9 Best SEO Practices in 2024

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) and YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) are more than mere words; they represent benchmarks used by Google to assess the quality and credibility of your content, particularly in critical domains such as health, safety, financial stability, or well-being. In 2024, ensure your content is vetted by experts, clearly attributes its authorship, and aligns with Google's trust standards for both users and the platform. Improving E-E-A-T and considering YMYL factors doesn't necessarily require a complete overhaul of your SEO strategy.

Five Practical Steps:

1. High-Quality Content

• Deliver content that focuses on the reader. This involves addressing queries, offering practical tips, and ensuring its value to readers.
• Search engine standards stress:
• Genuine nature
• Relevance to the audience
• Human authorship, connecting with people

2. Author Information and Transparent Disclosure

• Demonstrate the credibility of the content creator.
• Incorporate an "About Our Team" segment to feature diverse content creators.
• Highlight their backgrounds, emphasizing expertise and past projects to promote transparency and expertise (E-E-A-T).

3. Utilize Credible Sources

• Ensure the use of reliable sources in content creation.
• Consistently consult established references, publications, scientific studies, etc., which might include tweets and blogs authored by field experts.
• The choice of authoritative sources may vary by industry and could encompass repositories, news outlets, or websites of recognized experts and organizations.

4. Establish a Strong Brand Presence

• Your brand's image significantly influences trust in your website.
• Effective online reputation management is crucial for Google's E-A-T SEO.
• Monitor negative reviews or public posts, and promptly and professionally address any issues that arise.

5. Build Backlinks

• Enhance your site's authority by acquiring links from reputable sources.
• These links serve as endorsements from experts, validating the reliability and value of your content.
• When authoritative sites link to your pages, it signals to both users and search engines that your information is credible and pertinent within your industry.

What actions can you take to ensure that both visitors and search engines recognize and trust your authority? Here are some practical suggestions:

• Contact Information: Ensure your website features your phone number, email address, social media pages, and business location (if applicable). This validates your company's authenticity and builds customer trust.
• Portfolio: Display the clients who already trust you by showcasing your past projects. This highlights your experience and success in delivering quality work, letting your achievements speak for themselves.
• Case Studies: Highlight specific projects where you’ve solved problems or achieved remarkable results. This demonstrates your expertise and reassures potential clients of your ability to handle their unique challenges.
• Team Members: Introduce your talented team to emphasize the skills and capabilities within your company. Sharing team bios and qualifications builds trust and shows potential clients the professionals behind your brand.
• Social Media: Link to your active social media profiles. Engaging on these platforms helps build a vibrant community and demonstrates that you’re accessible and responsive. Connect with your audience where they are!
• Videos: Create and share engaging videos that explain your services, offer behind-the-scenes looks at your work, or provide helpful tips. Videos are a powerful way to connect with your audience and showcase your expertise dynamically.
• Customer Reviews: Include positive testimonials and reviews from satisfied clients. These endorsements build credibility and can inspire new clients to trust and choose your services confidently.

A silo structure in SEO involves organizing a website by grouping, separating, and linking content based on specific themes, aiming to optimize page relevance to user queries.

Here’s what SEO silos typically look like:

Before implementing the SILO structure, the site was seen as a disorganized collection of diverse pages. Such content groupings aim to cover all topics and queries related to your site's main theme and primary keyword, organizing them into increasingly specific categories like pages, articles, and posts. This approach also enables Google's algorithm to comprehend your site's focus, its content groupings, and its hierarchical structure.

PageRank

PageRank (PR) is Google's method of evaluating a page's significance based on the quantity and quality of links pointing to it. Establishing robust internal links is crucial for both SEO and user navigation. Below are some tactics to effectively achieve this goal.

Pyramid Structure

The pyramid structure prioritizes placing your most crucial content at the apex, followed by sequentially less significant content thereafter.

Each page serves as a central point with links to other relevant pages. This method facilitates the formation of thematic clusters—collections of interconnected documents.

Benefits of this method:

• User-friendly navigation
• Enhanced comprehensibility of your site's layout and page content for crawlers

Create Hubs for Blog Content

Blog content frequently lacks clear organization. Creating content hubs offers several advantages:

• Content hubs signal to search algorithms a site's specialization in a specific topic, enhancing its authority and accelerating indexing.
• For visitors, content hubs serve as convenient resources where all relevant information is centralized, facilitating quick access to answers and potentially reducing bounce rates.
• Moreover, consolidating all content related to a topic reveals uncovered keywords, enabling easier gap filling and potentially improving search engine results page (SERP) rankings.

Ensure Important Content is Not Too Deep

Ensure that essential content is not buried deep and remains easily accessible within your site’s framework. When your content includes internal links, Google can locate and index it.

Securing high-quality backlinks is essential for successful SEO. Backlinks indicate to search engines that your content is valuable and reliable. Here are several strategies:

• Develop Link-Worthy Content: Begin by creating content that others will find worthy of linking to. Produce comprehensive guides, detailed tutorials, or compelling case studies. High-quality content naturally attracts backlinks.
• Outreach: Collaborate with website or blog owners to secure link placements. This approach helps gain links from authoritative sources, such as high-ranking news sites.
• Expired Domains: Utilize domains previously used for promotional purposes, often containing existing backlinks. When companies cease operations, these domains become available again. By activating these sites and their URLs, you can include links to your promoted resources, even on a modest budget.
• Crowd Marketing: Engage in various activities and actively respond to posts and comments on social media and forums. Ensure your responses are relevant and demonstrate expertise by providing value and answering questions.
• Local Partnerships: Collaborate with other local businesses or organizations to exchange links, fostering connections within the local community while boosting SEO.
• Q&A Platforms: Engage effectively on forums, social networks, and blogs, irrespective of direct relevance to your company. Simply leaving a link isn't enough; offer real value to readers.
• Niche Directories: Utilize platforms where you can share your site's link, contact details, and attract new visitors, either freely or for a fee. Examples include directories, lists, compilations, and business listings.

Building links is crucial for external SEO. The most effective method involves using a blend of tactics to acquire a reliable bundle of inbound links, fortifying your site and enhancing its ranking. Additional benefits of employing effective link-building strategies include:

• Increasing organic traffic and fostering visitor loyalty;
• Gradually and consistently improving your site's search engine ranking for specific queries;
• Boosting brand visibility on social media platforms alongside your site, accounts, and communities;
• Broadening audience reach, resulting in higher page conversions and sales, particularly for companies in production and/or service sectors;
• Strengthening brand mentions across diverse sources, fostering natural growth of inbound links;
• Ensuring secure promotion.

Implementing any link-building strategy typically does not yield immediate, tangible results. Achieving the desired impact often requires weeks or even months. However, it's crucial not to rely solely on initial successes but to continually develop a clearly defined promotional strategy and consistently progress in the chosen direction. A thorough and well-planned approach is key to success in this endeavor.

No matter how high-quality your content is, its ranking can be hindered if search engines encounter obstacles in crawling it. Issues with crawlability commonly stem from errors, broken links, and incorrect redirects. To guarantee that search engines can efficiently access your website, adhere to these key guidelines:

• Ensure every URL returns a 200 OK response without errors.
• Properly configure canonical URLs.
• Confirm that all URLs are fully indexable.
• Verify the absence of errors in linked URLs.
• Ensure your pages are displayed accurately and optimized for speed.
• Check XML sitemap entries for accuracy and accessibility.
• Ensure all redirects function correctly and without problems.

Enabling search engines to explore your site is the initial step. Yet, this effort can be futile if their indexing isn't thorough enough. Ensure your content is easily searchable by addressing these typical concerns:

• Resolve all client-side errors (4xx).
• Eliminate any server-side errors (5xx) resulting from past downtimes.
• Ensure server access for each URL.
• Rectify improper nofollow tag usage.
• Avoid using JavaScript for site navigation; prefer CSS for improved indexability.

Mobile optimization includes rapid loading speeds, simple navigation, and content that adjusts effectively to diverse screen sizes. This approach guarantees a superb browsing and interaction experience, facilitating seamless access to your content across all devices. This method enhances engagement and boosts conversions.

Feel free to utilize Usedesk's offerings to enhance conversion rates and optimize your online visibility.