SEO stands for search engine optimization and is among the top digital marketing strategies. It’s in the same league as content, email, and social media marketing. But SEO has its unique charm.

By mastering it, you enhance your ability to be discovered by those actively seeking the knowledge or services you provide.

So today, I’ll share some SEO best practices you should adopt to optimize your site and web pages. These practices can help you rank higher in search engines and make your content more accessible and relevant to your target audience.

SEO Best Practices in 2023 

1. Choose Keywords with Lots of Potential and Good Value

When picking keywords, think about how likely they are to bring people to your site (traffic potential) and if they are valuable (good CPC). Keywords with high traffic potential are trending topics that fit what you know and what your audience likes.

CPC, or cost per click, tells you if advertisers think a keyword is worth paying for. A high CPC means a keyword is popular. For example, “online entrepreneurship courses” has both good traffic potential and a high CPC, showing that people are willing to pay for information on this topic.

Using these keywords helps bring more visitors and is a strategic part of search engine marketing. It’s an intelligent way to get more from your effort and improve your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

To find these keywords, check out Quora and Reddit to see what your audience is talking about. Then, you can use keyword research tools like WriterZen, Semrush, or Ahrefs for deeper insights.

This helps you match your content with what people are searching for, making your search engine optimization more focused and effective. Remember, it’s about matching your content with what people want (search intent) and how search engines work.

2. Use Main Keywords in Important Places

For good on-page SEO, it’s important to put your main keyword in certain parts of your article:

• title,
• the first paragraph,
• headings,
• and description of your images (called alt-text).

When you do keyword research, you must find the main keyword for your topic and other related words (relevant keywords) that complement it well.

Make sure to use these keywords in the beginning part of your article, especially in the introduction. This tells search engines, like Google or Bing, what your content is about immediately. Also, add these keywords to your headings and image alt-text. This helps search engines better understand and find your content and makes it easier for people to use screen readers.

It’s important to use these keywords naturally. Please don’t overdo it (keyword stuffing), as it can make your article hard to read and go against the search engine guidelines.

3. Get Ready for Voice and Picture Searches

Making your posts ready for voice and picture searches is really important nowadays. The rise of these search methods is significant. Over one billion voice searches are conducted monthly, and visual search is gaining traction, particularly in e-commerce, with 36% of consumers already using it.

When people use voice search, like talking to Siri or Google Assistant, they just say what they want. For example, someone might ask, “Where can I find online entrepreneurship courses?” and your post could come up as an answer.

Picture search lets people use a photo to find similar things, like a prospect uploading a picture of a book to find more information about it.

To optimize for voice search, write as you speak. Use questions and simple language.

For picture searches, you can upload clear, relevant pictures and describe them well (alt-text). Doing this can improve your organic search results ranking and help more people find your website.

4. Apply Internal Linking Strategies 

Linking pages within your website is a simple but powerful way to help more people find your site and increase its organic traffic. This means adding links to other relevant content on your website in one of your blog posts or articles.

For example, if you write about “Effective Online Teaching Methods,” you could link to another article you wrote called “Digital Tools for Educators.” But linking to something totally different, like “Starting an E-commerce Business,” might confuse your readers and search engines.

These internal links help search engines find out which pages on your site are most important and how they are connected. This can improve your search rankings (where your site appears in search results).

An easy way to start with internal linking is to create a list of all your blog posts or articles. Once you have this list, look for opportunities where one article relates to another.

When you add these links, ensure they are easy to understand and helpful for your readers. This way, your readers can easily find more useful articles on your site, which keeps them interested and engaged.

5. Make Content That People Want to Share

When creating content for your website, think about making stuff people want to share. This not only helps your SEO efforts but also gets you more traffic. Shareable content is usually interesting, looks good, and connects with people on an emotional level.

The idea is to focus on what makes a good experience for your readers, especially on mobile phones. Google has these things called ‘core web vitals,’ which are all about how fast your page loads, how quickly it becomes interactive, and how stable it is when loading. These are important for everyone who visits your site.

One way to make your content more shareable is by using the Skyscraper Technique. It’s a strategy introduced by Brian Dean.

This means finding a topic in your area that’s already popular and then creating something even better and more detailed. This makes it more likely for people to share it.

Also, adding things like pictures, stories, or helpful tips can make your content more engaging and shareable. It’s crucial to ensure that what you’re creating is beneficial, easy, and enjoyable to read, especially for people using their phones.

So, by creating content people like and want to share, you can get more visitors to your site and do better in search results.

Improve Your Game With These SEO Best Practices

SEO is about simple yet effective steps:

• Pick keywords that many people search for and can make money (high traffic and good CPC).
• Put these keywords in your article titles, first paragraphs, and headings.
• Get ready for searches done by voice and using pictures.
• Link your articles to each other when they talk about related topics.
• Make your content something people want to share with others.

These steps make your website more accessible and appealing to your audience. However, as 2024 approaches, expect search engines to focus more on user experience. They’ll aim to make searches quicker and more efficient.

The best practices from 2023 will still matter, but it’s just as important to keep up with new trends. For instance, we might see more AI-driven searches, which will change how we find and view information online. 

To keep up, ensure your website and content are easy to use and enjoyable. Stay up-to-date on SEO changes and try out new tools and ideas. Doing this will help you stay ready for future changes in search engine optimization. 

We’d Like to Hear From You 

What SEO best practices do you think are the most effective? Let us know in the comments below.