10 SEO tips and their importance in 2022

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which means optimising your website and pages for search engines like Google. The goal is for your website to become more findable and rise in search results. With the proliferation of businesses and websites, and the fact that more and more people are paying attention to SEO, you really can't be left behind. Otherwise, you will simply be snowed in by your competitors. In this blog, we will tell you the ins and outs of SEO and give you SEO tips you can start using right away.

SEO tips: pleasing Google

Google is the biggest search engine used worldwide; also in the Netherlands. More than 90% of Dutch people used Google as a search engine in 2019. So it's not surprising that people tune their SEO to Google's requirements and rules. The only tricky thing is that, unfortunately, Google does not write down those wishes and rules very clearly and share them publicly with anyone who would like to know. So SEO is actually a bit of trial and error, trying out whether what you do has the desired effect. Fortunately, based on statistics, a lot can be deduced from how Google likes it. So that can be a good guide.

What is certain is that Google judges written content for relevance and rating. In doing so, the search engine asks whether the content that has been written matches the search engine user's query and whether the website is good. By good, we mean that the website is user-friendly, works fast, looks nice and much more. Ultimately, the better you take these and many more aspects into account, the higher you will eventually rank in search results.

If you think you are finally there with fulfilling Google's wishes, you are sadly mistaken. Google keeps evolving and comes up with new developments and features every so often. And as Google changes, you have to change with it. This means that what works well today may not work at all in a month's time. In fact, with SEO, you are never done.

The 10 SEO tips to keep in mind

1. Write original blogs

Blogs have a huge positive impact on SEO. No matter what the angle of your website, a blog helps. Firstly, it is very important to have some textual content on your website. This helps Google understand your website and its purpose. By regularly posting new content, such as blogs, Google also immediately understands that your website is active and up-to-date. This then obviously contributes to your place in the rankings.

How to write the perfect blog for the user and Google? Watch the video below!

Make use of keywords

Another reason why blogs are so important for your SEO is that by writing them, you can capitalise on keywords of potential website visitors. Keywords are simply the words that are searched for in search engines, such as Google. By using those keywords, you respond to the demand of the target audience. At Monkey Vision , we specialise in website building, so we want to be found by people searching for that. So we target our content accordingly. Even though we love monkeys, we will never write a blog with information about different monkey species. That simply does not match the target audience we want to reach. So it is good to put yourself in the shoes of the target audience and what they type on Google.

You can then use this when writing your content. Another option is Google Keyword Planner. This tool helps you find good keywords and shows how much they are actually searched for.

Other useful SEO tools are:

• SeRanking
• Ahrefs
• Ubersuggest

Use a good title

When you have written a good blog, tailored to your target audience, a good title should not be missing. After all, by doing so, you trigger your website visitors to actually read the blog. Google can also trigger you with a good title, so make sure your keyword can also be found in the title. A few simple tips for a good SEO title:

• Use years in the title: This shows that the content is current, making it more appealing to potential readers.
• Put numbers in the title: Lists and roadmaps are interesting to read and it also makes readers scan the text better.
• Use attractive words: Words like 'free', 'new', 'manual' and 'roadmap' are words that are music to the ears of people looking for articles or information.

More tips for better SEO titles? Check out the video below!

2. Use simple and beautiful URLs

You may have seen it before: long links with a combination of numbers and letters that say nothing. Unattractive for the reader, but also for Google. A clear and simple link will make Google happier and potential readers will click on it a lot faster. Just look at the link to this blog at the top of your browser; clear and simple!

3. Write a good meta description

Besides the title of a text, the meta description can also help convince a potential reader. The meta description is the little piece of text that people see in search results. So it's a shame not to make use of it. A good meta description again contains the keyword and also a call-to-action, such as 'read more' or 'check out our blog'.

Need more tips to create better meta descripions?

4. Link in your text to other texts

In texts, you can link in two different ways, internally and externally. Both have great value and contribute to SEO and therefore, without a doubt, had to be included in the SEO tips. We briefly explain both of them for you.

Internal linking

Internal linking is the way to structure your website, which in turn contributes to the user experience of the website. It is important that a page is never a 'dead end', it should always be easy to click on to the next piece of content on your website.

Google will also benefit from your structure, because it follows all the links on your website. So Google will also start to understand the structure of your website when you link internally. The more links point to a certain page, the more important this page is, and Google will eventually understand that too.

External links

External links are the links that point from your website to other websites. Of course, you can also get these links 'back', i.e. someone pointing from their website to yours; this is called backlinking. In both cases, it is important that you don't do it too much, because Google might find it a bit suspicious. This is because those links contribute to the authority of a website and thus basically say that a particular website is a good place to find information. When this external linking and backlinking happens way too much, it is no longer credible for Google and you are actually penalised for it. So find a good and appropriate way where you give external links and get links back, but to a credible extent.

5. Use images

First of all, images make the text a lot more attractive to the reader. Especially with long texts, this is very important. Tell me; if you saw this entire text without images, you would be a lot less inclined to read the whole thing, right? Images break up the text and also immediately give a good idea about the topics/parts of the text. Of course, it is then important that they are appropriate images. For instance, images than dolphins would be very nice, but it says absolutely nothing about the topic we are discussing.

Posting images involves a bit more than just picking the right ones. It is also important that the images have a proper file name that also says something about the subject. An image with filename 9283505.JPEG obviously says nothing at all, but with SEO-tips-2022.JPEG, you immediately know what it is about. This in turn also helps Google understand the subject of the text.

Besides the title, a proper alt tag is also good for SEO. The alt tag actually describes what the image is about. It is good to include your keyword here.

Want to know more about how to optimise images for SEO? Then watch the video below now!

6. Design landing pages, also using our SEO tips

Landing pages have a huge impact on SEO. Landing pages are separate pages on your website, with a focus on a keyword, that do not serve as a blog and are not found in the menu either. They can only be found through search engines. On these pages, too, you should of course make use of the SEO tips given here so that the page can actually be found via Google.

Apart from the SEO tips, there are a few other things a good landing page should meet:

• Use whitespace between paragraphs to divide the text into clear sections.
• Use clear headings, this way people may be able to go straight to the section they want to read.
• Make short sentences and don't make paragraphs too long either. Try to make paragraphs about 6 lines long at most.
• To make sure Google views your text/landing page, you must have a minimum of 300 words. Nothing is fixed for the maximum number of words, it depends on the target audience and the purpose of the text/page. As long as your text is of good quality and contributes something, it's good. If you start repeating information and don't have anything new to add, you are probably written out on the subject. Quality before quantity!
• Use call-to-actions. Urge the reader to take a certain action. Think contact, subscribe to a newsletter or maybe even like the Facebook page. Make sure the reader doesn't just leave it at reading the text.

7. Google My Business

Google My business (GMB) is your own business environment within Google. It forms the basis for a good (local) SEO strategy, so of course it cannot be missing among the SEO tips. GMB is the way for Google to check content and the quality of an organisation. It is important to complete your GMB as fully as possible with photos of the business and information about opening hours, contact details and address details.

Also, GMB is the way to get reviews. Reviews are very important. Manon and Anne, from our marketing team, recently wrote an article about it for Frankwatching!

At Monkey Vision , we can help you set up your Google My Business to get a good start on SEO. Interesting for you? Then read more about our SEO starter package here.

Did you know that Google my business has its own ranking system? Find out how to best optimise your listing in the video below.

8. Make sure your website works on all devices

Since a couple of years, tablets and smartphones have become an increasing part of our lives. Not surprisingly, the figures show that more and more people are visiting websites with their smartphones. So it is very important that your website also works ideally for them and looks nice. The website should, as it were, adapt to the device on which it is opened; we call this 'responsive'.

Google has also started to consider this increasingly important. You can therefore be penalised if your website is not responsive. It is therefore simply important that every website visitor has a pleasant experience with the website.

Are you less technical, but want a responsive website? Then we at Monkey Vision can help you. When you let us create your website or webshop, we always make sure it is fully responsive.

9. Website speed

User experience is very important, both for your potential website visitors and for Google. A website that loads very slowly will put off website visitors and Google will not appreciate it either. So a good website speed is important.

You can use tools like GTMetrix and Google Pagespeed Insights to analyse the speed of your website. If the website is not fast enough, speed optimisation is highly recommended. WP Rocket's plugin is a good option to help with this. Do you prefer some help from an expert? Then feel free to contact us and we will see how we can help you.

10. Use useful tools

We have already listed some of them in these blogs, but there are lots of tools that can help you with your SEO. You certainly don't need to reinvent the wheel yourself, so using these tools is definitely a good choice. Besides the tools already mentioned, we also recommend the following tools:

Google Search Console

With Google Search Console you can gain insight into the findability of your website within Google. It also analyses whether your website contains any errors and whether it is mobile-friendly. A good tool to gain more insight into the performance of your website.

Yoast SEO plugin

Yoast has a very user-friendly plugin for your WordPress website. With that tool, you can easily see what you can do to your pages to make them better SEO-wise. In addition, it also helps you write the SEO title and meta description. The plugin comes in a premium version, as well as a free version.

Outsource SEO or get started yourself with our SEO tips?

Some of the SEO tips might go a long way on their own, but for the more technical tips you might need some help. Of course, you can also choose to outsource the entire aspect of SEO to an expert, so that you can stay focused on the things you enjoy doing most.

At Monkey Vision , we like to help you where needed. This can also come in different degrees. You can get the SEO starter package from us, where we set everything up properly for you, like Google My Business, and optimise it for Google. That is the first step. After that, you can start working with the SEO tips yourself, or you can purchase the SEO monthly package from us. Then we will work hard every month to make sure your website is SEO-ready. So that you can be found in Google just a little bit better and better. Feel free to contact us to see how we can help you.