Appearing prominently in search results is key for getting more people to come to your site via search engines.
So, we’ve put together 14 actionable SEO hacks to improve your site’s search engine visibility and drive more traffic to it.
Let’s get started.
1. Target Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are highly specific search queries that often have lower search volumes but frequently represent terms users are searching when they’re likely to convert (make a purchase, fill out a form, etc.).
That means targeting these terms could help drive more qualified traffic to your site. Doing so is also pretty feasible since many of these terms have low keyword difficulty—meaning it’s likely not very hard to achieve rankings for them.
A good example is “ toys for smart dogs.”
This keyword might not get as many monthly searches as broader terms, but it’s easy to rank for and is probably being searched by people who are motivated to make a purchase.
How do you find long-tail keywords?
Use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.
Simply launch the tool and enter a broad term related to your industry, products, or services. Then, enter your domain in the “AI-powered feature” bar, select your country, and click “Search.”
Next, you’ll see a long list of related keywords. And notice that there’s a column for Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %). This is a metric that reveals how difficult it would be for your specific domain to rank in the top 10 search results (lower is easier).
To find long-tail keywords that you can feasibly rank for, click the “Personal KD%” drop-down and set a custom range from 0% to 30%.
Now, you’ll get a list of terms (mostly long-tail keywords) that you have a good chance of ranking for.
Review the list for keywords that are most relevant to your business. And incorporate them into your website content to improve your search engine visibility.
2. Align Your Content with Search Intent
Making sure that your content matches a term’s search intent (the purpose behind a user’s search) ensures you’re giving users what they want, which can help you rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
There are four main types of keyword intent:
- Informational: The user wants to learn more about a topic
- Navigational: The user wants to navigate to a specific website or page
- Transactional: The user wants to make a purchase or complete a similar action
- Commercial: The user wants to research products or services before they make a purchase decision
To determine a keyword’s high-level search intent, use Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool.
Simply type in a keyword and click “Search.”
The tool will then display several metrics for that keyword, including its search intent (this can be one or more types).
From here, scroll down to the “SERP Analysis” section and visit each of the top-ranking pages to learn more specific information. Like what formats are ranking well (listicles, videos, etc.), the subtopics covered, and more.
Use this information to create content that provides users exactly what they’re looking for when they enter a keyword on search engines.
3. Place Keywords in Strategic Places
Adding keywords to your title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags (these are all things you specify in your HTML) helps search engines like Google understand what your page is about, making it more likely that you’ll appear when people search for the keywords you’re targeting.
If your meta description and title tag include your keyword and also show in search results, that means searchers will be able to see that your content is relevant.
Including your target keyword in the URL slug is also helpful for search engines. So, use it in a way similar to this:
Finally, incorporate the keyword into your page headers and throughout your content to further indicate that your content is relevant to the keyword you’re targeting.
Further reading: Keyword Optimization: 7 Steps to Getting It Right.
4. Focus on Providing New Information
Publishing high-quality content is one of the surest ways to achieve better rankings, and a key part of that is making sure your pieces provide valuable information that your competitors don’t.
Google’s guidelines on creating helpful content even suggest that you ask yourself, “Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?
With that in mind, here are some ways you can enhance your content in this way:
- Identify content gaps: Review top-ranking results and look for areas where they lack depth or miss important details
- Use a unique angle: Approach common topics from an unexplored perspective
- Share expert insights: Feature quotes and advice from industry experts
- Publish original data: Share results from your own research, surveys, or case studies
5. Optimize Content for Google Voice Search
Optimizing for Google voice search can put your content in front of people who use Google Assistant to find information.
One way to do this is to focus on search queries that are more conversational to align with how people use voice search.
For instance, someone looking to buy a new phone might type “best smartphones 2024” into a search engine. But through voice search, they’re more likely to ask, “What’s the best smartphone to buy right now?”
Use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find such keywords.
Enter a broad term related to your niche into the tool, select your country, and click “Search.”
To find question-focused keywords, use the “Questions” filter within the tool.
Review the list to find keywords relevant to your business.
Further reading: What Is Google Voice Search? And How to Optimize for It
6. Refresh Old or Outdated Content
Refreshing your existing content to be more relevant can help it rank better in search engines.
Why?
Because over time, the pieces you publish will naturally become outdated as new information and interests emerge.
Let’s say you published a post on “content marketing trends” back in 2015.
Those trends may be outdated at this point. So, updating the post with the latest trends will make it more relevant and valuable to today’s readers.
To find old content that isn’t performing as well as it used to, use Google Search Console.
From the “Search results” report, modify the **** range by selecting the “Compare” option and clicking the circle next to “Compare last 6 months to previous period.” And click “Apply.”
Now, scroll down and select the “Pages” tab and look for pages with significant decreases in the number of clicks.
Pages that are getting far fewer clicks could be great candidates for refreshing.
Another way to identify outdated content is to use the Position Tracking tool. Which can help you spot pieces that are about to start losing traffic before performance is significantly affected.
This tool allows you to monitor your rankings for your target keywords in real time. If you notice a drop in rankings, it might be a sign the content needs to be updated.
Then, follow these tips to refresh that content:
- Fix broken links
- Replace outdated information, including stats, product features, and examples
- Update visuals like images, infographics, and charts
- Add sections that top-ranking posts cover but you don’t
- Format content so it’s easy to read
7. Compress Images to Improve Page Speed
Large image files negatively impact page speed, which can lead to a poor user experience and potentially hurt your search engine rankings.
To avoid this, compress images before uploading them to your website.
Use a tool like TinyPNG or Optimizilla to reduce image file size without compromising quality.
Or, try the Smush plugin if you’re a WordPress user.
To check whether any images are affecting speed, type a page URL you want to analyze into Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool and look for the “Properly size images” issue.
Resize any images Google flags to improve page performance.
8. Use AI to Do Topic and Keyword Clustering
Topic clustering is creating groups of interlinked, thematically related pages that each feature a central pillar (main) page covering the broad topic and cluster pages (subpages) on more specific topics.
And each pillar page and cluster page target a keyword cluster (a group of search terms that share the same intent).
Using this **** for SEO can help you build your site’s authority for relevant topics. And also improve the overall user experience by making it easier for visitors to find detailed information on related subtopics.
While you can build clusters manually by doing keyword research, analyzing all of the terms, and creating topic and keyword groups in a spreadsheet, it takes a significant amount of time and effort.
You can automate much of this process with the Keyword Strategy Builder.
Start by entering up to five seed terms that represent your main areas of focus. Then, click “Create list.”
The tool will automatically create topic clusters and assign a keyword cluster to each page.
On the next page, scroll down to the table to see the exact pages.
Click the arrow next to any page to see more information about its keyword cluster.
9. Use Alt Text to Describe Images
Adding alternative text (alt text for short) to your images, GIFs, and infographics can increase your chances of appearing in search results, including those in Google Images.
Why?
Because this text describes your images to help Google understand what’s being shown.
For example:
This stock image on Pexels uses the alt text “ with ball in mouth jumping over a fallen tree trunk:”
The more descriptive and keyword-friendly your alt text, the more likely your images are to appear in results.
But alt text doesn’t just help with search visibility.
Alt text improves website accessibility for visitors who use screen reading software. And using it ensures you meet regulatory requirements.
Most website builder and content management system (CMS) options allow you to add alt text easily.
Follow these best practices to write effective alt text:
- Describe what the image shows
- Stick to 125 characters or less to avoid truncation on screen readers
- Include relevant keywords when appropriate
Further reading: Image SEO: How to Optimize Images for Search Engines & Users
10. Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Creating (or claiming) a Google Business Profile (GBP) is a great way for local businesses to increase their visibility among nearby searchers.
GBP is a free business listing that helps local users find and learn about your business and looks like this:
Google uses these listings to serve the most relevant results for location-based searches (e.g., “plumber queens new york”) in a local pack (a result that includes a map and three prominent businesses):
With a well-optimized profile that includes correct business information, photos, services, and reviews, you stand a good chance of appearing in a local pack.
The result?
More visibility and probably more clicks.
Research by SOCi found that listings in the local pack earn 126% more search traffic and 93% more conversion-oriented actions than businesses ranked 4-10.
11. Target Featured Snippets
A featured snippet is a short excerpt that answers a user’s query and usually appears at the top of the SERP.
Here’s the featured snippet that Google serves up for the query “can cats eat food”:
Win the featured snippet, and you’ll likely get more eyes (and ears via Google Voice Search) on your content.
You could also get a credibility boost. If Google chooses your content as the featured snippet, searchers are likely to view it as valuable.
To optimize your content for featured snippets, answer the search query as directly as possible and align with the format the snippet is currently using (paragraph, list, etc.).
To find featured snippet opportunities you can go after with your existing content, use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool.
Type in your domain and click “Set up tracking.”
Follow the Position Tracking setup guide to configure the tool, then click the “Featured Snippets” tab to see how many of your target keywords have featured snippets.
Use the “Opportunities” tab in the “Featured Snippets” table to specifically look at keywords that trigger featured snippets you don’t appear for.
Find a term you want to go after (it’s best to choose something you already rank highly for), then click the arrow icon next to the URL that currently has the snippet.
This will take you to the place on the page that contains the snippet. And the text will be highlighted for you.
Study what you see to gain inspiration on how to craft your content.
12. Improve Internal Linking
Internal links are links that point to other pages on your website, so they help distribute authority across your site and enable Google to more easily find your important pages..
Let’s say you just published a new piece of content on the nutritional needs of senior cats.
It would be a good idea to include a link to that page from a relevant existing page that’s already ranking for one or more terms. Like if you have a piece on general cat nutrition.
To find pages that could benefit from links, use Site Audit.
After you configure your project, click “View details” under the “Internal Linking” section.
Scroll down to the “Pages passing most Internal LinkRank” section and review the URLs. Because linking from these pages is most likely to benefit your less authoritative pages.
Then, take a look at the “Internal Link Distribution” section and click on “# Weak pages.”
This will take you to a list of pages that need more internal links pointing to them.
Review this list and think about whether you have other pages you can link from, particularly those from the “Pages passing most Internal LinkRank” section you reviewed earlier.
13. Add Schema Markup to Your Website
Schema markup (also called structured data) is website code that gives search engines more information about your page and makes you eligible to appear for unique search results.
These unique results are called rich results, and they contain additional information and stand out from traditional listings. Meaning they may be more likely to attract clicks from users.
Here’s an example of what a rich result can look like:
In this case, the extra links help users find sections that might be more relevant to them. And on top of that, the search box lets them find exactly what they’re looking for on the listed site.
You can use different kinds of schema markup to display information like:
- Sitelinks (the links shown above)
- Business information
- Reviews
- Product details
And more.
Don’t worry if you don’t know how to write code—free tools like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper make it easy to generate and add schema to your website.
14. Identify Competitors’ Keywords
When you target keywords that your competitors rank for but you don’t, you might be able to further boost your visibility and capture some of their traffic.
You can find these terms using Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool.
To start, enter your domain and up to four competitors’ domains, choose your location, and click “Compare.”
After running the comparison, scroll down to the table and select the “Missing” tab to see keywords your competitors rank for but you don’t.
Go through the keywords you’re missing to find high-potential topics that are relevant to your brand.
Once you’ve identified some good terms, you can draft new content targeting them.
Further reading: How to Do an SEO Competitor Analysis + Free Template
Use These Hacks for Better SEO Results
By implementing these SEO hacks, you can improve your search engine visibility and drive more traffic to your site.
But keep in mind that SEO isn’t a matter of trying a few techniques and then moving on—it’s an ongoing process.
To get the best results, use Semrush’s SEO tools.
Source link : Semrush.com
