It’s easier than ever to make a gorgeous website from scratch. Anyone can spend a weekend working on their website and have a beautiful, functional website that appeals to their customer base. Since today’s WordPress is more user-friendly than ever, there’s really no need to do any coding or have programming skills. Most of the templates allow you to simply plug in widgets and create pages with ease! For additional help refining your digital marketing strategy, check an SEO company in Toronto.

There are a few things that separate the marginal websites from good ones. Specifically, a website that is going to function at an optimal level needs to be SEO optimized. Make sure that your website is as great as it can be by simply adhering to some basic principles of SEO.

Make Sure That Your Website Is Responsive

The importance of a responsive website can’t be overstated. Not only does having a responsive website significantly enhance the user experience, but it is also critical to ensuring that you don’t get penalized by Google. Google has been making steps to prioritizing responsive websites since 2015, and now traditional sites are in serious danger of being left in the dust.

Responsive websites are those that conform automatically to every device. Since people use their phones for far more than just making calls these days, it’s important to make sure that they don’t need to pinch and squint to see your website. WordPress has a number of automatically responsive themes, so making sure that your website is user-friendly is easier than ever!

Fill Out The Alt Tags On Your Images

This is an easy fix that so many people miss! When you upload an image you have the option to fill out the alt tag with pertinent information about that image. When Google’s robots scroll through websites for relevant content they are looking for text, not images. Filling out the alt tag with relevant and descriptive information will make sure that Google sees and notes the image on your website.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you can keyword stuff your alt tags. This is known as Black Hat SEO and is strongly frowned upon. If Google suspects that you are stuffing your images they could penalize your website. Google constantly changes its algorithm to catch people who are trying to cheat on their SEO, so they will pick up on any underhanded keyword stuffing.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing In Your Blogs

Everyone knows that you need to have a good blog, but many people think that it’s okay to incorporate mediocre writing stuffed with keywords into your website. This is a big no-no!

Keyword stuffing is obvious to readers and frowned upon by Google. Articles that are stuffed with keywords tend to be clunky and illegible. You don’t want to lure customers to your website simply to turn them off with poorly written copy. Invest in a good writer, and make sure that your posts are engaging, timely and written with authority. Write for people instead of robots. You’ll still win points with Google and you’ll keep your customers engaged.

Fill Out All Of Your Metadata

Every single page and post on your website should be optimized for SEO, and that means properly filling out your metadata. Metadata is the information that lets both Google and your customers know what to expect from the page. Improperly filled out metadata can seriously hurt your SEO rankings.

You can make sure that your metadata is filled out properly by installing a plugin like Yoast that reads through your data and makes suggestions for improvement.

Smart plugins like Yoast also work to ensure that your copy is readable. You’ll be able to get a snapshot of how effective your copy is likely to be simply by reading a Yoast report. The plugin is free, so make sure that you take the time to install it for optimal SEO!

Create Plenty Of Relevant Links

The key word here is relevant! Incorporating links that don’t make sense into your website will not do you any favors. It’s important to have plenty of logical internal and external links when building your website. If you have industry partners or collaborators that are willing to link back to you, that’s even better!

Incorporating relevant links into your website will build credibility and catch the eye of Google’s robots, who want to see that you are an authority figure on your subject matter. The more richly linked your website is, the more likely that Google will be to bump you up in the search engine rankings.

Effective SEO is not rocket science. There are plenty of ways to boost the functionality and attractiveness of your website. Simply by employing the methods outlined here, or by seeking out some of the top SEO services in Toronto, you can get your website ready for an amazing 2019!