Five Ways to Improve your Site's Ranking (SEO) | Ecommerce Series

Five Ways to Improve your Site's Ranking (SEO)

Follow these recommendations to increase your search engine optimization (SEO) and see your website soar the rankings to the top of search-engine results.

1. Publish Relevant, Authoritative Content

Quality, authoritative content is the number one driver of your search engine rankings and there is no alternative for outstanding content—this is particularly true when undertaking SEO marketing. Quality content generated particularly for your intended audience enhances site traffic, which improves your site's authority and relevancy. Fine-tune your online writing abilities and show yourself as an expert on the issue you are writing about.

Keywords

Identify and target a single keyword phrase for each authoritative content page on your website. Think about how your reader may search for that exact page using search phrases like:

• online masters in engineering management
• what is biomedical engineering?
• title IX education resources
• photographing northern lights
• how to apply for scholarships?
• when is the FAFSA deadline?
• what is the difference between engineering and engineering technology?

Multiple Keyword Phrases

It is quite difficult for a website to gain search engine ranks for many keyword phrases—unless those keywords are very similar. A single website may be able to rank for both "biomedical engineering jobs" and "biomedical engineering careers". Ranking for "student affairs" and "dean of students" or "gender discrimination" and "violence reporting processes" with a single page is doubtful.

If you want to rank for numerous keywords phrases using your website, you will need to construct a different pages for each keyword phrase you are targeting.

Placing Keywords

Once your keyword phrase is picked for a certain page, examine these questions:

• Can I utilise part or all of the keyword phrase in the page URL (by utilising keywords in folders)?
• Can I include part or all of the keyword phrase in the page title?
• Can I use part or all of the keyword phrase in page headers and subheadings?

Answering yes to these questions may boost your search engine ranking. Be natural and user-friendly, however. For instance, you do not want the term "engineering" to show up three or more times in the URL or have the phrase Northern Lights repeated in the page title and likewise every header. Readability and usability still dominate search engine optimization.

Content

Beyond page URL, title, and headers, content is most crucial on search engine results. Repeat your keyword phrase numerous times across the page—once or twice in the opening and closing paragraphs, then two to four more times throughout the remaining text. Be authoritative. Strategically connect to important sources and more information—both inside your organisations large website and even to other websites which are valuable.

Don't forget to use bold, italics, header tags (particularly an H1), and other emphasis elements to accentuate these keyword phrases—but don't overdo it. You still want your language and writing style to read organically. Never compromise decent writing for SEO. The finest pages are written for the user, not for the search engine. Read more about SEO marketing to help you uncover fresh content possibilities.

2. Update Your Content Regularly

You've obviously seen that we feel very passionately about content. Search engines do, too. Regularly updated material is seen as one of the finest markers of a site's relevance, so make sure to keep it current. Audit your material on a regular period (semesterly for example) and make modifications as appropriate.

Blogging

Writing extra material, filled with keyword terms, on your departmental news blog will further increase your search engine results. Blog entries may also be shorter updates regarding the particular themes you are targeting. Interlink your relevant CMS websites and blog posts when it helps provide the viewer a better image or extra information about the issue.

3. Metadata

When constructing your website, each page has a gap between the <head> tags to enter metadata, or information about the contents of your page. If you have a CMS site initially built by the UMC web team will have pre-populated this data for you. However, it is crucial for you to examine and update information as your site changes over time.

Title Metadata

Title metadata is responsible for the page titles shown at the top of a browser window and as the headline inside search engine results. It is the most significant info on your page.

For those with a CMS website, the web team has built an automatic technique for constructing the meta title for each pages depending on your page title. This adds to the necessity of utilising well-thought-out page names loaded with keyword terms.

Description Metadata

Description metadata is the textual description that a browser may utilise in your page search result. Think of it as your site's window display—a succinct and enticing summary of what is housed inside, with the objective of attracting users to come. A decent meta description will normally comprise two complete phrases. Search engines may not always utilise your meta description, but it is crucial to offer them the opportunity.

Keyword Metadata

Keyword information is seldom if ever utilised to tabulate search engine rankings. However, you should already know your keyword phrases, so it doesn't harm to incorporate them into your keyword information. You'll want to incorporate a range of phrases. As a general guideline, aim to restrict it to roughly 3-7 phrases with each phrase consisting of 1-4 words. A perfect example would be "computer science degree."

4. Have a link-worthy site

A webpage which is content-rich, authoritative, impartial, and helps visitors learn more about what they are interested in is most likely to get connections from other websites, which enhances your search engine optimization.

Improve your authority and trustworthiness by adding relevant links inside the content. Instead of having "click here" links, consider putting out the name of the location. "Click here" has little search engine value beyond the linked URL, however "Michigan Tech Enterprise Program" is loaded with keywords and will increase your search engine rankings as well as the ranking of the page you are connecting to. Always utilise descriptive links by connecting keywords—it not only enhances search engine optimization, but also offers value to your readers, particularly those with impairments or who are using screen readers.

5. Use alt tags

Always describe your picture and video material using alt tags, or alternative text descriptions. They let search engines to identify your website, which is crucial—especially for folks who use text-only browsers or screen readers.

All the best!