How to increase website traffic with SEO

So there’s one issue with creating website content. If no one can find your content, it won’t bring visitors to your site. With 71% of search traffic clicks going to the first page of Google, to increase website traffic you’ll need an SEO strategy.

SEO is the practice of making a website more visible in search results for relevant queries by optimizing it for search engines (thus the name search engine optimization). An SEO strategy is another thing altogether, but here are some SEO fundamentals.

Increase website traffic with target keywords…

Keywords are the words and phrases that users enter into search engines, and as you can expect, some keywords receive more searches than others. Using keyword research tools, you can notice that the keyword “how to boost website engagement” receives only approximately ten monthly searches. “How to increase website traffic” receives 300, on the other hand.

How to increase website traffic volume example

If you want to increase website traffic, the latter is a superior blog post topic.

…long-tail keywords

Isn’t it true that the bigger the search volume, the greater the traffic potential? Not so fast, my friend. Many extremely popular keywords are also very broad and difficult to rank for (for example, “website” has a volume of 143,000).

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are easier to rank for and will deliver you the most relevant traffic.

Strategically place your keywords.

Keyword placement to increase website traffic

On-page SEO is all about optimizing your content so that search engines can understand it and rank it for relevant searches. Make sure that your target keyword appears in the following places:

  • Title tag (meta title)
  • H1 heading
  • At least two H2 headings
  • Naturally, in the body.
  • The first 100 words
  • Image file names and alt text
  • Meta description

Optimize your SERP appearance

To improve website traffic, it’s not enough to include the term in your meta description and meta title. To boost the appeal on the SERP and attract more organic clicks, you must optimize these critical bits of information.

Keep the meta description between 155 and 165 characters long, and make it actionable by indicating the value the reader will receive from the content.

Make the meta title 60 characters or fewer in length, with the keyword near the beginning, and include some form of benefit or value.

Internal linking

Include at least 1-3 links to other pages on your site when creating and publishing content. This will not only help to drive traffic to those pages, but it will also help to (a) keep visitors on your site longer, (b) get them to view more pages on your site, and (c) allow them to get more value from your site—all of which will help to improve your ranking and drive more traffic to your website.

Boost the speed of your website.

Have you ever waited thirty seconds for a website to load? Neither have I. Your bounce rate will be extremely high if your site takes an eternity to load. With the page experience improvement, speed has become even more of a ranking consideration. Ensure that all of your pages are technically optimized, including picture file sizes, page structure, and third-party plugin functionality. It’s better if your website loads quickly.

The PageSpeed Insights tool from Google will give you a score for your site’s speed and recommendations for improving your Core Web Vitals and more. Please make use of it!

Make sure your site is responsive.

Today, mobile traffic outnumbers desktop traffic, so forcing your visitors to pinch and scroll around your site effectively asks them to leave. Even if you only have a basic website, it must be accessible and comfortable to see on various devices, including small smartphones.

Implement Schema markup

Implementing Schema markup (or another microdata format) won’t necessarily increase website traffic on its own. Still, it will make it easier for search engine bots to find and index your pages. Another advantage of schema for SEO is that it can lead to better rich site snippets, leading to higher click-through rates.

Refresh your content regularly

Content freshness is a ranking criterion, and even the most evergreen content loses its shine over time. You’d be shocked what a content update can do, even if your post is still on the first page of Google. Simply adding a new publish date can considerably enhance CTR and move you up a few positions, increasing traffic.

However, you can’t simply alter a few words and update your post’s publish date. That is something Google is well aware of. If you want to know how to gain more traffic from evergreen content, here are some tips:

  • Update and/or add new information and stats.
  • Add new links to more recent resources.
  • To illustrate concepts, replace outdated graphics and/or build new ones.
  • Add new links to more recent resources.
  • Repair any broken links or images.
  • In Search Console, add new keywords from the query report.
  • Make changes to your meta title and description.

Get backlinks

The quantity and quality of links to your website are two of the most important Google ranking factors. The more links you have from reputable sites with a high Domain Authority, the higher your own Domain Authority will rise. The greater your DA, the better your rank, and the more traffic you’ll get—not to mention any traffic from the link itself.

There are various effective link-building tactics, but here are a few:

  • Reach out to reputable websites and offer to write a guest post with a link to your site in the body of the article or your author bio.
  • Find broken links on other websites with an SEO tool and offer yours as a replacement.
  • Produce unique, high-quality content that begs to be shared.
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About Brian Gibbs

Brian Gibbs, a San Antonio-based Digital Marketing Strategist, empowers local businesses with tailored AI and marketing solutions. Passionate about innovation and growth, he's your key to online success. Connect with Brian today.