The age-old struggle of obtaining a high rank on SERPs and gaining organic traffic is still here. In fact, it is more prominent today, all thanks to AI and its contribution to search engine optimization.

Now, SEO experts face more challenges to rank higher than their competitors as there are more technical challenges at play. However, if you start to align your SEO endeavors with Google’s requirements, you will be unstoppable.

To help you with that, we have come up with this handy guide that offers proven practices utilized by the best SEO companies serving clients in the UK, the US, and across the globe. Because these SEO tactics are tried and tested by top SEO and digital marketing agencies, and thus, we vouch for their effectiveness.

The Best SEO Practices to Achieve a Higher Rank & Organic Traffic

Focus on Your Audiences, Not Search Engines

Before jumping on the bandwagon, you need to analyze the search intent of your targeted audience. It’s the sole reason behind their search query.

Beginners often make the mistake of making an SEO plan by crafting blogs, including keywords and whatnot BEFORE understanding their audiences’ requirements. Doesn’t matter what you are selling, you have to master the marketing to attract the buyers. In this case, by acknowledging their requirements so that you can offer that information, products, or services to them.

For example, if your targeted audience is searching for “Best diet plan to lose weight” and you are offering information on the best workouts to lose weight, they are not going to visit your website. Moreover, if you are using keywords for their original search query in your workout guide, they will leave your website without exploring. This will increase your website’s bounce rate which will negatively impact your site ranking.

To avoid this hassle, use the “reverse engineering” method. It involves checking the top 10 search engine results to understand what Google is looking for.

Here are 4 different types of search intent:

• Transactional
• Navigational
• Informational
• Commercial

Avoid Keyword Stuffing and Spamming

Keyword Research for SEO is the most vital part of SEO strategy. However, it can make your SEO endeavors a big failure if you are mindlessly putting a bunch of keywords anywhere in your content.

This misuse of keyword implementation is called Keyword Stuffing and Spamming and it’s not going to help you achieve a higher rank. You might see some wave of visitors initially but you’re website will be marked as spam by Google very soon.

We have already mentioned the four types of search intent that your targeted audiences use. All you have to do is match your keyword selection with their search intent. For example, if someone is searching for a “how to” solution you should look for keywords that are used in blogs offering tutorials, and guides.  There are a lot of keyword generator tools available online that you can use for this procedure.

But wait, there’s more!

Keyword implementation should also be mindful. You cannot just shove a bunch of keywords in your content even if it’s relevant to your industry and targeted audiences’ query. Many digital marketing consulting firms, including us, suggest maintaining 1-2% keyword density. That means putting your keyword once or twice per 100 words.

Make Use of the “Related Searches” and “People Also Ask” Sections

A great tip to reach the maximum audience is to follow the “People Also Ask” section and the “Related Searches” section. This former section pinpoints all the relevant search queries. Therefore, you can create content by providing answers to all these questions. You can add a FAQ section within your content and add all these queries as well as their answers so that your webpage can be highlighted in that section.

And the latter one (Related Searches), highlights more detailed search queries, which can give you more room to try your luck with SEO ranking.

Use Descriptive by Short the URLs

This is one of the most ignored SEO optimization tips that is often ignored by many experts but it can be one of the most powerful weapons in your digital marketing inventory. Short URLs are more shareable as your visitors will be able to remember them and share them on various social media platforms easily. Moreover, search engines can comprehend short URLs more easily.

But that’s not all, simultaneously, you also need to make sure that the URLs are descriptive and have target keywords as well. Don’t include special characters or numbers. Ensure that you are not changing the URL because you should be regularly editing your blog posts. You will lose all of your backlinks and social media shares that way.

GMB Account to the Rescue

Google Business Profiles provides a ton of benefits as a local SEO strategy for local businesses trying to build a strong online footprint. The days of using the Yellow Pages to discover companies are long gone. Remember that these profiles serve as an online showroom as we go over their advantages and needs.

Local companies can greatly increase their exposure on Google Maps and in local search results by setting up a Google Business Profile. This implies that your profile is more likely to show up when prospective clients look for goods or services associated with your company in your locality. This enhanced visibility is priceless and will provide your company with a competitive advantage in drawing in customers and web traffic. 

Additionally, a Google My Business profile that is optimized acts as a trust indicator. Consumers have access to vital information about your company, such as your address, phone number, operating hours, and even images of your space. They can also examine your total rating and read reviews left by previous clients, which increases credibility and trust and increases the likelihood that they will pick your company over rivals.

Boost the Essential Web Elements

Google utilizes a collection of measures called Core Web Vitals to gauge how well users are experiencing your website. Enhancing these can result in higher rankings.

Be careful—you don't need to raise your lighthouse score or page speed insight for every single one. As John Mueller states in this video, you must concentrate on the essential elements of the web.

Google states that you should create high-quality content for people, not search engines. Thus, ensuring a positive user experience is a crucial SEO recommendation.

Determine Who Your Competitors Are in Organic Search

The websites that rank for the same keywords as you are your direct competitors in organic search. Recognizing them will enable you to comprehend the strategies they employ to improve their search engine ranking.

On Google's first page, there can only be one winner. Therefore, improving your SEO strategy and developing links through high-quality content creation is the best method to outperform your rivals.

You can use tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to uncover rivals at scale regarding the organic search.

It is not mandatory to use these tools if you are a beginner. You can easily find out who is ranking on the first page of Google by conducting a simple search for your desired phrase.

Next, create a basic Excel list and begin examining their material to determine the topics they cover, the keywords they employ, and the backlinks they are constructing.

Build a Fullproof Backlink Strategy

Link building cannot be overlooked.

Backlinks are hyperlinks that help readers and audiences to visit your website from other websites or social media platforms. In search engine optimization, these are among the most significant ranking factors.

For your website, backlinks are comparable to endorsements. It confirms and verifies with search engines regarding your website's content and reliability. 

Artificial intelligence is growing at a quick pace, which has led specialists at SEO-content writing services to write more high-quality content and try to fool search engines with less effort.

Therefore, in 2024, in order to rank higher in search engine results, essential pages should adhere to a quality backlink-building strategy.

Create Topic Clusters

In SEO, topical authority plays a significant role in ranking. You can position your website as an expert in your area by creating subject clusters.

If you have a lot of material on a certain topic, search engines will rank your website higher. Thus, be careful to develop comprehensive material that addresses every subtopic connected to your primary theme.

You can ask the AI to develop subtopics for your primary topic by using ChatGPT prompts for SEO.

Once you have written a comprehensive guide on a particular subject, you can use internal links to your newly created material to add more details and focus on relevant keywords.

This method has a resemblance to the content pillar approach employed by social media marketers.

Follow E-E-A-T Guidlines

Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are represented by the acronym E-E-A-T. It's a set of standards by which Google assesses the caliber of your website.

According to the Google Search Quality Raters Guidelines, websites with high E-E-A-T have a better chance of ranking highly in search results.

Therefore, your material must convey your subject matter expertise, authority, and reliability. Social proof, testimonies, and author biographies can all help achieve this.

Building links increases the overall authority of your website and is a crucial component of E-E-A-T.

Test Your Pages Using A/B Testing

Effective SEO is not a one-time event. It is crucial to constantly optimize the website as it is a recurring process to ensure top rankings. Additionally, A/B testing is one of the SEO best practices as it enhances the performance of website components.

For example, alter the headline structures and experiment with different Headings, add images, and display material higher on the page. Moreover, Google Optimize helps to monitor results and determine effective and ineffective strategies. Once you employ this practice, you can enjoy the benefits of your website and its performance. 

Bottomline 

Establish several SEO strategies to naturally improve the organic traffic inflow to your website and web pages. Check out for the best SEO practices and what is needed to enhance your website. 

Don’t have the time to go through all these steps? Let MyTasker help you out. We have got your back when it comes to beating your competitors with organic and updated SEO tactics.