Making your website, registering its domain name, bringing it online, everything is done with. Now you can say that your website has an online presence. It appears on different search engines when people look it up. These are the most common steps that one follows to get their website online. So you are now officially on the web. What now?

Just being a member of the online fraternity isn’t enough. And as you know, there is competition out there and it’s everywhere. Though your website may appear on the search engines, which page does it land up on? So here’s the thing, people are a tad bit lazy. If they are looking for something, they won’t go beyond the 3rd page of that particular search engine and if you are a resident of the 7th or the 10th page, then do not count on getting plenty of visitors on your site as they might find what they need in the first 3 pages itself and if you are lucky enough, that is quite seldom, the very patient ones might come looking for you. So, like I said, it’s a very competitive world. Unless you bring yourself to first few pages, you cannot expect even a miracle to drive traffic to your website.

This is where the savior steps in- the Search Engine Optimization (SEO). With its help your dream of acquiring a position in the first few pages of the search engines can come true. All you have to do is understand how to use it to its very potential. So, to aid you in your quest of becoming a member of the ranking fraternity, here are some of the best SEO practices that might help you acquire the position you are eyeing.

Content..Content and Content: The content plays an important role in deciding whether you would make it to the elite list or not. Your content has to be engaging since you are writing for the audience. Your content has to be directed towards the audience and not solely on you. You do have to promote your website or your brand but this doesn’t mean that you can go raving about your product. You have to let the customer discover that his needs are met by what you are offering, so let content do the talking and yes, the content has to be relevant.

Be Original: Do not copy. This threatens your credibility. The keywords that would be made available to you doesn’t have to appear in every nook and cranny. It would definitely look and sound weird and at times just to accommodate the list of keywords given to you, you shouldn’t dump all the keywords into the content. Only use those that are relevant. Or else you would fail to connect to your audience as they would be left wondering what did they just read.

Be Popular: There are plenty of social media platforms through which you can easily popularise yourself. The more you are active on the social media platform, the more visible you would be to the rest of the world. This won’t cost you a penny! All you have to do is be an active member on the social media and be visible! Social media and the various review sites promote your interaction with the customers and gives you the popularity that you need.

Research..Research and Research! Before setting out to do anything, make sure you thoroughly research the keywords. Dive into the customer’s mind and try to detect a pattern. Understand what people want, what are their area of interests. Look up for the most-searched words by the customers and include it in your site. Use the appropriate tools for fishing out the right keyword. Once you know what your customer is looking for, all you have to do is give them what they want. The appropriate keywords would hype your website’s visibility as more and more people would be out there looking for you.

Longer Articles: It certainly enhances your visibility if your content would be approximately as long as 1,200 to 1,500 words. This is because Google is a little biased towards articles that are content-rich and provide a comprehensive detail of the particular thing that you are looking for. In short, you have to give an extensive coverage of the topic instead of merely touching the tip of the iceberg!

Mobile App Optimization: These days everything has to be visible on the mobile phone as well. So make sure that the content is searchable and that the content in the mobile app is understood by Google. This would ensure that your site does rank in the search engine’s first page itself.

Copy + Paste= NO: There’s no place for copied content on the elite list. Just so you know, Google penalises sites with copied content in it. So make sure you do not follow the trend of copying content from somewhere and pasting it as it is in your website. This is a big no. Referring from different sites is alright but copying the content is plagiarism. Unless you want to be penalized by Google, you are advised to create your original and unique content.

SEO is a tricky skill, you can master it but you have to consistently perform even when the rules keep changing. SEO trends keep changing, and what was a rage in the year 2015 might not be the ones followed in the year 2016. So keeping up with the trends and the above mentioned tips would actually ensure that your website would secure a decent ranking in the search engines.