SEO Practices You Should Know For 2021

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If your website is not ranking in the top 10 search results, you are losing many potential customers. The majority of the searchers don’t even bother visiting any other pages after the first one. Studies suggest that 75% of the searches don’t go past the first-page search results. There’s this saying that if you want to hide something, put it on the second page of Google. Wondering why? It’s because nobody’s going to visit it.

However, there are numerous strategies and practices that can help your business get the deserved recognition. From basic strategies to technical ones, we will discuss it all.

A leading digital marketing agency with many eCommerce websites developed in Dubai has jotted down the following SEO practices that you need to know in 2021.

Line Up the Content with the Search Intent

Search intent, which is also called user intent, is the reason behind every search query made. Therefore, understanding and considering search intent is Google’s utmost priority.

Websites that rank on Google’s first page have cleared the test on search intent. For instance, if we take an example of the search query “how to make a pizza,” you won’t find pizza restaurants in the search results. You will find the recipes. Why? Because Google understands what people are searching for and shows them exactly what they are looking for. On the other hand, if you search for “best restaurant for pizza,” you will find restaurant listings and websites.

Hence, if you want your page to rank on the first page of Google, you need to understand and implement these concepts and create content that lines up with the search intent.

Title and Meta Description are Important!

The title of the page and the meta description are the most significant meta tags on the page. Now, you must have questions in your mind, such as: What is a page title? What is a meta description? How do page titles and meta descriptions contribute to SEO?

According to Google, title tags are important to give users a quick insight into the content and how it is relevant to their search query. Furthermore, it is a primary information piece that decides if the searcher will click on your page or not. Keep it 50-60 characters long as Google shows the full title when it is under 60 characters. Always include keywords in the title tag and create a title that matches the search intent.

On the other hand, a meta description is a meta tag that displays below the title. It is a concise description of the page in a summarized form. Moreover, these tags act as a pitch that compels the searcher to visit your page. Google recommends a meta description of 155–160-character length. As per the title, adding a keyword to the meta description and keeping it according to the search intent is important.

Don’t Forget to Optimize the Images

Optimization of images plays a crucial role in improving the experience of site visitors. In contrast, you spend hours choosing the images for your website, products, or blogs. Do you spend an equal share of time optimizing the images for your page? When used in the right way, images contribute a lot to SEO and boost traffic and sales. Factors included in optimizing the images include file format, image size, alt text, and lazy loading.

File Format: The most commonly used formats for images on pages are PNG and JPEG. JPEG file quality is visibly lower than PNG files. However, the size of JPEG is smaller than that of PNG.
Image Size: The larger the file, the more time it takes to load. Always compress the images using tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, ShortPixel, etc.
Alt-Text: Alt-text, in addition to images, helps the browsers understand the images on the site. Keep the description short and add keywords appropriately.
Lazy-Loading: It is a technique that loads images only when the users need them. This reduces the initial load time of the page.

Optimize the Page for Speed

If your site takes a long time to load, visitors will get frustrated, leading to a higher bounce rate. However, if your page loads fast, it retains visitors and improves on-site time. According to studies, when a page takes more than 3 seconds to lose, it can lead to the visitor leaving the site. As a result, your potential customer goes to your competitors and works with them. However, you can compress the images, enable browser caching, reduce the server response time, and delete unnecessary plugins. All these elements help in reducing the page loading time.

Improve the User Experience

Google is keen on how users behave with your content. Therefore, improving the user experience improves the search rankings. To provide users with a great experience, here are some elements that can help you out:

Use of sub-headings to make the content easy to access
Visually appealing media
Enticing content
Use white spaces, too. Don’t make the page cluttered with content.
Avoid the use of intrusive popups.

Get Authoritative Backlinks

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that backlinks are the backbone of SEO. For Google, backlinks are the votes of confidence that it needs to rank a site. The higher quality backlinks your page has, the higher the chances of ranking higher on Google. That said, always remember that not all backlinks are equal. Backlinks are created on high authority, and relevant sites are superior to other types of backlinks.

Final Words on Best SEO Practices

Learning, understanding, and practicing the SEO tactics outlined above are great ways to kickstart your online journey. These strategies will help you rank your website higher on the first page of Google. With the implementation of all the discussed tips, your page’s chances of ranking higher increase significantly.

All the best for the optimization of your website!