Improving Your SEO in One Month: How To Improve Your Website Traffic
Improving your website's SEO might seem overwhelming at first. With constant updates to search engine algorithms and the introduction of new ranking factors like Google's Core Web Vitals, staying ahead of the game is challenging. However, SEO is not just a one-time task—it’s a continuous process that involves regular adjustments, learning, and monitoring.
This 30-Day SEO Planner is designed to make the process manageable by breaking it down into daily tasks. By following this planner, you’ll gradually improve your site’s SEO, boost organic traffic, and ensure your website remains competitive in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Let’s dive in and start optimising your site one day at a time.
Day 1: Check Your Website’s Indexability
Ensuring that your website is properly indexed by search engines is the foundation of good SEO. Without proper indexing, your site won't appear in search results, leading to lost opportunities for organic traffic.
Tips:
Use a site audit tool to check which pages are indexable.
Look for pages with noindex tags and ensure essential pages are not mistakenly excluded.
Verify that your XML sitemap is up-to-date and includes all relevant pages.
Remove nofollow tags from internal links that should be indexed.
Day 2: Direct Search Engines on What to Crawl
Use the robots.txt file to tell search engines which parts of your site to crawl and which to ignore. This ensures that important content is indexed while irrelevant or sensitive areas are not.
Tips:
Regularly review your robots.txt file to ensure it aligns with your SEO goals.
Confirm that critical sections of your site are not excluded from crawling.
Ensure the robots.txt file is accessible and properly configured.
Day 3: Ensure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly
With the majority of web traffic coming from mobile devices, a mobile-friendly website is essential for good SEO. Use tools like Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to see how your site performs on mobile.
Tips:
Deactivate incompatible plugins that hinder mobile performance.
Use responsive design to adapt to different screen sizes.
Optimise text size and clickable elements for mobile users.
Day 4: Audit Your Mobile User Experience
Go beyond basic mobile-friendliness and examine the overall mobile user experience. Ensure that your website is easy to navigate and that all features work seamlessly on mobile devices.
Tips:
Make sure that JavaScript, CSS, and images are crawlable by search engines.
Avoid using content that is not supported on mobile devices, such as Flash.
Test and improve mobile load times to enhance user experience.
Day 5: Check Your Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are key metrics that Google uses to assess user experience on your site. They include loading performance (LCP), interactivity (FID), and visual stability (CLS).
Tips:
Optimise images by compressing and resizing them.
Minimise the use of heavy JavaScript and third-party scripts.
Focus on improving load times and reducing layout shifts.
Day 6: Identify and Fix Broken Links
Broken links can harm user experience and disrupt search engine crawling. Regularly check your website for 404 errors and fix or redirect any broken links.
Tips:
Use a site crawler to identify 404 errors.
Implement 301 redirects for URLs that have moved permanently.
Update any incorrect links pointing to your site.
Day 7: Review Your Redirects
Properly configured redirects ensure that users and search engines reach the correct pages, even after URLs have changed. Use 301 redirects for permanent changes and 302 for temporary ones.
Tips:
Audit your site to identify unnecessary or outdated 302 redirects.
Replace them with 301 redirects where applicable.
Day 8: Standardise Your URL Structure
A consistent and logical URL structure improves both user experience and search engine crawling. It also helps users understand what to expect from a page just by looking at the URL.
Tips:
Use descriptive and concise URLs.
Limit your URL structure to a maximum of four levels deep.
Implement 301 redirects when changing URLs to avoid broken links.
Day 9: Shorten Your URLs
Short URLs are easier to remember, share, and display in search results. While URL length does not directly affect rankings, it impacts user experience, which in turn influences SEO.
Tips:
Remove unnecessary stop words and conjunctions from URLs.
Keep URLs close to the root domain for simplicity.
Day 10: Use Descriptive Anchor Texts
Anchor text informs users and search engines about the content of the linked page. Descriptive anchor texts that include relevant keywords can improve your site's SEO.
Tips:
Use consistent and descriptive anchor text for internal links.
Avoid generic anchor texts like "click here" or "read more."
Ensure the anchor text matches the linked page’s content.
Day 11: Keep Click Paths Short
Short and efficient click paths enhance user experience by allowing visitors to reach their desired page with minimal effort. They also help search engines crawl your site more effectively.
Tips:
Ensure that any page on your site is accessible within three clicks from the homepage.
Add breadcrumb navigation to help users understand their location on your site.
Day 12: Strengthen Internal Linking
Internal linking distributes link equity across your site and helps search engines understand the structure and importance of different pages.
Tips:
Remove links pointing to broken or inaccessible pages.
Link orphaned pages to relevant content to ensure they are crawled.
Day 13: Improve Site Accessibility
Accessibility is crucial not only for user experience but also for SEO. An XML sitemap helps search engines index all important pages on your site.
Tips:
Regularly update your XML sitemap to reflect changes in site structure.
Ensure all URLs in the sitemap are functional and accessible.
Day 14: Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research is the cornerstone of effective SEO. It helps you identify what your audience is searching for and allows you to target those queries effectively.
Tips:
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and others to find relevant keywords.
Choose keywords that align with the intent of your website—whether informational or transactional.
Day 15: Optimise Your Title and Meta Descriptions
The title and meta description are the first things users see in search results. Crafting compelling and relevant snippets can increase your click-through rate.
Tips:
Keep titles under 70 characters and include target keywords.
Write concise meta descriptions that highlight the page’s value and include a call to action.
Day 16: Create Unique and Compelling Headlines
Headlines structure your content and entice users to read on. They should be optimised for both search engines and users.
Tips:
Use only one H1 tag per page and include your main keyword.
Create clear, concise subheadings (H2, H3, etc.) with complementary keywords.
Use lists, numbers, and other formatting techniques to enhance readability.
Day 17: Analyse Content Quality Using TF*IDF
TF*IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency) is a technique for evaluating the importance of a word within a content piece, helping you optimise for better search rankings.
Tips:
Use TF*IDF analysis to identify and integrate relevant terms into your content.
Regularly update your content based on the latest TF*IDF analysis to stay competitive.
Day 18: Identify Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can confuse search engines and lead to lower rankings. It’s essential to identify and eliminate duplicate content from your website.
Tips:
Check for multiple versions of your website (e.g., with and without "www," HTTP vs. HTTPS) and use 301 redirects to consolidate them.
Ensure that different formats of the same content (like print and PDF versions) are not indexed multiple times.
Day 19: Eliminate Duplicate Content
Use canonical tags to indicate the original version of content that exists in multiple locations on your site. This prevents issues like keyword cannibalisation and ensures that search engines know which page to rank.
Tips:
Add canonical tags to pages with duplicate content.
Double-check that canonical tags are correctly implemented and point to the original URLs.
Day 20: Recycle and Refresh Content
Refreshing and republishing existing content can improve its performance without the need to create entirely new material. This process, known as content recycling, keeps your website up-to-date and relevant.
Tips:
Review your top-performing content and update it with the latest information.
Repurpose old blog posts into new formats, such as videos or infographics.
Day 21: Boost “Almost” Page 1 Content
Pages that rank between positions 11-20 are close to achieving top rankings. With some optimisation, you can push these pages to Page 1 and significantly increase traffic.
Tips:
Identify these pages using tools like Google Search Console.
Optimise the content and meta elements to better align with user intent.
Day 22: Optimise Images With Alt Text
Alt text helps search engines understand your images and provides accessibility for visually impaired users. It’s also crucial for image search rankings.
Tips:
Ensure every image on your site has descriptive alt text.
Include relevant keywords in the alt text without keyword stuffing.
Day 23: Enhance Image Search Optimisation
Beyond alt text, optimising image file formats and load times can greatly improve your visibility in Google Images and overall site performance.
Tips:
Use compressed, mobile-friendly image formats like WebP.
Create a separate sitemap for images and use Schema Markup for rich image results.
Day 24: Enable Rich Snippets
Rich snippets make your site more attractive in search results by displaying additional information like ratings or images, which can increase your click-through rate.
Tips:
Experiment with implementing structured data to generate rich snippets.
Regularly test your pages with tools like Google’s Rich Results Test.
Day 25: Add Structured Data to Your Pages
Structured Data helps search engines understand the content on your site and display it more effectively in search results, particularly in rich snippets.
Tips:
Implement Structured Data formats like JSON-LD to categorise your content.
Test your Structured Data for errors and ensure it's implemented correctly across your site.
Day 26: Aim for Featured Snippets
Featured snippets appear at the top of search results and can dramatically increase your site’s visibility. They often provide concise answers to user queries directly in the search results.
Tips:
Create content that answers common user questions clearly and concisely.
Use structured content like lists and short paragraphs to increase your chances of being featured.
Day 27: Add an Appealing Favicon
Favicons, those small icons next to your URL in the browser tab and mobile search results, can enhance brand recognition and improve click-through rates.
Tips:
Ensure your favicon is clear and recognisable at small sizes.
Keep your favicon consistent across your site for a cohesive brand presence.
Day 28: Optimise Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumbs help users navigate your site and also aid search engines in understanding your site structure. Properly implemented breadcrumbs can enhance both user experience and SEO.
Tips:
Keep your breadcrumb paths clear and logical.
Use Schema Markup to help search engines display your breadcrumbs accurately.
Day 29: Optimise Your Site for Local Search
Local SEO is crucial for businesses that operate in specific geographical areas. By optimising for local search, you can attract more local customers and drive in-person visits.
Tips:
Consistently use your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) across your site and in directories.
Register your business on Google My Business and include relevant local keywords on your site.
Day 30: Internationalise Your Website
If your website serves multiple languages or countries, it’s important to optimise it for international search. This ensures that users in different regions can easily find the correct version of your site.
Tips:
Use the hreflang tag to indicate language and country versions of your pages.
Ensure that each language version of your site is linked correctly.
Final Thoughts
Congratulations! By following this 30-Day SEO Planner, you’ve laid a solid foundation for increasing your website traffic and improving your search engine rankings. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so continue to monitor your site’s performance, make necessary adjustments, and keep up with the latest SEO best practices.
Your journey to becoming an SEO expert is just beginning. Keep optimising, and you’ll see the results in no time.
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