about your website. It will crawl your website for further information, and based on the quality of the content, it will push your chances of ranking even higher.
Submit your sitemap
Your sitemap is like a pathway for Google to easily navigate through your webpage and the content you have on it. Submitting your sitemap on Google will help the search engine understand that you have high-quality content on your pages. Note that the no. of pages submitted should match the no. of pages indexed. You can submit your sitemap through Google Search Console. Go to your dashboard and click on the option “crawl.” You can then select “sitemaps” > add test sitemap.
Make sure to check for any errors before you click on the “submit sitemap” option.
Optimize your site’s loading speed
When you open a website, the first thing you notice is the amount of time it takes to load. Site loading speed is a ranking factor that you must follow if you want to appear on the first page. You can check your current loading speed and aim for a higher one. One of the best tools for this task on Google – PageSpeed Insights. You can paste your URL in the search bar and click on analyze. This will give you a complete report of the things causing your website to slow down or lag when a user tries to access it. You can use other online tools to get more profound results on how to improve your page speed.
Come back to learn more about the different ways to optimize and practice SEO for your website.
Conclusion
By now, you must know how important it is to keep updating yourself on the different SEO practices available out there. But the most important one is to build an SEO plan that will help you in the future. The above list sounds very overwhelming but hang in there; the result will be worth the struggle. SEO is something you need to do every day to see better results.
Start with formulating a plan around which everything on your website will revolve, from webpage content to blogs to images; once you know the direction you are heading to, it will make your work even more comfortable. Remember to stick to your path and remain patient. If you plan on doing the work on your own, this list will help you get started. For those who have a lot on their plate already, you can opt for services that will take care of all your SEO needs. Many digital agencies like PromoDome lend their services to brands and businesses looking to strengthen their online presence.
