Search engine optimization. If you’re not incorporating it into your digital marketing strategy, you should be. In fact, according to SERPs (Search Engine Results Page), the majority of search engine users are more likely to click on one of the top 5 website suggestions on the first page of search engine results. If SEO is a new game for you though, it might be a little daunting. That’s why the Huckleberries are here to give you some of our SEO tips for beginners.
Optimize Site Speed
How fast your page loads is imperative in determining the SEO ranking on most search engines. You don’t want to spend all day waiting for a page to load, and neither does anyone else. Search engines are aware of this. A potential viewer could leave your site if it takes more than 2 seconds to load a page. Therefore, it is essential that you are mindful of your site’s overall performance and speed. Filter out the elements that can negatively affect the speed of your site. For example, if your site is on WordPress, remove any unused plugins; they’re only taking up space. Another useful tip is to reorganize your site’s sidebar. If it’s not relevant, it needs to go. Make sure to also compress images, CSS, JavaScript and HTML files to improve the conversion rate of your site. Google Pagespeed Insights or Pingdom are also some great tools to check out to get started.
Create Original Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are short descriptions that are associated with each page of your site and appear in search results. Meta descriptions should always be relevant to the page it is referencing, but still creative enough to capture the interest of your audience.  Manu site owners create duplicate meta descriptions or ignore meta descriptions altogether, which actually causes them to lose out on high search engine rankings — as well as potential visitors and customers. In fact, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s search spam, says having no meta description at all is actually better than having a duplicate. Why? Because Google hates duplicate content and will penalize your site if you use duplicate meta descriptions. If you are a WordPress user, try creating your own meta descriptions for each of your web pages using the Yoast SEO Tool.
Analytics are Your Best Friend
Once your SEO goals have been determined, start using the right tools to help you monitor and collect data on the performance of your site, as well as the actions of your web visitors, on a regular basis. Determine which areas are doing well, as well as which ones aren’t to identify what you’re doing right and where you could use a little improvement. Luckily, there are plenty of free, useful tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console that can keep a track on your site’s performance in real time.
