Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization
Original Article: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/10-do-it-yourself-seo-tips-to-save-money
There are numerous ways in which one can make money off their websites: sell advertisements, create online purchase options, share sponsored content, attract subscriptions, etc. Despite the plethora of different ways of generating income through websites, there is one common crucial criterion that applies to all options: one needs people to actually ‘click’ and visit the website. Without clicks and views, the meticulously generated content and the effort into forming partnerships and online shopping platforms are futile.
Therefore, it is of paramount importance that website creators ensure their websites appear in searches on search engines like Google and Yahoo. There is no better or more efficient way of conveying their websites to their target audience. This process, ensuring the websites appear often for users’ interface, is called search engine optimization.
There are several ways to achieve search engine optimization. Utilizing keywords that users are likely to search can increase websites’ exposure on search engines. For instance, if one creates a website for newly issued ETFs, the keywords potential investors likely search include “low expense ratio”, “thematic ETFs”, “profitable ETFs”, etc. To further enhance the search engine optimization procedure, the website designer can update her content to include keywords that will likely push the website’s page rank.
Websites’ page ranks are largely determined by their hub and authority scores. Hub score represents a website’s ability to direct users to useful (authority) websites, and authority score represents how useful and valid a website is. A hub has a lot of useful links directing users to authority; authority has a lot of mentions (links) directed from various hubs. Linking users to other relevant sites and creating an ergonomic website that gains users’ trust will increase both hub and authority scores.
To achieve a high authority score, the website should be linked from various hub sites. To be linked by various hub sites, the website must prove itself with high credibility and usability. To increase usability and affordance, a website should ensure content is regularly updated with quality content and keywords to assist search engine optimization. Moreover, the website should be optimized so that users won’t be hindered by slow website speed. To increase the speed of a website, the designer can control the size of images, limiting number of automatic downloads, and creating a responsive interface that works on both desktop and mobile layouts.