In the world of SEO, no strategy is ever completely safe. Every once in a while, Google will release a new algorithm update that will crack down on potentially spammy websites.
These algorithmic shifts often cause major upheaval for website owners who rely on certain black-hat SEO techniques by an SEO company in Bangalore. With that being said, there’s still plenty you can do to give your site a leg up against your competition. Here are 15 lesser-known SEO hacks that could help you get ahead of the competition:
Use Schema.org markup to highlight your content.
One of the most surefire ways to get your content to stand out in search results is through “schema mark up.” Schema markup essentially involves adding a few bits of extra code to your existing content to help search engines better understand what you’re trying to say. You’ll want to use schema markup if you write posts related to events, people, and organizations. For example, if you’re writing a blog post about Leonardo da Vinci, you should use schema markup to indicate that you’re writing about a person, not a place. Using schema markup will make it easier for users to find your content. You’ll also make it easier for Google to understand your page.
Don’t spam your URL with keywords.
Some SEO gurus will tell you that you should stuff your URL with the keywords you want to rank for. For example, if your blog post is about “how to bake the perfect pie,” some people might recommend making your URL “how-to-bake-the-perfect-pie.com” or “the-best-pie-recipe-ever.com” This is a very risky strategy, and you’re much better off without it. Google looks at the URL of your website as a huge indicator of whether your site is spammy. If your URL has nothing to do with your content, then Google will likely flag you as a spammer and penalize you. This doesn’t mean you should avoid keywords entirely. It just means that you shouldn’t stuff your URL full of them.
Turn off JavaScript for SEO purposes.
This one is a bit controversial. Some SEO gurus will tell you to turn off your JavaScript to boost your SEO. If your JavaScript is on and your page loads slowly enough for Google to detect that it has too much JavaScript, your page will be flagged as having “too much content.” Turning off your JavaScript will solve this problem.
Create a Google My Business listing.
You should create a Google My Business listing if your brand is a physical business. This will allow you to take advantage of Google’s “Local Pack,” which shows businesses in local search results. By adding your business to Google’s Local Pack, you’ll give yourself an extra boost of traffic. Your listing will also include photos, address information, and information about your business hours. By creating a Google My Business listing, you’ll make sure that Google knows to show your business information in local search results. This will also make it easier for customers to find your online presence.
Write evergreen content and promote it on social media.
One of the best SEO strategies you can employ is to write evergreen content. Evergreen content is content that doesn’t have an expiration date. Its content will be just as relevant five years from now as it is today. Creating evergreen content will give search engines a reason to keep linking to your page. Promoting this content on social media will give potential customers a reason to link to your page and drive more traffic to your site.
Use clickable anchor text in your blog posts (with caution).
Many people think that anchor text only matters if you’re building backlinks. It plays a huge role in on-site SEO, too. You can help Google know what your page is about by including clickable anchor text in your blog posts. This will help you rank higher in search results. You can anchor those pages to important keywords by linking to your most important pages. By linking to your homepage, you can anchor it to words that don’t necessarily describe it.
Write headlines that get noticed and promote them on social media.
Headlines with fewer than five words get the most clicks. If you want your blog posts to rank high in search results, you’ll want to make sure your headlines are as attention-grabbing as possible. You’ll also want to ensure that your headlines match your clickable anchor text. Promoting your posts on social media and using relevant anchor text will drive more traffic to your site. Social media is one of the easiest ways to drive traffic to your website. Incorporating SEO into your social media strategy will make it easier for people to find and link your blog posts.
Use Google’s Featured Snippet Tool to see what appears in search results.
The Featured Snippet Tool is a handy tool that you should bookmark. This tool allows you to see what appears in search results for any keyword. Using the Featured Snippet Tool, you can see what people are clicking on and use those search results to help you write better more engaging content.
Add rich snippets to your website, but only if they provide value.
Certain rich snippets, such as “Author” and “Review,” are completely unavoidable. You can’t turn these off and shouldn’t try to game them. But there are plenty of other rich snippets you can implement to potentially rank higher in search results and give your content an edge over your competition.
Leverage tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to find out what keywords you should be targeting.
You can also use these tools to see what your competitors are up to and what keywords they are targeting. This can give you a good idea of the keywords you should be using to get the most bang for your buck. You can also use keyword research tools to find long-tail keywords for blog posts, blog comments, and other pieces of content.
Internal SEO
Internal SEO refers to the process of optimizing your website in a way that helps to improve your overall search engine rankings. You can do several things to optimize your website from a content standpoint.
Blogging
If you’re not blogging, you’re missing a huge opportunity in terms of SEO. The fact is that search engines like Google highly value websites that regularly update their content with new blog posts. Consequently, if your website regularly publishes new content, it will likely rank higher on Google.
Video Marketing
Videos are quickly becoming one of the most effective and efficient ways to market your business online. There are several reasons for this. First, videos are more memorable than simply reading about something on a webpage. Second, when you incorporate video into your marketing strategy, you are certain to rank higher on Google, leading to more targeted traffic to your site from people actively looking for what you have to offer.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is another powerful SEO practice businesses can incorporate into their online marketing strategy. When you blog, you publish guest posts on other websites to drive targeted traffic and leads to your website. The only difference between guest blogging and writing your blog posts is that you publish them on other blogs instead. When you implement SEO best practices when guest blogging, you can be certain to rank highly on Google because search engines like to reward and rank highly blogs that regularly publish new content with high authority.
Employee Education and Outreach
Employees are a huge asset to any business. They have the potential to bring in far more business than you ever imagined. One of the best ways to help your employees expand your business and generate leads is to help them