7 SEO New Year's Resolutions for Year 2014

A new year brings with it fresh hopes and is a new beginning. Make it a reason to renew your vows to do the best to improve your website’s rankings. Make a resolution to follow these seven SEO tips that will keep you on track and secure great rankings in SERPs -

1. Content – It has been and will always be the king of all that matters on the internet. Not just anything will do, it has to be relevant, in-depth and interesting. Readers can tell low quality content from good engaging stuff and so can Google’s search engines. Make sure whatever you put on your website adds some value to the reader to get them to come back for more.

2. Website Design – Gone are the days when template based websites were good enough. While some of them might work, it is the time of customisation and it is in your best interest that you get a website that has been specially designed keeping your products, services and clientele in mind.

3. Meta Tags – A very important part of SEO, Meta Tags have of late been said to be redundant but that is not true. They are still important – the Title Tag, Description and Keywords - matter. Don’t just stuff keywords in it for robots; rather make it something that people can relate to and would want to read.

4. Images – Realise how important images can be for proper SEO. Label your images with appropriate names and instead if Image 1 or jpeg 1, label it with some relevant phrase and keywords. Good images also make your pages look better and attract more attention from readers.

5. Social Media – It has become an integral part of SEO without which you cannot hope to have any visibility. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and others are places where you can get immediate attention in the right circles. Make your content readily sharable and keep it current.

6. Authorship and Publisher Mark-up – Google+ has so much clout that it has to be treated as a separate category. Make sure your content has the advantage of both Authorship and Publisher mark-up, if relevant. Not only does this result in better click-through rate, but also raises ranking due to more traffic.

7. Say No to Shortcuts – It is easier said than done! When you have a website ready to be launched, you are tempted to accept the first offer for SEO that ensures quick results. Beware as this could get you penalised as all quick fixes rely on black-hat techniques and they are best to stay away from. Be patient, consistent and results will follow.