While proper keywords are vital to ensuring search engine rankings, there are many other aspects which influence rankings. Focus on below factors to rank higher the right way in search engines.

A Secure and Accessible Website (THE RIGHT URL): Your visitors will land on your website’s pages by clicking on a link, so the actual URL of a specific page really matters. Create keyword optimized and user friendly URLs that can help users understand what a page is about and Google’s bots easily crawl.

Page Speed (Including Mobile Page Speed): Page speed has been one of the leading ranking factors for SEO for startups. Google attempts to rank those websites which offer a great website user experience. Fast-loading web pages save the users’ valuable time and deliver the required information in a faster and convenient manner. So identify web performance issues on your site and make sure you have a good page speed.

Mobile Friendliness: Google has switched to mobile- first since long. Mobile friendly is now a major SEO ranking factor as more people use mobile devices than the desktop to access the web. So make sure you design a mobile friendly website to make your website rank higher in Google.

Quality content: SEO and content marketing are very much interconnected and always go hand in hand. Great content can help you drive visitors to your website and improve rankings. So focus on creating relevant, unique and useful content that provides the information users are looking for when they search a query.

Great user experience (UX) : Today user experience (UX) has become a critical SEO ranking factor. Google recognizes real human behaviour and attempts to rank websites which provide great UX from their pages. Focus on usability and UX and make sure your site is easy to navigate and contains great quality content that would make visitors want to stay and engage. The site elements of your website are like a roadmap for the search engines.

Proper and relevant Keywords: The importance of keywords in reaching SEO goals can never be denied. Pick the right and relevant keywords and phrases to attract the right audience and drive traffic to your site. Also use the right keywords in your image names and accompanying captions as well. Always remember one rule. Keeping it relevant is more important than cleverness and stuffing keywords.

As per research, the top 3 searches get the maximum clicks. And being on all-important first-page of the Search Engine Results pages (SERP) is very competitive.

Businesses also get extensive analysis of their competitors, the online marketplace and buyer behavior.

SEO is cost-effective

SEO is a cost-effective marketing tool as it targets users who are actively looking for products and services online. SEO’s inbound nature helps businesses save money as opposed to outbound strategies like cold-calling. And since SEO also targets users who are actively searching for particular products and services, the traffic resulting from SEO is more qualified than many other marketing strategies, thus increasing the savings of the business.

SEO yields high ROI

SEO provides trackable and quantifiable results. SEO companies have specialists who are able to track nearly every aspect of their SEO strategy – like increase in rankings or traffic or conversions. A more detailed analysis can also show demographic information and other engagement metrics for individuals who have interacted with a particular website.

Search engines keep filtering out poor content, and providing users with the best possible content and experience. To ensure optimum ranking, businesses hire an SEO specialist with proven experience, so as to keep getting a ranking despite the changing algorithms.

Search engine optimization tricky to a startup business

Search engine optimization might sound tricky to a startup business. Gaining website rankings amidst a really heavy competition and a large pool of content online is not at all an easy feat. However, SEO is an inevitable part of any marketing strategy which just cannot be missed by a business. The right strategies, actions, and best SEO practices can take your website visibility to a higher position and keep you up in search engine rankings. Being a start up, you would like to fast track the growth and make an impact on search engine rankings, but remember that SEO can make or break your business online. So it’s better not to take shortcuts with SEO, to achieve results faster because google dislikes all such attempts by businesses and may even penalize the website for breaking the rules. Below are a few steps defining the best SEO practices for startups, what to do and what to avoid to get fast results that last.

A good SEO strategy involves maintaining engaging social media profiles, posting informative blog articles, securing backlinks from authoritative sites and seeking online customer reviews. These help in improve authority. And as the brand is more and more visible on the internet, it generates more brand awareness.

SEO can be used for gathering information and data

Search engines work round-the-clock to gather information and data from the world’s websites. Engines organize that information so that it is easy to find. This is a three-step process – (i) crawling web pages (ii) indexing them (iii) ranking them with search algorithms.

SEO can be used for advertising

There are two vital sides to SEO advertising – optimizing the website to make it more visible in organic searches supplemented with pay-per-click advertising

Together, they are the dynamic duo of marketing.

SEO ensures improved user experience

A website needs to include optimized content that not only reads well, but also sells, inspires, educates, and ultimately, gives people the necessary information to guide them through the buying process too.

To complete the positive user experience, the content should be presented in a manner that not only looks good, is easy-to-navigate, quick-to-load and mobile-friendly, but also easy for search engines to list and place it in top 5 search websites. SEO consists of rearranging the site’s architecture and links to make pages within the website easier to find and navigate.

Optimized blog posts and videos also help improve the ranking of websites.

With each new algorithm update, search engines strive to provide users with the best, most relevant content. Sites that do not keep themselves updated lose their position quickly.

SEO increases the quality and quantity of website traffic

Everything that one searches on the internet is via search engines, and with more than 90% of the total search engine market share, Google has the biggest market share. With the right SEO techniques, search engines help in redirecting users to a particular website or webpage.

Top positions on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) receive a majority of the impressions and clicks. Hence, ranking in the top positions helps increase significant amount of traffic to a website.

With the increasing usage of smartphones, there has been a significant rise in mobile searches. Google provides people with localized results, which helps boost small businesses. This also gives small businesses an opportunity to compete with larger businesses, provided that small businesses have the right SEO techniques in place.

SEO also focuses on creating informative and keyword-relevant title tags and meta descriptions, which help increase the click-through rate, ultimately increasing the web traffic.

To help you guide all your SEO efforts in the right direction, we have come up with the following tips that you can use to enhance your SEO impact when completely understood:

SEO is a ‘long-term’ commitment: Too many businesses assume that SEO can easily be kicked up a notch with just the flip of ‘switch’. Even after investing a healthy budget for organic search, it is something that takes time. You have to be ready to invest not just money but time also if you truly want to make your SEO efforts successful. You, as a business owner, never want to put all of your eggs in one basket so allocate your digital efforts to other components as well. See, paid strategies like PPC campaigns and Facebook ads are easy to scale. But to reap the maximum benefits of SEO, you must spend the time needed.

SEO should be built into other digital marketing components: While mapping out your digital marketing plans, it is necessary to think of your SEO strategies and goals. This will help you amplify your SEO with little to zero effort, apart from your creative thinking. One such effective ways to effectively put your business in front of your audience is through email marketing. As per the CEO of Direct Mail – Shawn Burst, ‘Something as simple as including a link to a piece of valuable content on your website at the end of your message and encouraging social shares is something that can help you generate social signals and even earn links every time you mail, especially if you have a large list’.

Focus more on the SEO metrics that truly matter: One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to SEO is that they focus more on the metrics i.e. keywords ranking, keywords search volume, etc. that pull the wool over your eyes the overall success. For instance, a keyword might have 100,000 of search volume monthly but only contribute to your business with only 5-6 conversions, while a keyword, on the other hand, having 500 search volume can also contribute with up to 30-50 conversions. Hence, it is not important if a keyword has a higher search volume can also have a higher conversion rate. When you understand this simple fact, you can focus on the SEO metrics that truly help your business and its revenue.