Does it feel like you are trying to navigate very stormy SEO waters in cyberspace? Are you getting conflicting or downright bad advice on how you should be deciding on the best SEO tactics for your business and website? Then you don’t need to feel alone. SEO is no longer as smooth sailing it once was, and many are finding themselves in the same boat of confusion. This is why most choose to outsource these services.

There are a lot of basic SEO tactics that simply go unnoticed that you can easily start implementing and monitor yourself. Here’s your top ten guide to DIY SEO:

1. Use original content.

At the end of the day it’s all about how valuable your website content is to a site visitor. If it’s not really handy or merely a regurgitation of info from other sites, they will leave your site and the odds of them returning are slim. No amount of technical skills can eclipse good old fashioned quality content.

2. Think local

There is no need for you to start scampering around desperately trying to find guest blog content writing opportunities on other sites. Links are very important and effective, but start with internal linking. Link your content to other relevant pages on your own website.

3. The snowball effect

Google’s search engine is able to identify authorship. This means that if Google starts seeing a steady flow of traffic to your website, they will assume that you have some kind of authority in your field of expertise and provide your site with a higher ranking.

4. Using keywords

Yes, these are still relevant today, but are not as easy to manage as a few years ago. These need to be well researched, especially when it comes to blog content writing. It is also crucial to monitor and constantly analyze these identified keywords.

5. It’s all about speed

No-one, including Google, is impressed by a site or page that takes ages to load, no matter how impressive the graphics, videography or info that’s on there. If you want a higher ranking, you need to ensure that you keep your load time under three seconds.

6. Google+

Don’t underestimate the power of Google+as a social media platform. What a lot of people don’t realize is that any info/content on Google+ directly impacts your Google search engine results.

7. Other social media platforms

It’s no longer enough to simply share a post or site on many of the social media sites. There are specific social media management tactics that are worth investigating, that will ensure any posts advertising your brand/services reach the eyes of your target market.

This point is really worth an article on its own. In order to truly utilize your social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn, you need to know the technical rules and regulations for each of these sites. For example; if you choose to pay a fee for a Facebook sponsored post, you can ensure that your post is viewed by a lot of people and you can stipulate in incredible detail who these people should be in terms of their locations, careers, interests etc.

8. Short and sweet

Keep your blog and social media posts short. Users want to be entertained and informed, but due to their busy schedules they don’t have the time to read what seems like a mini e-book. Just like with the quality of your content; ensure that the length of your content is not forced. People don’t want to read useless gibberish because you want a lengthy post. Take special note of your various social media platform post length limits. If your word count exceeds the limit, the platform will hide a big part of your post or you will simply be unable to post it.

9. Ask for help

Don’t be ashamed to ask people on your social media platforms to share posts/content/info. You will be surprised at the effect these shares can have. Social media networking is the modern age’s word-of-mouth advertising.

10. Speak to the experts

SEO is a terrain you may not want to explore alone. There are very intricate and technical details playing major roles in today’s SEO. If you are unsure of how it works or if you just don’t have time to do it yourself, you can always outsource it.

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