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Content is one of the main factors that determine the positioning in search engines such as Google. Although this sophisticated algorithm evaluates your site based on more than 100 factors, the content is still the number one. So, if you want to improve your web traffic, publishing quality content for your readers and visitors is your best bet.
If you own a blog, you know how important the content is to attract a greater number of visitors and have followers and subscribers in your blog. In this article, we give you some simple tips that you should take into account if you want to optimize content for SEO and improve your positioning in search engines.
1. Update your content on a regular basis
Google also takes into account the frequency of the published content. For that reason, you must keep your website published on a regular basis. If you have a blog attached, it is easy to have your content updated because you must publish new articles regularly.
In order to keep up with the latest topics, you must keep yourself informed about them. You can research the most popular topics in Google Trends. If any of these topics can be discussed in an article on your blog, then go for it. Keep in mind that the chosen topic must be relevant to your readers.
Creating new content is not the only way to keep your blog updated, you can also add new information to previous posts. Be sure to place a note at the beginning or end of each article that indicates the exact date when the information was last updated.
2. Evaluate the relevance and presentation of your content
The algorithms of the search engines try to determine if the content of your site is relevant to the keywords that the user has entered in the search engine. For that reason, be really careful when optimizing your site with keywords and just choose the ones that are appropriate. Do not forget to use a language that is appropriate according to your target audience.
Although the written content is of great importance, remember that there are other compatible media on the web today. You can reinforce the information using videos, podcasts, and even infographics.
Another important aspect that you must take into account is to present your content appropriately. The layout, the contrast between the background and typography, as well as fluid navigation are equally relevant so that the content of your site is suitable for search engines. In this way, visitors will not hesitate to spend more time on your website. Remember to meet with web development companies to help you with optimized web pages.
3. Find out more about Google Panda
Google Panda was launched in 2011, but it is a component of the Google search algorithm that continues to be used till now. The objective was to detect those sites that duplicate content and add long keywords, but the content related to them is not relevant enough for users. Currently, long keywords are used to capture a more specific target audience. It is a good strategy and has many advantages, perhaps that is why many pages use it without really thinking about it. Luckily, Google Panda prevents the pages from using this strategy if they do not really have the content that supports it.
You can optimize your content for SEO by understanding more about Google Panda and what it means for search engines and your website. We give you a couple of tips that could be of help:
- Make sure that the site has a correct hierarchy and a valid HTML semantics.
- Check if your site has links that are not working correctly and correct them.
- Do not overuse the keywords.
- Use the canonical tag to prevent search engines from identifying pages on your site as a duplicate content.
We encourage you to continue to find out more about Google Panda on your own so that you can devise a good SEO strategy for your site.
4. Create rich responses
Rich answers are those that appear in a prominent box before the first search result. In this way, Google wants users to find short and direct answers. Of course, these answers are taken from reliable websites.
That your content is part of an enriched response to a certain question is a great way to increase and direct web traffic to your site. Of course, if you want to use this strategy to get more traffic on your site, you can do it, but you should start by investigating your target audience. What are the most common questions that people with this profile ask in reference to the topic that you are dealing with on your site? Once you have a list of questions, you can begin to answer them one by one.
It is also necessary that you use keywords in the created answers and that you make correct use of the HTML <h1 /> tag.
How does Google index your content?
Google robots, like those of other search engines, constantly browse through all web pages (including yours), jumping from one page to another through the links. Therefore, if you do not manually index a page, sooner or later it will end up appearing in search results.
Here are the ways to index web pages on Google:
1. Index a URL in Google through Search Console
If you are yet to use this tool, you are missing a lot. Indexing is very simple. Also, Google offers different methods to do it: upload an HTML file to the web, insert code through Google Analytics if you are already using it and many more.
Once inside the tool, the option that you should use to index the new content is “Explore as Google”. Once on the screen, you must enter the URL of the web page that you want to index. You must do it for both computers and mobile since they are different robots that are responsible for them.
2. Sitemap to automatically update your content
This method is not instantaneous but at least you will index your content faster than if you do nothing.
If you do not know how to make a sitemap, there are many applications that you can use. If you use WordPress as a content manager, there are many plugins for it. But if you already have Yoast SEO installed, it’s the fastest way to do it.
Once you have your sitemap created, you must upload it to Search Console. It’s very simple. You should go to the Sitemap option in the menu on the left. And once inside, indicate the URL where you have hosted the sitemap.
Once Google has your sitemap, every time it is updated and tracked, it will be aware of all the new pages of your website. And therefore, you can now index all your new content.
Conclusion
Google sets the rules, you just have to follow them. And you should be aware of the changes in Google’s search algorithm and how they can affect the positioning of your site. The techniques and strategies that were a few years ago were infallible to obtain a better SEO positioning have become obsolete and are even considered as a bad SEO practice.
You have to keep updating yourself and this can be the difference between you and your competitors.
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