Grow Your Organic SEO
Organic vs. Paid SEO
When searching Google’s infinite knowledge, you may not realize the two types of results that pop up for each search. The right hand column and the first three results that show are actually ads that the company paid to show in those top spots. The rest of the page is what is known as organic results. Organic SEO describes the processes to obtain a natural placement on organic search engine results pages, in other words, the SEO you don’t necessarily pay for.
Organic SEO leads to a greater exposure of your company’s website, and generally looks more credible in the eyes of the customers. Organic search results generally receive more clicks than paid ads, which leads to more clicks and more business. (1)
Tips to Increase Organic SEO
Unique Content
Search Engines give preference to new, fresh pages over existing ones. By continually creating new content, Search Engines will pull that new page before displaying an older page of a similar company.
Keyword List
Write a list of the most popular terms potential customers will search when looking for your products/services. You can check the popularity of each term with Google’s Keyword Planner. Once you have a concrete list, use those keywords in the content on each page. Those pages will drive rank, traffic and conversions. (2)
Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are added in the back end of your website. The tag is meant to be a short explanation of the content on a page. It is best to keep the meta descriptions under 150 characters.
ALT Tags
An ALT tag is an HTML attribute entered in an image tag to provide alternative text when an image can’t be displayed on a page. Search Engines give high priority to web pages with ALT tags attached to the page elements. Be sure to use descriptive keywords in your ALT tags.
URL Names
URLs should be short and descriptive with as few extra characters as possible. You should also use keywords in your URL, and place them as close to the domain name as possible. You want potential customers to associate those keywords with your company as quickly as possible.
Mobile-Friendly Site
Mobile-friendly, or responsive, websites have a significantly better search result than websites that are not responsive. A responsive website allows for easy viewing while on a mobile device or tablet. Search engines take into account whether a site is mobile-friendly or not when deciding which results are best to show in a search. (3)
Issues with Organic SEO
Organic search results can be a big benefit to a business when done correctly. However, you might be hurting your organic search results without even knowing it. Overuse of the same keywords or content will confuse the search engine. If two pages on a website have the exact same content, Google won’t know which page is relevant and will not show either page. Use close variations of keywords, and make sure all of the pages have content unique to just that page. Google Webmaster Tools is a great website to use for identifying what is defined as duplicate content. (4)
Site speed also plays a factor in the search engine ranking algorithm. Is your site is slow, you have little chance of a high search position. (5)
Article 1: Should You Focus on SEO or Pay-Per-Click Marketing?
Article 2: Keyword Research Must Answer These Questions
Article 3: 14 Tips for Improving Your Organic Search Performance on Google
Article 4: Duplicate Content: Causes and Solutions
Article 5: Page Speed