How can I optimize my website or blog?
Let’s get straight to the point. There are many factors involved in improving your search ranking, but I want to highlight a few key details that Google considers—basics that are nonetheless crucial:
It checks if your website is actually working. Seems obvious, right? Well, I recommend choosing a top-notch hosting provider; depending on who you choose, uptime might not be a given, and your site could end up being down more often than it’s up…
Your website’s loading speed. Generally speaking, faster-loading sites “lose” fewer visitors because the user experience is better, and Google takes note of this (which, of course, also depends on having good hosting).
Whether your site and its content are easily “crawlable.” That’s why it’s so important to add your site to Search Console—Google’s free tool that helps you make the job easier for them while also tracking how your site is performing in search results.
Whether your content is widely shared. If your content is unique and high-quality—and gets shared a lot—you’ll attract more visitors; Google will interpret this as a sign that people like it and will rank it higher.
User behavior on your website or blog. Google also knows whether a user found your site via search and if it actually provided what they were looking for…
In addition to these tips, there are some basics that many “gurus” take for granted—and that ultimately get overlooked. Yet, these simple elements form the foundation of SEO for your website, just as they do for the most expensive, beautiful site you’ve ever seen.
Want to know what they are? Here they are:
User-friendly URLs:
The URLs for your website or blog need to be “friendly”—meaning they should be simple and give a clear idea of the page’s content.
For example, these two links lead to the same article… but which one do you think makes it easier for Google and users to understand what it’s about?
In WordPress, you can change this via the Settings > Permalinks menu, where you can choose from several options. Some are not at all user-friendly, others are user-friendly, and others are (at least for me) the most user-friendly.
Just a heads-up: if your website or blog has been using a specific URL structure for a long time, don’t go changing it haphazardly.
Keep in mind that those URLs are likely already ranking on Google, and other sites may be linking to them. If you do change them, you must ensure you set up redirects from the old URL structure to the corresponding new one.
Take a look at this post on 301 redirects to see how it’s done; if you’re still unsure, it’s best to have someone handle it who knows exactly what they’re doing.
So, whether you decide to start a blog on your own—using Blogger, WordPress, Joomla, or any other platform—don’t forget to make your URLs “friendly.”
Titles:
The titles of your pages and articles are crucial, as they are among the first things Google looks at to determine if your content matches what the user is searching for.
They are also the first thing visible in search results, so:
- Be clear and direct; choose a title that accurately defines the page’s content.
- Create unique titles for the different pages on your website or blog.
- Keep titles under 70 characters; otherwise, Google will truncate them in search results.
- Try to place the most important and descriptive word at the beginning of the title.
- If you need to separate phrases or specific words, use symbols like a hyphen (-) or a vertical bar (|).
Descriptions:
Just like titles, it is very important to include descriptions on all pages and articles of your website or blog.
In fact, all the recommendations I mentioned for titles apply to descriptions as well, although the character limit displayed in Google search results can vary depending on the user’s specific search query.
The limit for descriptions used to be 156 characters, but following changes Google made some time ago, it can now extend up to 320 characters.
My advice is to create a clear, concise description—just one or two sentences—based on the title itself. Over time, you can check whether Google displays that text or uses a different description. You can also use Search Console to analyze whether people are clicking on your result and determine if you could better tailor the description to the search queries that are most valuable to you. Click here for Website Basic SEO Tips
As you’ll see, I also tend to include emojis and other symbols in my descriptions to try and grab the user’s attention.
Keywords:
“Keywords” are the terms you want users to use to find your content when searching on Google. To do this, you need to select the ones that best fit your topic, research other related terms that might be of interest, and use them strategically within your content.
It is also highly recommended that you include them in the areas mentioned earlier (URLs, titles, descriptions, headings, etc.) to help Google locate your content more effectively. This way, when someone searches for that topic using one of those keywords, Google will take into account whether or not your website contains them.
For example, if you are writing an article recommending the best WordPress hosting, a good tip would be to use the keywords “best” and “hosting.”
Link Profile:
Nowadays, links (and link building) are vital for web positioning. This is because they are the best way for Google to “understand” that when other websites link to a site, they are essentially casting a vote of confidence—signaling that the site contains interesting information or offers something of value to users.
That is why a site’s link profile reveals a great deal to Google about its quality—such as whether it is linked to by relevant sites within the same sector, or by “important,” trustworthy sites. So, always aim to secure high-quality links.
You should also pay special attention to the anchor text used to link to your site or its pages, as this helps Google better understand which search queries your site should rank for.
Anchor Text Example:
Take a look at this link: SEO Guide.
In this instance, the anchor text is “SEO Guide.” Using this specific text is more relevant than using a phrase like “click here.” By using “SEO Guide,” I am signaling to Google that the link leads to an SEO guide, whereas “click here” conveys no such information.
Nowadays, there are plenty of platforms—such as Collaborator.es—where you can find blogs, digital newspapers, forums, and the like to publish articles or press releases and secure backlinks (while also proposing your own desired anchor text). Collaborator.es even offers Telegram advertising options, which I really like.
SEO Contests:
While certainly not essential, participating in SEO contests—which pop up occasionally to promote SEO-related tools, brands, and so on—is a great way to learn SEO almost overnight.
Typically, these contests require you to rank for “unusual” search terms or keywords that have likely never been searched for before but are relevant to what the organizer is promoting.
Keep in mind:
it doesn’t matter if you don’t win; the interesting part is seeing how your site ranks for made-up search terms while “battling” other sites trying to rank for the same ones. Analyze and learn from the strategies your competitors use—what works for them (if they move up in rankings), whether they use on-page SEO, link building, etc.
