Archive translation: this article reflects earlier guidance. References to platforms, rankings and features may be outdated; review them before applying the advice.
An impressive website with attractive design and current information does not guarantee large amounts of traffic. You also need to promote it through different marketing channels, such as forums and article marketing.
This article focuses on another form of marketing: search engine marketing (SEM), through improving your position in search engines such as Google. How do you improve your ranking? Through SEO, or search engine optimization, which means optimising your website so search engines can find it more easily.
An SEO-friendly website begins with keyword research. The original guidance recommends focusing on keywords with high search volumes so the work is worthwhile. It argues that spending time and effort on a keyword with only 100 searches a month offers little traffic potential. Choose target keywords with substantial search demand to increase the potential traffic to your website.
You also need on-page SEO, which involves:
- Using meta tags. Include the keyword you are targeting in these tags.
- Title tags. As with meta tags, include the keyword you are targeting in the title tag.
- Use alt text for images. Images can appear in Google search results, so give them alt text relevant to the target keyword.
- Minimise or avoid Flash/Java content because search engine spiders cannot identify that content, making the website appear less relevant to its subject.
Alongside on-page SEO, the original guidance recommends advertising your website on high-authority sites because of their traffic. It also describes backlink benefits from links on high-PageRank websites, while noting that those benefits depend on the link remaining in place.
It also recommends using social platforms, arguing that visitor activity such as comments, likes and shares signals that a website is relevant and valuable.
Focus on on-page SEO alongside suitable off-page campaigns to improve search visibility, particularly on Google. Good luck!
