Every company, regardless of its size or industry, works for a high position in the Google search engine. Many positioning companies decide to trust specialists – SEO agencies or freelancers with extensive experience. However, there are also those who want to position the site themselves. When should you decide on this? How to position a website with services step by step?
When should you position the page yourself?
Website positioning is not an easy task. It requires constant monitoring and analysis of conducted activities, as well as adaptation to changing Google algorithms. The difficulty of this task means that many companies (even those micro) decide to cooperate with SEO agencies. However, there are also some daredevils who want to position their website on their own. This can be tempted when:
– you have a lot of free time – positioning requires not only knowledge but
also large resources of free time; this is often a full-time job, so if you
want to combine it with acquiring and servicing clients, marketing
and accounting, then you have to focus on failure;
– you have a limited SEO budget – the salary of a
good SEO specialist may be too high for many companies (especially those
entering the market); so if you don’t have the right budget, you can implement
the first SEO activities yourself; this will reduce the cost of doing business
while not losing visibility in the search engine;
– you are passionate about SEO and want to develop
your knowledge and test in practice; in this situation, working on SEO of your
own site is a great idea;
– you can afford to use the trial and error method
– without extensive knowledge of SEO, and yet wanting to position the site
yourself, you need to prepare for mishaps (including financial); often part of
the budget is lost on independent positioning; errors can also lead to a
decrease in the position of the page in the search engine, a decrease in
website traffic, and thus a decrease in sales.
Where to start positioning the page?
Positioning is a complex process. That is why you should do an SEO audit of your site before you join it. Its task is to check which activities are carried out correctly and which ones should be improved or implemented additionally. The SEO audit is also intended to show whether the technical background allows smooth implementation of optimization changes.
It is worth remembering that when auditing the page, pay attention not only to technical issues, but also to the functionality of the site, visual attractiveness and other factors that can reduce the conversion rate. What should definitely be checked during the audit is:
– Website indexing – positioning cannot be discussed if the website will
not be displayed in the search engine; the first step is to verify your site’s
indexing; this can be done by typing in the search engine: site: domain
name.com – all subpages and pages indexed in Google will appear in the results;
if your site is not appearing, please send a request to have it crawled by
Google Search Console; it is worth returning the indexing request if something
has changed on the page;
– Metadata on the page – they determine the
content of a given subpage; they are important to both Google robots and users;
metadata should be on every page of the site; you should ensure that they are
prepared in accordance with the guidelines, i.e. have the appropriate length
and content of keywords.
– Headlines in published content – they are of key
importance in positioning; headlines H1 and H2 have the greatest weight, but it
is recommended to use these H3-H6.
– Page loading speed – this parameter affects not
only SEO, but also the convenience of using the website; a page that is loading
too long will cause the Internet user to leave it before it opens; the loading
speed of the website can be checked using the free Page Speed Insights tool
provided by Google; if the loading speed is not satisfactory, then corrective
actions, e.g. image compression, will be necessary.
– Adaptation to mobiles devices – website
responsiveness is one of the basic factors affecting SEO; whether the website
is responsive can be checked by performing mobiles optimization tests;
– Optimized URL – links to individual subpages
should be friendly to Google’s algorithm and users; it must be unique, legible
and provide information about what is actually on the site.
– Website structure – it is important that it is
legible and intuitive; it should have a simple navigation system; this will
help in positioning and avoid high bounce rate.
– SSL certificate – it ensures that all data sent
by the website is protected; lack of encryption protocol will mean low
security, worse conversions, as well as poor website credibility; certificate
ownership can be checked using SSL verification tools.
– Inbound links – high quality inbound links
currently count in SEO; they should not be placed on suspicious sites that may
be negatively evalsuated by Google’s algorithms; the quality of incoming links
can be checked through free tools available on the Internet.
What after the audit?
The next step after the audit is to prepare an SEO strategy. It is extremely important when positioning yourself. It will allow you to implement subsequent optimization changes in turn. The SEO strategy should cover the most important issues such as: keyword list, website content, link building. It’s a good idea to check how competitors that find high positions in the search engine, present their content, products, services, competition.
5 tasks that you need to do when positioning on-site
Independent positioning of the site, it is worth starting with the activities carried out on the site, i.e. on-site. Internal positioning is based on several important issues.
Keywords in positioning
The first is keywords. A lot depends on their proper selection. When choosing them, check among others do they really match the website theme, are they useful, what is their competitiveness. The selected keywords should be grouped so that they coincide with subsequent stages of the sales funnel. Thanks to this it will be possible to reach customers at every stage of purchase.
Many people positioning the site independently, choose keywords based on experience in the industry. This is a good solution if you want to create a wide list of phrases. Searching for keywords is good if you pay attention to long-tail phrases, those related to keywords (creating the so-called thematic contexts), informational key phrases (answering the users question), commercial key phrases (containing the brand name).
Content in positioning
The content posted on the site is very important. When preparing those to help in SEO, you should pay attention to both their attractiveness, as well as editing and appearance. The texts published on the website must be interesting, practical, written in a simple and friendly language, and above all unique – Google does not like duplication of content. The whole should be divided into logical paragraphs separated by headings H1-H6 and also have at least 3000 characters including spaces. A good recommendation is also putting on content in the material, without ornaments, not saturated with adjectives and keywords.
Graphics in positioning
The properly used multimedia will also help in positioning the website. Graphics or video are a natural complement to the texts. They visualize the described issue, they can present a product or service. However, for photos / videos to improve SEO, they need to be properly optimized. Most important is the alt attribute read by Google.
Internal linking – a must have for every website
When running a small website with services, internal linking must be carried out. To this end, while building a blog, we construct content to include keywords for which particular services are positioned. Under these keywords on the blog we put internal (intertext) links that direct to services. As a result, Google “raises” internally linked landing page positions.
Readability and intuitiveness of website in positioning
The readability and intuitiveness of the site is UX – user experience. This concept conceals the impressions and feelings of users who reach the site. The more friendly the navigation and layout are, the higher the conversions. If you want to take care of UX, positioning the page yourself, you should take care of: the structure of the website, usability, adaptation to mobiles devices, valuable content, voice search. Friendly UX, however, consists of many more factors: appearance, feelings, usability, website goals, content transparency, language used, color used.
2 tasks that you need to perform when off-site positioning
When positioning the website yourself, you cannot neglect external activities. They mainly focus on obtaining links from valuable websites and eliminating those on low-rank websites. Link building, however, is not the only task in off-side positioning.
Link Building in positioning
Link Building is one of the most important positioning pillars. The lack of incoming links is the main reason for the lack of high position in Google. Link Building in positioning is a very broad topic. The most important thing in independent positioning, however, is to place links to valuable websites. These are primarily considered to be those related to some degree to a positioned website, as well as those of high authority. It is also desirable to get dofollow links.
Linking is also important for SEO. There are several possibilities here. A link to positioning the page can be placed by linking the key phrase (exact mach) or its altered version, or a semantic keyword (partial mach). Often, zero macht linking is used, i.e. the key phrase is linked, but the word here is. You can also link the company name or paste the exact URL into the text.
Google My Business
This is a business card that largely translates into improved SEO. You have to create your business card yourself. The entire process of establishing it is 5 steps and includes providing the most important information about the company. The business card is created after data verification by Google. It is worth focusing to provide accurate data on working hours, address, products, type of business, website address. It is also advisable to place photos and opinions, i.e. social evidence.
Summary
Independent positioning of the website is a time-consuming process, difficult for many people, but possible. Using the check list above, you will perform the most important actions that will allow your website or online store to achieve a high position in Google. It is worth remembering, however, to look at each of these steps thoroughly and deepen knowledge in the field of individual elements affecting positioning. It should be realized that there is no universal recipe for website positioning. Different activities work in every situation. This is why, in many cases, achieving high positions in search engines is the result of a combination of creative approach, knowledge of the industry and experience in SEO.
