SEO is more than just keyword stuffing, spammy anchor text, and backlinks. Google's Matt Cutts has said that if you write good content, it will rank well. Good content is user-focused and easy to understand. It also should be written for humans first and search engines second. You'll see a big change in rankings when you do this. If you're writing an article about "How to make a sandwich," don't add keywords like "best bread" or "how to slice bread." These are irrelevant details which only serve to confuse readers who are looking for answers to their questions. The same goes for anchor text. Search engine spiders can't read. They see your anchor text as text, not words. Make sure your anchors are clear and easy to follow. In short, focus on writing good articles with the main goal of helping people solve problems.
Use targeted keywords in all the right places
You may have heard that Google penalizes sites that try to game the system by stuffing pages full of keywords. This isn't quite true. What happens instead is that Google sees a lot of low-quality pages with a bunch of repeated keywords. Pages full of keywords are almost always bad because they are hard to read and difficult to find what you're looking for. In other words, they are low quality. Instead, use targeted keywords strategically in your page titles, headings, subheadings, body copy, and footer. For example, you might want to include one or two keywords in each section header. Then, in the body copy, you can repeat these keywords throughout the sentence, but don't overdo it. Google wants to show users what they need to click through to get to the content on your site. When you repeat keywords too much, it can give the impression that you're trying to trick them into clicking on a link.
Focus on UX
User experience is important. One way to improve your UX is to remove any unnecessary code, images, or widgets from your pages. A few years ago, I worked on a website with a sidebar widget that was completely useless. We took it out, and the usability improved dramatically. Users love simple websites where everything works perfectly. That means no pop-ups, slow loading times, or errors. If you're running WordPress, a great tool called W3 Total Cache makes it easy to speed up your site. Another option is to install plugins like WP Super Cache or Pingdom. These tools monitor your server and automatically cache pages while giving you real-time stats on how fast your site loads.
Format content for Featured Snippets
When you share a snippet of your content via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc., it looks exactly like any other piece of blog content. You can even embed the post on your own site. However, if you format your content specifically for these platforms, you can optimize it for those snippets. For instance, let's say you have a post entitled "5 Ways to Make Your Website More Engaging." You could format the post in this way:
Title: 5 Ways to Make Your Website More Engaging
Body Copy: The best way to increase engagement on your website is to provide useful information to visitors. Here are five ways to do that...
Heading: 1. Create a unique headline
Subheading: 2. Add interesting visuals
Bullet List: 3. Provide useful resources
Anchor Text: 4. Answer common questions
Footer: 5. Encourage interactions
This formatting lets Google know that you've optimized the article for these particular platforms. Once you do this, you can share it on social media and expect it to receive a boost in traffic, clicks, and shares.
Remove anything that slows down your site
Google doesn't like slow sites. If you load all your scripts at once, it slows down your site. It also takes longer to index, so you lose out on potential organic traffic. Instead, put your scripts on a CDN (content delivery network). This allows your site to respond faster and improves your overall user experience.
The most important thing to remember is that every single item on your site should be useful to someone. If it isn't, take it off. Don't worry about your competition or the Google algorithm. Focus on making useful content that benefits your audience.
If you'd like to learn more, check out our free guide on How to Get Top Rankings Without Paying a Dime.