Most SEOs today make the mistake of allowing themselves to be bogged down with the link building process, thus in the process overlooking SEO parameters. Given the instant results link building offers, it is easy to get lost in it and forget everything else. But setting aside roughly 20 minutes for various SEO factors is vital to generating user engagement. Of course, the standard processes such as link building may get you ahead on the ranking front, but it is equally important to take care of the on page SEO aspects of your site.
“You must make sure that these points are covered in your content campaign before link building is in full swing”.
Following is checklist of essential factors that can break or make your content campaign.
Optimize your page titles
As basic as this practice may sound to many webmasters, most of them continue to overlook its importance. In order for search scrollers to make sense of your HTML page, it needs to have proper page titles. Always keep in these following factors;
Come up with unique sounding title pages that will resonate with readers. Your page title along with the content is indexed on google. They are also used by users on social media channels. If you are working on unique piece of content that could appeal to a large scale audience, you also stand the chance of gathering keyword specific searches. Run keyword research to find keywords that can fully optimize your page. Watch out for title duplication that could lead to cannibalization in ranking.
Write proper Meta Description for pages
Meta description carries little to no weight in improving your rankings, but you should take your time to write a snippet of information that best defines your page. The more accurate and appealing your meta descriptions, the better visibility they will have on search engine results pages. The practice will sure earn your pages higher traffic compared to pages without meta descriptions. The pages will see an improved click through rate accompanied by growth in social media shares.
Structuring an effective internal link architecture
This is another key aspect that often goes unnoticed. There are essentially two kinds of internal linking practice that every website is recommended to incorporate into its broader link building strategy. Firstly, you must build link to your most important pages using relevant anchor texts as keywords. The best way to make this happen is by creating a navigation menu that contains to all key pages or categories on your website. Just make sure that the menu doesn’t interfere with the style or alignment of the content. Build internal links within the original copy to other relevant pages. Look for chances to link interrelated pages in order to make information more accessible to audience.
Using Canonical Tags to best effect
These days, thanks to the advancement of content management system, one no longer needs to worry about creating canonical tag. However problems often arise when one is using a template file. Canonical tag helps you ascribe original status to a particular URL, thus preventing the passage of its link juice to other urls. All you need to do is to make sure that tag is correctly pointed towards URL of your choice. Keep an eye out for the following errors;
Google is equipped to understand the distinctions to a certain extent. But running a routine check will help you spot these flaws and prevent the repeat of such mistakes once and for all.
