The one SEO strategy that really works…
This article breaks down a simple SEO strategy that actually works to grow your traffic by creating valuable content and optimizing your site.
Staying consistent over time with the following activities:
1. Keep publishing helpful articles
Write and add new blog posts regularly, especially ones that answer what people are searching for.
Look for topics that:
- Have lots of people searching for them (high search volume), and
- Aren’t too competitive (low keyword difficulty), so it’s easier to rank in Google.
2. Try programmatic SEO (when you’re ready)
This means automating blog post creation using templates and spreadsheets for topics with similar formats.
For example: if you run a travel blog, you could make 50 pages like “Best coffee shops in [City]” with a smart system instead of writing each one manually.
Don’t worry if this sounds too advanced—you can skip it until you’re more confident.
3. Make sure your site loads fast
This means:
- Compress your images so they’re smaller and load faster.
- Use modern image types like WebP instead of big JPGs or PNGs (they still look good but load quicker).
- Don’t overload your site with too many big files or fancy animations.
4. Test your website speed and health with Lighthouse
Use Google Lighthouse—a free tool that checks your site for:
- Speed
- Mobile friendliness
- SEO basics
- Accessibility (how easy it is for people to use)
It’s built into Chrome DevTools (right-click > Inspect > Lighthouse tab).
5. Don’t cover your site in ads
Too many ads make your site:
- Slower
- Less trustworthy
- Annoying to your readers
Instead, focus on giving value with useful content. Ads can come later—after you’ve built trust and traffic.
6. Don’t buy backlinks (focus on content quality)
You might hear about backlinks (links from other websites to yours). These help with SEO, but buying them is risky and often backfires.
Instead:
- Focus on writing genuinely good content that people naturally want to link to.
- One high-quality link from a trusted site is better than 50 spammy ones.
