SEO Made Simple: 10 Easy Wins for Higher Rankings

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become like saying Beetlejuice.

It often feels quite daunting, but in reality it's nothing more than scary makeup parading around.

All SEO truly is, is a way for you to reach more prospective customers by increasing your visibility. How can one achieve this? By ranking higher on search engines (like Google). Yea... that's pretty much it.

The higher your site appears, the more likely people are to click, increasing traffic and conversions. Because, if we're being honest, who here actually scrolls through the 199 pages of Google when you search something? You scroll to the bottom of the 1st or 2nd and call it a day based on your options.

SO, why does SEO matter? It helps with:

• Organic Traffic: to attract qualified visitors without the use of paid ads.

• Credibility: Websites on the first page of search results are perceived as more trustworthy by viewers.

• Long-Term ROI: Unlike ads, SEO initiatives compound over time

10 Easy SEO Tips for Higher Rankings

1. Optimize Title Tags and Meta Descriptions with KEYWORDS

• This is where the trigger word 'keywords' comes into play. By crafting compelling title tags (60 characters or less) that include keywords, frequently used words in searches, you can rank higher as you have more relatability to the search.

  • Why It Matters: These elements are the first things users see on SERPs, influencing click-through rates (CTR).

Example:

From:

• Title: “Easy Vegan Dinner Recipes"

• Meta: “These are some easy vegan dinner recipes you can make this week."

To:

• Title: “10 Best Vegan Recipes for Beginners | Quick & Easy Meals”

• Meta: “Explore these beginner-friendly vegan recipes! From hearty breakfasts to quick dinners, you’ll love these plant-based dishes.”

2. Keyword Research

• In order to properly optimize your title and descriptions you need to properly identify what the truly impactful, and highest converting keywords are that your audience is searching for.

  • It's best to choose keywords with high search volumes but low competition so you can increase your ranking when someone types the highly searched term. This looks like focusing on long-tail keywords (long-tail= more than 1-2 words) like “best vegan protein for athletes" to target this very specific search intent.

• Tools to help: Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs.

3. Improve Page Load Speed

• No one has any patience anymore. If your bounce rate (how quickly people leave your site) is high then you will rank lower and decrease the chances of connecting with potential customers. There are many factors that effect bounce rate and one is your page's loading speed (how long it takes for your site to look the way it should when someone clicks into it). You can help your speed by compressing images, enabling caching, and minimizing code.

  • Why It Matters: Google prioritizes UX, user experience, and slow sites often see higher bounce rates because no one likes waiting and will leave after a certain period of stagnancy.

• Tool to help: Google’s PageSpeed Insights to assess your site’s performance.

  
  

4. Use Internal Links

• Unless you're dating, very few people are in detective mode, and let's be real, when we are in detective mode, we like a quick mystery. Websites, to a degree, are a mystery to new customers.

• If you're selling a fragrance and have 50 tabs, that's going to feel overwhelming to the audience, no matter how helpful they are, because of the psychological phenomena known as the paradox of choice. However, if you properly implement useful links on your pages that easily guide customers through your site ( this is called internal linking), you can improve the UX and SEO.

Example:

• Internal Link: “Learn more about vegan nutrition in our beginner’s guide to vegan diets.”

5. Optimize for Mobile

• A beautiful website on a laptop is fantastic when you find it, but if we're being honest, no one cares how beautiful your website could be if what they're seeing looks like trash. With over 50% of global web traffic now coming from mobile devices, it's crucial to ensure your website is mobile-friendly with a responsive design, and, you guessed it, Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing.

  • Tip: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to evaluate your site and make adjustments from there.

6. Create High-Quality Content

• This one may seem like a no-brainer but you'd be surprised about how lazy some content feels. Focus on creating in-depth, evergreen content that remains relevant over time is no easy feat but it is, in essence, simple if you dedicate proper time and attention to its creation.

• You can do this easily by simply answering frequently asked questions (FAQs) from your customers, including visuals like images, infographics, or videos that are clean and related to the subject matter, easy to scan so someone in 'doomscrolling mode' is intrigued enough to stop and take a closer look.

  • Why It Matters: Valuable, shareable content attracts backlinks and keeps users engaged longer. Algorithms on social media platforms especially are designed to boost content that's being engaged with because it keeps people on the app for longer. The more relevant you seem, the more people you're shown to and the higher SEO rankings you can expect to have.

7. Optimize Images

• We're all about the aesthetics nowadays, even if we don't want to admit it. Beauty is only skin-deep, but we only see skin so it better be worth it. Compressing images to reduce load times, using descriptive file names (e.g., "vegan-lasagna-recipe.jpg"), adding alternative text (alt text) to every image, and incorporating keywords helps improve your images and, therefore, improve your SEO.

  • Why: Alt text improves accessibility and helps search engines understand your images, when people search for things like 'lasagna'. Your lasagna recipe is more likely to be featured if it's literally titled 'lasagna'.

8. Use Backlinks

• The trigger word back-linking sounds convoluted but it really boils down to your ability to connect with other sources that are reputable. It's like if you're reading a newspaper about someone you've never heard of and you look them up. If all you can find are their social pages then you think of them as a regaulr person. But if you find news articles from People, USWeekly, Hello!, and Vogue then you'll think 'wow a celebrity'.... backlinks are like being featured.

9. Secure Your Website with HTTPS

• A secure website (https://) boosts rankings and builds user trust. Check your site’s SSL certificate status and upgrade if necessary.

  • Tip: Most hosting providers offer free SSL certificates.

10. Monitor and Update Old Content

• Don’t let old blog posts and pages collect dust. Refresh content with updated statistics, new insights, and better keywords.

  • Why It Matters: Updated content signals relevance to search engines and can quickly improve rankings.

4 Essential SEO Tools to Help You

1. Ahrefs

• What It Does: Comprehensive tool for keyword research, backlink analysis, and site audits.

• How It Helps: Uncover content gaps, identify top-performing keywords, and track competitor strategies.

• Key Feature: Content Explorer to find popular topics in your niche.

2. SEMrush

• What It Does: All-in-one marketing tool with advanced SEO capabilities.

• How It Helps: Perform keyword research, analyze competitors, and monitor your rankings.

• Key Feature: On-page SEO checker for detailed recommendations.

3. Yoast SEO

• What It Does: A WordPress plugin that simplifies on-page SEO optimization.

• How It Helps: Guides you in optimizing meta tags, content, and readability directly within your site editor.

• Key Feature: Traffic light system for easy optimization (red, yellow, green indicators).

4. Google Search Console

• What It Does: Free tool by Google to monitor your site’s performance in search results.

• How It Helps: Identify indexing issues, track keywords, and measure traffic.

• Key Feature: Search performance report to analyze click-through rates (CTR) and impressions.

Final Thoughts: SEO Success Made Simple

SEO doesn’t have to be complicated.

The key is to start small, stay consistent, and continually adapt as you track your results.