Importance of SEO for New Websites
The importance of SEO for brand-new websites cannot be stressed enough. SEO is a data-driven approach to increasing the quality of your website strategy and the overall visibility of your website and brand. SEO drives traffic to your website and the main goal of any business is to increase conversions.
SEO also helps with building a brand identity for the future and also helps in further engaging with customers. It is an important part of your digital marketing strategy as, without SEO, your company will have low visibility and engagement.
Most importantly, it is organic. You do not have to invest in ads or shell out heavy budgets for this strategy. SEO is about making your website as user-friendly as possible because only then will you qualify for search engines as a good website.
Let’s look at how you can do this for your new website.
SEO for New Websites: Strategies & Tips
Wondering how to do SEO for a new website? We’ve got some SEO tips for new websites and strategy tips that you can put to use.
Plan the architecture of the website
A logical structure for any website is crucial. Even if it might be a small website with very few pages – a website with structure improves the overall user experience. For example, in a pyramid structure, the homepage is at the bottom and then the most important pages will be beneath it, under which the sub-categories follow, and so on.
Conduct a thorough keyword research
Doing extensive keyword research will help in ranking. Include all the search terms that potential users are using and accordingly pick the most relevant keywords. Have all the keywords that describe your product or service and are related to them. Read this article on how to conduct keyword research for SEO.
Choose the right website performance
A reputable web hosting provider is very important for any kind of E-business today. A well-functioning website is necessary to conduct business in today’s day and age. Googlebot is also more trusting of certain web-hosting providers, hence choose yours appropriately.
Did you know that the average internet user bounces from a web page if it takes more than 5 seconds to load a page? A good page speed for loading is under two seconds. Fast is what matters, especially when it comes to online businesses. Make sure your website is SEO-optimized technically.
Focus on mobile-friendly designs
Over 60% of internet users make purchase decisions and transactions online through their smartphone devices. This means that the focus on mobile-friendly designs needs to be there. From designs to content – mobile-friendliness is very important.
The Domain name needs to be good
The site domain name and the homepage URL are a few things that help Google understand what your website is all about and also what the web page has to offer. Many brands use their company name and what they do as a domain name and homepage URL which is a smart thing to do as it makes it truly unique.
The homepage should be appealing
The homepage for any new website needs to be appealing – visually as well as content-wise. It cannot be cluttered or jarring to the eye. As it is the first interaction a user has with your brand, it needs to be attractive and at the same time, relevant.
Optimize internal page URLs
Just like the homepage URL, the site’s page URLs are ranking factors. They need to be simple, not complicated, communicate what the page is about, and include relevant and related keywords.
Use tools such as Google Search Console & Google Analytics
Using tools such as Google Search Console & Analytics helps you monitor your overall website performance. Both these tools will help you ascertain user behaviour before and after coming to your website. You can also maintain your performance, and understand where you stand in Google’s search results. It also notifies you of any issues related to your page.
Learn more about SEO in general and Google Search Console by signing up for this Online SEO Course. You can also enrol in this Google Analytics course simultaneously.
Meta descriptions should be well-formed
Your meta title and meta description should include all the keywords, and be relevant and as unique as possible. They should stand out from what the competitors are doing to be noticed. Most importantly, they should be click-worthy. Hence, make it catchy and informative.
Optimize the content on your pages
The content on your page needs to add some sort of value to the user – it needs to be relevant. You can also get creative and include a blog. Make sure to link your social media handles to your website.
Submit your sitemap to Google for indexing
For the website to show up in Google results, Google needs to crawl the website. This can help over time without doing much, however, if you submit your sitemap to Google, you would be speeding up the process. Google itself encourages this.
As your website grows, consider creating backlinks. It is a good tip for a brand-new website as well. High-authority websites are the best way to earn backlinks as they are highly trusted. This will help search engines discover your credibility. You might want to read this blog on what are backlinks for a better understanding of the topic and how they can help a new website.
You can always come back to this article for a detailed SEO checklist for new websites and SEO audits.
We have tried answering some common questions further so continue reading if you want some more clarity.
