10 top rules of SEO
Rule 1: Keep an eye on the target group
It is particularly important for search engine optimisation that you keep an eye on the desired target group. Finally, you ultimately build the entire marketing concept around this. So you have to determine in advance exactly which users you want to address with your website or your products or services. Then adapt the entire structure of the website, including all content to the needs of this target group.
Rule 2: SEO not only for the search engine
For many website owners, search engine optimisation primarily means optimizing the content in order to improve the ranking in the search engine. This means that the content is usually only suitable for Google, but not for the potential customer. After all, the search-engine-optimized content rarely addresses the target group to the same extent. As a result, when creating the content, it is just as important to meet the needs of the target group. Therefore, never only pay attention to the pure search engine optimisation, but also to the usability, which should appeal to the user.
Rule 3: Added value for the user
A decisive criterion for the ranking of a website on Google is the length of time, i.e. the period of time, in which the user remains on the website, for example, to obtain information or order products. You can effectively increase this length of stay by offering the user interesting content that encourages them to continue reading. When creating the content, it is therefore about the so-called “added value”. The art is to design a text in such a way that it contains both a high added value and various keywords that are used for search engine optimisation. At the same time, you must pay attention to legibility.
Rule 4: Find the right keywords
The value of the keywords has decreased somewhat in recent years, but they are still of great importance. With the help of tools, you can therefore search for the relevant keywords as well as the associated terms and synonyms, which you then incorporate sensibly into the text. Make sure that the keywords are not used too often, as Google would immediately recognize this as keywords spam and would punish your website with a loss of ranking.
Rule 5: Slow growth
One of the biggest mistakes is to shape a website overnight with all your might. Google notices this immediately. Therefore, the motto is more than ever that you have to focus on slow growth. Set the content over a longer period of time and make sure to always include new content over and over again. This is very important so that you can permanently bind the target group to yourself. This also applies to link building. A website that has excellent links from one day to the next is rarely seen by Google as good, but rather as inferior. You should therefore implement the link structure in a targeted and continuous manner.
Rule 6: Link extensively
Both internal and external links play a major role in search engine optimisation. The links that point to yours from another website are especially valuable. For Google, this means that the more links lead to your website, the more interesting Google will rank your page. However, the quality of the links also plays a crucial role here, because Google has long been familiar with the problem that links can also be bought. For example, PageRank is used to check the quality of the links.
Internal links that link the individual sub-pages of your website together are also important for SEO. Finally, they serve to keep your internet presence clear.
Rule 7: Create a sitemap
You can enter the sitemap using an appropriate webmaster tool. With the sitemap, Google recognizes which files play an important role on your website.
Rule 8: Pay attention to SEO trends
Search engine optimisation is not a one-off affair, but rather a permanent factor. Not only the trends for SEO change, but also the wishes of the users. It is therefore important that you always keep an eye on the current status of your website and constantly incorporate innovations.
Rule 9: Identify improvement needs
Even if the content of your website is designed to be user and search engine friendly, this does not necessarily mean the success of a page. Finally, other factors that can negatively influence the ranking play a decisive role. This includes For example, loading times are too long, or image files are too large. Long parameters in the URLs, as well as Flash and Frames, can also stand in the way of your success and should therefore be checked or adjusted exactly.
Rule 10: Wait, wait, wait
Search engine optimisation is a lengthy process, the success of which usually does not come overnight. It is therefore important that you do not throw in the towel, but have a lot of patience.