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Google now processes over 9 billion searches daily, making SEO essential for any business wanting to rank on the first page. If your website isn’t on the first page of Google, you’re losing valuable traffic and potential customers. In this guide, we’ll share 12 expert SEO tips to help you improve your rankings, boost organic traffic, and stay ahead of your competition.
In this article, we will go through the 12 ways you can improve your SEO and, therefore, site ranking.
Keywords are how people search for you on search engines, primarily Google (89.66% of market share). This is where we put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. How would they search for your product? What words or search queries would they use?
StatCounter GlobalStats April 2025. Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share
Keywords or keyword phrases should be conversational and relevant to your business. For example, if you’re selling office chairs in Singapore, common search queries might include:
Remember, the key is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes when deciding what keywords to use. Of course, you’ll have to determine if it’s worth ranking for those keywords. This is where keyword research tools come in – a free tool you can use is Google Keyword Planner (Note: you’ll need to have a Google Adwords account created first).
Businesses use Keyword Planner to find relevant and specific keywords to use for SEO campaigns.
GoogleAds Keyword Planner. Source: https://www.webascender.com/blog/how-to-use-google-adwords-keyword-planner-to-find-keywords-that-convert-step-by-step/
Once you have chosen your keywords, there are 3 questions that you should consider:
For example, take a look at Equinet’s courses page in the screenshot above. One of our top keywords is “digital marketing courses,” and we have included that in our URL for this page.
Another one of Equinet’s keywords is “digital marketing strategy,” and we have incorporated this keyword in the page title of our Digital Marketing Strategy course, as can be seen in the screenshot above.
On the same page, we also include the keywords “digital marketing strategy” in our page headings and subheadings, as can be seen in the screenshot above.
This will serve as a guide to help you ensure the quality of your keywords and their positioning throughout your site.
For example, using the example of an e-commerce website selling office chairs, you could use phrases in your product pages such as:
Conducting keyword research to implement SEO and gain a higher site ranking effectively is crucial. If you’d like pro keyword research and analysis tips, here are 4 Pro Keyword Research and Analysis Tips for you.
You can also enhance your keyword strategy with AI-powered tools like ChatGPT or Surfer SEO. These tools help uncover semantically related keywords, cluster them by search intent, and even generate keyword-rich content briefs tailored to your niche.
One of the most important factors for improving SEO rankings and click-through rates (CTR) is the optimisation of title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs. These elements help search engines and users understand your content, making your pages more likely to rank and attract clicks.
What a title tag looks like
Title tags are the clickable headlines displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs). They should be concise, keyword-rich, and compelling to capture user attention.
Best Practices for Title Tags:
According to the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g), users scan only the first 2 words of a search result. This means your main keyword should appear at the start of your title tag for maximum impact.
Meta descriptions, also known as search snippets, appear below the title tag on search results. While they don’t directly impact rankings, they influence click-through rates by giving users a reason to visit your page.
Meta description is the text below the title tag.
If your title tags and meta descriptions are clear and able to grab your audience’s attention, you’ll see an increase in clickthrough rates and site traffic, both of which could contribute to a better SERP ranking.
AI copywriting tools such as Jasper or ChatGPT can also suggest engaging and keyword-optimised title tags and meta descriptions. These tools analyse SERPs and user intent to generate content that increases click-through rates while preserving tone and accuracy.
URLs play a crucial role in SEO as they help search engines and users understand page content. A well-structured keyword-rich URL can improve rankings and increase the likelihood of users clicking your link.
Standardise your different URLs to keep them clean and easily decipherable.
Here’s how you can do that:
Example of an Optimised URL:
❌https://www.equinetacademy.com/whatiscontentmarketingdefinitionbenefitsandexamples/ (Hard to read, lacks structure)
✅ https://www.equinetacademy.com/what-is-content-marketing-benefits-examples/ (Easy to read, keyword-focused)
Header tags (H1 to H6) are essential for structuring content, improving SEO rankings, and enhancing user experience. They help both search engines and users navigate your content more efficiently, making it easier to understand and rank.
Header tags (also known as heading tags) define the hierarchy of information on a webpage. They help:
Search engines like Google scan header tags to understand content structure and keyword relevance. Proper use of header tags can improve rankings, especially when keywords are strategically placed within them.
Here’s a brief overview of definitions for header tags (the H stands for heading element, though we stick to header tags):
The basic hierarchy between header tags. Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/header-tags
AI content editors like Frase or Copy.ai can auto-generate and structure content outlines using H2s and H3s that are optimised for both readers and search engines.
Site speed is a critical ranking factor that directly affects user experience, engagement, and SEO rankings. A slow-loading website can lead to higher bounce rates and lower conversions, costing you valuable traffic.
According to Quicksprout, a business advisory firm, 40% of users do not wait for more than 3 seconds for a web page to load, with a total of 80% not ever returning to that site again. Users have a harder time engaging with slow websites, which leads to a higher abandonment rate, thereby affecting your SEO.
Additionally, Google has used site speed as a ranking factor since 2010 and its importance was increased after the introduction of the “Speed Update” in 2018, which affects mobile search ranking. As such, your site speed directly contributes to your site ranking on Google and should always be taken into consideration.
Abandonment of Pages due to loading time. Source: https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/vital-internet-trends/#Website-Performance
Pingdom checks the speed of your website and diagnoses what needs work. Additionally, it helps to test your site’s accessibility and speed from different locations in the world.
Site Speed Check for AhRefs. Source: https://tools.pingdom.com/#5e9f9b66a7000000
Above is the site speed check for AhRefs using Pingdom. Do take note of the parameters used. While it may look confusing, they have a step-by-step guide on what to look out for.
We have Google’s free-to-use PageSpeed Insights tool, which enables you to do a speed check on your site. It provides detailed speed reports for desktop & mobile. Offers optimisation suggestions to improve performance and evaluates Google’s Core Web Vitals.
Speed Score for AhRefs.com Source: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=ahrefs.com&tab=desktop
Key Metrics That Affect Google’s Core Web Vitals
Prioritise optimising pages that get the most traffic first. You can find these using Google Analytics.
Lastly, too many plug-ins slow down your site. Unused or outdated plug-ins create performance issues.
Best Practices for Plug-in Management:
Google’s E.E.A.T. (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) framework is crucial for ranking well on search engine results pages (SERPs). It helps Google determine whether your content is reliable, accurate, and valuable for users.
E.E.A.T. is not a direct ranking factor like site speed or backlinks, but it significantly impacts how Google evaluates your website’s credibility. Websites that demonstrate high E.E.A.T. tend to rank higher, especially for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, such as finance, health, and law.
The first “E” in E.E.A.T. stands for Experience, referring to the content creator’s direct, real-world involvement with the topic. Google rewards content that reflects authentic personal or professional experiences, especially for reviews, tutorials, or sensitive topics.
How to Show Experience:
Example: A product review written by someone who used the gadget and shares results, pros/cons, and practical tips will rank better than a generic summary pulled from the manufacturer’s site.
Google defines expertise as having in-depth knowledge or skill in a specific field.
How to Improve Expertise:
Example: A finance website discussing investment strategies should be written by a certified financial advisor rather than a general content writer.
Authority is about how well your website is recognised as a reliable source of information within its industry.
How to Improve Authority:
Example: A tech website cited in Forbes, TechCrunch, or Wired gains more authority than a site with no external mentions.
Trust is about website legitimacy, transparency, and accuracy. Google evaluates how reliable and secure your website is.
How to Improve Trustworthiness:
Example: A legal website should cite official legal documents and include attorney profiles to establish credibility.
Google prioritises websites that demonstrate expertise, authority, and trust, making E.E.A.T. a crucial factor for long-term SEO success. Websites that publish expert-driven, well-researched content and earn credibility through authoritative backlinks and positive mentions tend to rank higher on search engine results pages.
Additionally, building trust through secure HTTPS connections, transparent author credentials, and accurate citations enhances both user confidence and search visibility. This is especially critical for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, where Google holds websites to a higher standard due to their impact on users’ well-being. By continuously improving E.E.A.T. signals, businesses can strengthen their search presence, increase audience trust, and establish themselves as industry leaders.
This has always been one of the most important commandments in marketing – and with good reason. Your content is one of the biggest factors that make your brand/site attractive and relevant. It’s what brings in site traffic and ultimately affects your SEO rankings. Google’s algorithms constantly crawl and index web pages, favoring fresh and updated content. Regular updates signal relevance, helping improve site ranking.
One way to identify declining content quality is by monitoring traffic to your pages. A drop in traffic or an increase in bounce rates could indicate that the information is outdated.
To track this, analyse the keywords your site ranks for and review traffic statistics regularly.
For example, Ahrefs noticed a steady decline in traffic to one of their top-performing articles—a list of the top 100 Google searches. After conducting a content audit (a process of reviewing and analysing all content on a website), they found that the article needed updates.
This is just one of many examples highlighting the importance of keeping your content fresh and up to date.
One handy tool to analyse your site’s content is Content Explorer. It’s a great tool that helps you to look through any stale content on your website, broken backlinks, and relevant keywords your competitors use, as well as to sift through web pages that are similar and relevant to yours.
You can additionally choose to reverse engineer your competitors’ content marketing strategies and use them to your advantage.
But remember, your content has to be fresh, of high quality, and relevant. Having such content will increase your site’s dwell time.
Using AI content audit tools like Content Decay (by Animalz), Surfer SEO, or MarketMuse to identify underperforming pages and receive suggestions on which parts of your content need updates, what to add, or what to remove.
According to Search Engine Journal, a search marketing content online publication, dwell time is how long a user spends on your webpage after clicking on it in the SERPs.
So, how does this translate to your SEO ranking?
With fresh and relevant content, your site will hold users for longer, and Google’s algorithms take note of this. Remember E.E.A.T.?
But be careful – too many changes to your site’s content can reset your rankings. The trick is to make the changes steadily, not all at once. It’s usually best to develop a schedule to review and update your content so that you don’t risk having your rankings drop, or worse, restart.
Getting other websites to link to yours is known as the process of building backlinks.
How Google uses links. Source: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-link-building
The more links that search engines discover lead back to your page (backlinks) from reputable sites, the higher the ranking of your page will be. Quality backlinks show users and search engines that reputable sites trust your site and find its content relevant to the topic(s) at hand, which would result in your SEO rankings improving.
A metric that measures the number of backlinks is Domain Authority. Although this is not a metric used by Google to measure site ranking, it is an important metric used to assess how well your website is performing as compared to your competitors.
A Domain Authority score is a number between 1 – 100, with a higher number meaning a better Domain Authority. It takes into account the quantity and quality of backlinks on a webpage and values it accordingly.
If you want to check the Domain Authority of your website, you can do so here for free.
Here is the Step-by-Step Guide to Getting More High-Quality Backlinks.
Step 1: Create High-Quality Content
Step 2: Reach Out to Reputable Websites
Step 3: Use Guest Blogging & Collaborations
Step 4: Fix Broken Links on Your Site
By following these steps, you’ll build a stronger backlink profile, improving your website’s credibility and ranking on Google.
AI tools like Respona or Pitchbox streamline the outreach process by crafting personalised email pitches, identifying relevant prospects using NLP (natural language processing), and predicting link-building success based on previous campaigns.
For a more in-depth look into building quality backlinks, give this article a read.
Internal links refer to links on your website that direct you to another page on your website. Both visitors to your website and search engines use these internal links to find content and navigate through your website. If a page isn’t linked anywhere else, it will never be found by visitors or search engines.
There are many types of internal links, such as the ones in your homepage (Menu, About Us, Shop, etc.), and contextual links, which are links within the content hosted on your website.
Contextual links, in particular, are important as they point users towards relevant content and allow search engines to determine what content on your site is related. When a specific page contains more links, search engines will deem it more valuable and important, which in turn boosts your SEO rankings.
For example, if you feature a blog on your website, you should look to add contextual links within each article to direct users to another article with any relevant information. Additionally, think about adding a “Related Posts” feature on your articles, which would consolidate relevant content for your users to click through.
We would recommend using Yoast SEO, which is a free tool that has several features to help you improve your internal linking. One feature analyses your website’s content to determine whether you have internal links built, and another also counts the number of internal links you might have on a specific page. This way, you know which areas of your website would require more internal link-building.
It’s no secret that the best way to capture attention is usually with stunning visuals and imagery. But sadly, this is often overlooked. Here are some examples of sites with poor visuals so you know what to avoid.
A landing page with poor visuals. Source: http://stevenlim.net/models2.htm
Confusing layout and poor choice of imagery and colour scheme. Source: https://www.leadpages.com/blog/see-worst-landing-page-ever-created-10-reasons/
Poor imagery can cause a slew of problems for websites and businesses. They can slow down page loading speeds, reduce site dwell times, limit SEO rankings, and generally slow down site traffic.
Optimised images, on the other hand, can help a great deal in attracting traffic to your site. They can also save you space because, as the famous saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
What this means is that appropriate and optimised images could help to:
For large images, the key is to resize or compress them. Consider adding your SEO keywords to the title tags for your images. When you do so, you also gain traffic from Google Image search results.
For example, if you were selling office chairs, instead of naming your image “chair1”, try naming it “best office chairs” instead. If someone searches for the “best office chairs” on Google Images, your image would appear in the search results. This would become another channel for generating traffic to your site.
As for alt text for your images, try to follow these key points:
Did you know that an average business gets 943 Search views and 317 Map views a month?
Google Business Profile. It is a critical tool for businesses to improve local SEO visibility. Think Yellow Pages, but much larger and more accessible.
It’s a directory for businesses, listing all the information about them that customers need to know. Business hours, industry, services, and location are just some of the information that is made readily available to the public.
Here is how to get it started with Google Business Profile.
By registering your business with GBP, you will be automatically added to Google Maps as a business, adding another channel through which you gain exposure to your business.
Local search results are based on 3 key factors for Google Maps: Relevance, Distance, and Prominence.
Therefore, having a verified, optimised and relevant GBP profile goes a long way and might be what you need to improve your SEO efforts.
With the advent of smart home devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s very own Google Home, what started as a tool for accessibility and convenience is now rapidly becoming an important factor in SEO. Voice Search is garnering a ton of support as it allows for searches to be done quicker and with even more ease.
The driving force behind voice search is simple: convenience. With searches being conducted in real-time, instant access to information leads to a natural increase in traffic. Notably, 56% of all voice searches happen on smartphones, making mobile optimisation a crucial aspect of voice search SEO, which we’ll discuss later.
Voice search operates differently from traditional text-based search engine results pages (SERPs). The way users phrase spoken queries is much more conversational and natural, significantly impacting keyword strategies.
For example, when typing, a user might search:
❌ How to make rice cakes
But with voice search, they are more likely to ask:
✅ Hey Siri, how do I make rice cakes at home?
This shift means voice search queries tend to be longer, more specific, and structured as full questions. Additionally, voice search prioritises local and immediate results, making it essential for businesses to optimise for local SEO and appear in relevant searches.
Optimising your content for voice search, you can increase brand awareness, improve visibility, drive sales, and stay ahead of competitors. Here are some key strategies to enhance your website’s voice search performance:
1. Use a Conversational Tone: Voice search queries are typically more natural and conversational compared to traditional text-based searches. Instead of keyword-stuffed phrases, structure your content using full sentences and natural language that mirrors how people speak. Writing in a question-and-answer format, such as FAQ sections, can also help match voice search queries.
2. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Since users speak in complete sentences, long-tail keywords are crucial for voice search optimisation. Rather than using short, generic keywords, target phrases that mimic everyday speech patterns. For example, instead of “best running shoes,” optimise for “What are the best running shoes for beginners?”
3. Optimise for Local Searches: Many voice searches are location-based, with users asking queries like “Where’s the nearest coffee shop?” or “Best digital marketing courses near me.” To capture this audience, optimise for local SEO by including geo-specific keywords, updating your Google Business Profile, and ensuring NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) consistency across all online listings.
4. Optimise for Featured Snippets: Voice assistants often pull answers from featured snippets (position zero) in search results. To improve your chances of being featured, structure content using clear headings, bullet points, and concise answers that directly address common questions. Providing structured data (schema markup) can also help search engines understand your content better.
By implementing these best practices, you can enhance your website’s visibility in voice search results, improve user engagement, and drive more organic traffic. As voice search continues to grow, staying ahead of these trends will help your business remain competitive in the digital landscape.
Use AI transcription tools and NLP models to identify how your target audience speaks and phrases questions in voice searches. ChatGPT can also simulate voice-based queries to help you generate more natural Q&A content.
Ever since Google launched mobile-first indexing, sites that have not been optimised for mobile access get their rankings penalised because they aren’t easily viewable on phones. How does Google do this?
Simply put, they look at your site from the viewpoint of a mobile phone. You can try it out here.
It’s very straightforward — it’s either yes or no. This is coupled with a list of suggestions for what you can do to improve your page as well.
How do you make your site mobile-friendly? Here are some ways you can go about it.
Alternatively, you can consider:
With trends such as voice search and mobile optimisation here to stay, optimising for both will help your SEO rankings greatly.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping how search engines interpret and deliver results. Tools like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Bing AI use natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, and contextual understanding to deliver smarter, more relevant results.
Optimising for AI search goes beyond keyword stuffing—it means structuring content that answers user intent and aligns with semantic search principles.
AI-powered search is more conversational and intent-focused. Instead of relying solely on exact keyword matches, AI search engines analyse context, meaning, and relevance. For example, if a user asks, “What’s the best ergonomic chair for back pain in a home office?”—AI doesn’t just look for those exact words; it seeks well-structured, informative answers demonstrating expertise and relevance.
This means your SEO strategy must evolve to accommodate AI’s growing influence.
Group semantically related keywords into topic clusters. For example, instead of targeting “office chair,” build a content hub around “ergonomic furniture,” including articles like “Best Chairs for Back Pain” and “Top Ergonomic Setup Tips for Remote Workers.” AI uses these clusters to understand subject matter depth.
Implement schema.org markup to help AI and search engines understand your content type—a product, FAQ, article, review, or event. Structured data enables rich results (like ratings, pricing, or breadcrumbs) and improves visibility in AI-enhanced snippets.
AI-powered features like featured snippets, People Also Ask, and SGE often pull answers directly from web content. Use concise summaries, bulleted lists, and subheadings that answer common questions related to your topic.
Many AI queries originate from voice search. Write in a natural, conversational tone, and optimise for long-tail queries and question phrases (e.g., “How do I choose the best office chair for posture?”).
AI systems assess Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) to gauge content quality. Include author bios, cite credible sources, and show hands-on experience in your writing to boost your authority in AI search.
By optimising for AI search, you future-proof your SEO strategy. As search evolves from keywords to conversations, businesses that adapt to AI-driven search behavior will rank higher, earn more visibility, and build deeper trust with users.
With billions of searches happening daily, ranking high on Google is essential for businesses looking to boost organic traffic, visibility, and credibility. Without strong SEO, your website risks being overlooked, costing you potential customers and sales. Here’s why achieving a top spot on Google is crucial:
Ranking high on Google isn’t just about visibility—it directly impacts your brand authority, engagement, and sales. By implementing the right SEO strategies, you can attract more potential customers, stay ahead of competitors, and drive long-term business growth.
As AI continues to evolve, incorporating intelligent tools into your SEO workflow will not only improve your efficiency but also help uncover insights that traditional methods may overlook. Whether you’re automating audits, enhancing keyword strategies, or generating high-converting content, AI can be a powerful ally in your SEO journey.
SEO can seem overwhelming at first, but when simplified into clear, actionable steps, it becomes much easier to implement. When done correctly, SEO can drive consistent organic growth, boost website visibility, and enhance overall performance. While mastering SEO takes time, the strategies outlined above offer a strong starting point.
SEO success requires ongoing experimentation, data analysis, and continuous optimisation. Stay adaptable, track your progress, and refine your approach to stay ahead in search rankings.
Take the time to audit your website, apply these best practices, and leverage the tools available to optimise your rankings. Small, consistent improvements can yield significant long-term benefits.
Hopefully, this has given you better insight into improving your SEO ranking.
If you’re looking for expert guidance and hands-on SEO training, consider enrolling in our SEO Training Course. Gain industry insights, practical experience, and a structured approach to ranking higher on Google. This course is part of our Certified Digital Marketing Strategist (CDMS) Programme, designed to provide a comprehensive foundation in digital marketing.
The courses offered under the CDMS programme are:
Upon completing these modules, you’ll earn a Certified Digital Marketing Strategist Certificate from Equinet Academy, equipping you with practitioner-level expertise in SEO and beyond.
Explore our full range of in-person and online digital marketing courses and take the next step toward mastering SEO and digital strategy today.
Kevin started in digital marketing, specialising in Search Engine Optimisation after leaving a career in banking and finance. He now has almost 10 years of experience gathering thousands of auditing hours on 300+ websites in all industries such as F&B, finance, insurance, e-commerce, medical and b2b services, serving clients such as MSIG Insurance, Bizcover Insurance, TWG Tea, Aura Group, Merger Markets (Acuris) and dozens of local SME’s, across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the United States and Singapore.
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Kevin started in digital marketing, specialising in Search Engine Optimisation after leaving a career in banking and finance. He now has almost 10 years of experience gathering thousands of auditing hours on 300+ websites in all industries such as F&B, finance, insurance, e-commerce, medical and b2b services, serving clients such as MSIG Insurance, Bizcover Insurance, TWG Tea, Aura Group, Merger Markets (Acuris) and dozens of local SME’s, across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the United States and Singapore.
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