4 SEO Tips For Publishers
Updating search engine algorithms requires regular revision of the project development strategy, and an SEO specialist must be sure that the site’s quality meets the current search requirements. This is a challenge, especially if you are in a highly competitive niche.
However, some fundamentals and principles have stood the test of time and should be your focus. They should remain the solid foundation on which your SEO strategy is built. In this article, we will talk about four fundamental principles.
- Focus on the user
Make a wordpress website for people, write texts for people. All your attention should be focused on meeting the needs of your target audience. This is what Google wants from you. This is a better strategy than trying to adapt to current algorithms. Or worse, trying to trick the system.
People come back to the search engine repeatedly because it provides them with valuable results. And for the search itself, the search results (at least the top ten) must include high-quality sites that offer decent answers to queries.
Of course, there are also plenty of examples when specialists found successful ways to beat the system and relatively quickly received the Top for their projects. But if there is no reliable reason for this, eventually, the following algorithm update will “catch” your hand.
Articles should be informative, design, and usability – at the level, technical errors corrected, and the site itself should work quickly and be convenient when used from any device. Remember – a place that users like will ultimately appeal to search engines as well.
- Rejection of “gray” methods
In most cases, updates to search algorithms can be reduced to solving two problems:
- improve the quality of search results and respond to changes in the way people use the Internet, such as the mobile-first index;
- to respond to attempts to manipulate the results of the search results on the part of adherents of the “dark side” who use prohibited SEO methods (example: the Minusinsk algorithm for combating purchased links).
“Black” refers to methods of work that are prohibited by search engines, for example, spam, cloaking, etc. White refers to those practices included in the list of recommendations from the search engines themselves, such as creating high-quality and unique content, eliminating technical errors, optimizing page loading speed, etc.
The segment of the so-called “gray” methods can also be singled out separately. They mean those actions that are not explicitly prohibited and do not belong to the list of recommended ones. The main risk, in this case, is that Google and Yandex can impose sanctions for their use at any time, which will create problems for sites that use them in practice.
There are also enough examples when specialists found successful ways to beat the system and quickly received the Top for their projects. But if there is no reliable reason for this, eventually, the following algorithm update will “catch” your hand.
In the long term, using black and gray methods is a losing strategy. They can give excellent results for some time, but in the end, they can very quickly turn into a stone around your neck, which will pull your site to the bottom.
- The technical base is essential.
Bringing visitors to a site that is working intermittently is like driving shoppers to a store that’s in the midst of a renovation. It is not entirely logical since his desire to buy the right product will be permanently interrupted by attempts to dodge the bags with construction debris scattered on the floor.
In the case of a website, the situation can be even more difficult – technical problems can lead to the inoperability of the main functionality, errors when loading the page, problems with indexing, and other side effects. All this affects behavioral factors, which search engines can subsequently consider as a signal that indicates a low quality of the site.
Cases when a technically complex project successfully moved to the Top and consolidated its positions well are sporadic in our time. We recommend using a set of SEO audit programs that will help you find and successfully correct possible errors on any website.
- The pursuit of perfect planting
To rise higher in the search results, you need to be better than all the other competitors. Even a slight advantage in one of the parameters gives good bonuses in this fight. But to go into a reliable breakaway, you need to strive to become better in everything.