Top 12 Must-Do SEO Tasks (2020 Tips)

If you want a successful website, then there are some SEO tasks that you need to consider. But most site owners tend to overlook them and focus on tasks that add little or no value. Others have no idea what it takes to outrank others in the search engine results.

There are more than 200 million websites active right now. These SEO tasks will help you get on top! We have compiled a list of 12 essential SEO tasks that will make your site a success.

1. Keyword research

Keywords are critical when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. They refer to the common phrases or queries that people type on the search bar. Doing keyword research helps you understand your user’s interests, hence boosting your traffic.

The best way to conduct keyword research is via Google Trends. However, you can also do it using other tools such as Semrush, Ubbersuggest, and Ahrefs. In addition, you can use data from Google itself and use the other tools to get other metrics such as keyword difficulty. Keywords with lower SEO difficulty are easy to rank.

2. Write quality content (Set up a blog)

Ranking a website is much easier using a blog. It is easy to capture more keywords using a blog than only the customer service pages. Besides, it is one of the best ways to build trust with your traffic. Discuss essential topics that they want to read or address issues that concern them.

Google loves frequent content updates, and the algorithms take that as a good sign! It indicated that your content is always updated and unique. Thus a quality 2020 blog post will perform better than a post published in 2015 and never updated.

Tips for writing high-quality SEO content

Write short paragraphs to make your content scannable by the reader

  • Do not write scanty or very long posts.
  • Check grammar mistakes
  • Avoid keyword stuffing- Allow your content to sound natural
  • Link to credible sources
  • Add some graphics
  • Make sure it adds value to the reader

3. Increase the speed of your site (Use AMP)

Speed is among the top ranking factors considered by the google algorithms. Slow websites tend to turn off readers. Hence they might leave and visit another one. This is a bad signal to the algorithms hence faster websites rank higher.

You can increase the speed of your site by choosing a fast and reliable host such as Bluehost, Hostgator, or Siteground. Most slow websites are hosted on overloaded shared servers. Besides that, you can use plugins that help in compressing your content. Another great alternative to use is the AMP which makes your website super-fast.

4. Optimize the title and the subheadings

An amazing title will grab the attention of a reader on the SERPs. When more and more people click on your page, the algorithms take that as a positive sign. This is why sites with great titles are ranked well than the normal titles. Your content needs to be optimized with H1, H2, and H3 subheadings. This helps crawlers identify relevant content for the readers.

A vital SEO task has to do with Internal links. It makes the readers stay longer on your site, passing the juice to the other pages. You will realize high authority websites such as Wikipedia are well linked internally. This is another positive side of good and related content to the spider crawlers.

Linking to your old content can also improve their rankings if readers stay longer. Doughnut abuse this strategy as it can make or break your rankings. So it’s better to link only content that is related because it’s what the visitors are searching for.

Google takes links to high authority websites very seriously. This is because it shows that the site has credible sources for information. But, you should avoid linking to more than 3 sites as your page can be classified as spam, and you end up losing your rankings. Linking to new websites is not bad but linking to low-quality sites is very dangerous. If, like Anto Online, you are writing Linux content, then use linuxchatter.com for like-minded links.

7. Clean the broken pages

Broken pages lose rankings automatically since they add no value to the users. I’m talking about the pages that show some error or pages with little or no content at all. These pages can lower the quality of your entire website. Use tools such as Semrush to check whether you have pages that might need fixing.

8. Optimize the images

Not everyone searches articles or videos alone. Many people search for images, which is why it is important to optimize them for the search engine. This way, you will also be able to get traffic from image searches.

You can do this by adding alternative text to the images.   It’s easy to add an AlT text if you use a CMS such as WordPress and blogger.

Tracking your Audience in real-time is one of the best ways to practice SE0. Google Analytics shows you the behavior of your traffic. For example, you can monitor the pages each visitor visits and how long they’ve stayed on a specific page.  SEOs analyze these metrics and then make improvements to improve the user’s experience.

10. Install SEO plugins

If you’re managing your site via WordPress, you have many options when it comes to plugins. For instance, you can install the Yoast plugin or rank math to help you track your keywords in the article. These plugins also allow you to write Meta descriptions that put you in a better place on the SERPs.

11. Install an SSL certificate

Websites with SSL certificates are considered safe by browsers. However, if it does not have one, some users might be turned away and leave the page immediately. It would be best not to allow this to happen now that everyone is keen on privacy. Most hosting providers will give you a free SSL certificate. However, if you accept payments on your website, it is good to invest in a better SSL certificate.

This is one of the oldest techniques that Google uses to identify high-quality websites. However, so many bloggers and website owners started creating fake backlinks to improve their rankings. Google updated its algorithms so that it can distinguish between high-quality and low-quality backlinks. If your site contains low-quality/spam backlinks, then your ranking position automatically.

Your site can get massive traffic without backlinks, but Google takes them very seriously. So it’s good to look for high-quality links and avoid spam links. Also, you need to monitor your links regularly because some competitors might link spam websites to your site so that they can surpass you in rankings. The best way to get backlinks is by writing quality content that other websites might want to reference or writing high-quality guest posts for authority sites.

Wrapping up

SEO is taking the content marketing industry by storm. And, many people are using these SEO tasks as a long-term strategy. No doubt, SEO is cheaper compared to PPC advertising. Besides, once you use SEO, only high-quality traffic and quality leads are generated. That’s why every website needs to perform a few tasks to rank higher on the search engine. So, we are very confident that your website will get a better ranking once you perform the above SEO tasks.

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About Anto Online

Anto, a seasoned technologist with over two decades of experience, has traversed the tech landscape from Desktop Support Engineer to enterprise application consultant, specializing in AWS serverless technologies. He guides clients in leveraging serverless solutions while passionately exploring cutting-edge cloud concepts beyond his daily work. Anto's dedication to continuous learning, experimentation, and collaboration makes him a true inspiration, igniting others' interest in the transformative power of cloud computing.

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9 Comments on “Top 12 Must-Do SEO Tasks (2020 Tips)”

  1. Thanks for Search Engine Optimization article. The answer I have been looking for is here. Thanks author.

  2. Thank you very much for such a piece of information about search engine optimization. Really appreciate your knowledge. Thanks once again

  3. Thanks for creating this seo tips and task. I am really appreciate your time and effort for creating this

  4. This is really an essential list of tasks to do before you start SEO for a Website. Consider adding a spam/toxic link audit to ensure you get full value for your SEO efforts.

  5. This is really an essential list of tasks to do before you start SEO for a Website. Consider adding a spam/toxic link audit to ensure you get full value for your SEO efforts.

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