Search engine algorithms keep updating and if you don’t want an update to hit your website negatively, you should follow the search engine guidelines set by Google and the dos and don’ts mentioned here. Google rewards hard work and if you’re using the correct strategies, so follow the rules and monitor your position with a rank checker tool.
Do Use Analytics
Analytics tools are the best friends of SEO experts. An analytics tool enables you to search for which keywords you can use to rank your website. You can start with Google Keyword Planner or any other similar tool to begin searching for keywords.
A general practice is to use phrases that are relevant to your business. Find low-competition keywords that have a low difficulty score.
Moreover, keep monitoring the keywords you’re using. If your rank slips or moves higher, you can then take the necessary steps to boost or sustain the ranking.
Don’t Ignore Search Intent
Search intent shows what the users want by searching a specific term or phrase. Generally, search intent can be informational intent, navigational intent, and commercial intent.
If you want to target information posts, use keywords that are relevant to the information. For instance, “reasons to use high-quality tires”.
Some users show the intent of buying with search. If someone is searching for “best tires for cars”. If you’re using this sort of keyword, you can point them to the pages of your products.
Other than that, some users’ search queries can be navigational with which you can point the visitor to the right page.
If search intent is not applied correctly, the results will be a higher bounce rate and lower conversion rate.
Do Have the Correct Business Info
If you’re a business selling products or services, this point is essential for you. If someone thinks Google doesn’t care about their business info and keeping it updated and correct everywhere online is not important, then they are missing out on a decent SEO opportunity and perhaps losing to the competitors who are following updating their business info.
Other than your website, register on Google Business Profile and enter your business information. Create accounts on social media and enter the business info there as well. Moreover, you can use services that put business info on business listings.
Correct business info on many places will make Google consider your business info as authoritative and ranks your Google My Business profile higher. This gives your website a boost as well.
Don’t Deceive The Users Or The Search Engines
Webpages are made for users to take advantage of, not for search engines. You should be optimizing your pages for search engines, but the primary goal is to serve the users.
Some people use cloaking and other practices to deceive the users and the search engines. If Google detects it, your website’s search ranking can dip. Plus, you should also avoid hidden text, hidden links, unnecessary redirects, and other bad practices.
Do Have Original And Relevant Content
People focus on the technicalities of SEO a lot. In doing so, they ignore the biggest SEO factor – fresh and relevant content. Posting new content regularly for visitors who are coming back and making new people become regular visitors should be your goal.
When Google’s algorithm notices regular content on your site that is attracting users, it rewards it with a higher Google search ranking.
Don’t Take Part In Link Exchanges
A link exchange is two website owners linking to each other site for building backlinks. Link-building schemes have a large group of website owners doing this malpractice. Taking part in link exchanges can eventually de-rank a website on search engines.
This is because the relevance of the backlinks is an important factor for search engines. Almost all link exchanges are by people who don’t give this much thought and they destroy the search ranking of their websites.
Practices like link schemes and other similar practices might provide a temporary advantage, but your site will suffer in the long run.
Conclusion
Your SEO practices should be beneficial for the site you’re managing. To ensure this, follow the dos and don’ts of SEO, avoid sketchy strategies, and keep a white label rank tracker handy to check your website’s search ranking.
