Top 10 SEO Practices to Boost Your Website’s Visibility in 2024

Did we get your attention? I always like these types of posts because I love to see how they change through the years. As culture and eventually technologies change, these 'Top 10 of YEAR XXXX' highlight the sentiments of an age. They help us reflect on various ideas: What socially were we dealing with at the time? What culturally was happening?

Moreso, they show us how public sentiment changes through technology. Google and other search engines constantly refine their algorithms to better capture ad revenue. Sure, they may also be trying to surface more relevant content but at the end of the day, they are advertising companies. If you can master the sentiment behind their algorithms, you can master your Search Engine Optimzation (SEO) and hopefully your sales.

Ok, enough philosophizing, let's get to the meat. Read on for our Top 10 SEO Practices to Boost Your Website’s Visibility in 2024.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a constantly evolving field, with search engines regularly updating their algorithms. Staying ahead of these changes is crucial for maintaining and improving your website's visibility. Here are the top 10 SEO practices to adopt in 2024:

1. Focus on User Experience (UX): Google's algorithms increasingly prioritize sites with excellent user experiences. This includes fast loading times, mobile responsiveness, and intuitive navigation. Aim for a seamless experience that keeps users engaged and reduces bounce rates. Watch users navigate your site and utilize the real-world feedback to make improvements.
2. Optimize for Voice Search: With the rise of virtual assistants, voice search is becoming more prevalent. Optimize your content for conversational keywords and questions that people are likely to ask aloud. Plus you want to make sure that our AI overlords can analyze and incorporate your content into their learning models ;)
3. Leverage AI for Content Creation: Speaking of our AI overlords... AI tools can help you create content that's not only relevant but also optimized for search engines. Use these tools to identify keyword opportunities and generate article ideas that are informative and engaging.
4. Enhance Your Site’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Google values content that demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Ensure your content is well-researched, cites reputable sources, and is created by or attributed to authors with credentials in the topic area. (Read more from Google Here)
5. Implement Structured Data: This is a sleeper hit. Structured data helps search engines understand your content better, enabling rich snippets that can increase your visibility in search results. Use schema markup to highlight articles, products, reviews, and more. You have to get good at playing the meta game.
6. Prioritize Video Content: It goes without saying, which is why we must say it: Video is King. Videos can significantly improve engagement and dwell time on your site. Optimize your video content by using relevant keywords in the title, description, and tags, and consider embedding video content in relevant blog posts.
7. Focus on Topic Clusters Instead of Keywords: Organize your content into clusters that cover a broad topic area, with a pillar page linking to more detailed subtopic pages. This approach helps search engines understand your site's structure and expertise on a topic, potentially boosting rankings.
8. Optimize for Local SEO: Did you know we're located in Madison, Wisconsin? We work all over the country and with international clients, but we have an office located on the east side of Madison. Google ranks your location highly as a part of it's relevancy algorithm. Local SEO is crucial for businesses that operate in specific geographic areas. Ensure your business is listed accurately on Google My Business, and include local keywords in your website content.
9. Improve Page Speed: Slow pages will increase the likelihood of a user leaving your page. In addition, page speed is a critical SEO ranking factor. Use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix issues that may be slowing down your site, such as unoptimized images, bulky code, or a slow web host.
10. Create Useful Content: More than anything else on this list, you should focus on creating useful content. If you're not working hard to add value through your website and digital marketing, your audience will know. Search for the keywords that you want to rank for. See what is popular and write about that. Once you have enough content, scrutinize your content for what works and write more of that type of content.

These types of lists always seem obvious... at least once you've read through them. The key is to internalize and capitalize on the simple ideas. Once you have then you have a chance at standing out above the noise and actually doing something useful for your target demographic and maybe even the world.

Need help or guidance with any of these topics? Reach out! We're here to help.