If you haven't optimized your website with search engine optimization (SEO), then that may put you behind your competitors. What are you waiting for?

In today's digital world, no one questions the effectiveness of an SEO marketing strategy for attracting your ideal audience and clients. Using the right SEO basics to get your site onto the top positions on search engine result pages will not only result in more clicks for you, it will also help to build your credibility as a trusted authority within your niche. Here are the three SEO basics you need to know in 2019.

Keyword Research

Keywords may feel overwhelming to understand, but a couple tips and tricks exist to help people learn more about this topic. To optimize your site for specific keywords, you need to engage in keyword research. Of course, it helps to start with a clear company mission in mind first. Then, you want to specify your ideal audience.

Dotcom Design suggests that you want to identify keywords that are most relevant to your target audience. Once you have the background, it's time to narrow down to keywords that fit your niche and the people you are trying to attract. Then, optimize your content with the keywords you have found.

Use your keyword in the headline and once in the opening paragraph, but don’t keep repeating it thinking that it will up your SEO juice. Use synonyms when possible to expand your search reach on search engines. Also, make sure your keywords sound natural in your sentences.

Always Include a Call to Action in Every Article

Moving Company Reviews explains that SEO experts rate CTR (Click Through Rate) as a "very important signal" predicting organic search success. Calls to action (note at the end of an article or post that encourages readers to do something) are the difference between an informational and a sales-driven site. In fact, some say you can't run a successful marketing campaign without a successful CTA. This is your time to invite responses and appeal to your readers. You want your viewers to engage with your content, and your CTA invites them to do just that.

A CTA can involve various types of actions from filling out a form to downloading a PDF. They can also be subscription sign ups or buying a product. Don't forget to use active verbs for your CTA like subscribe, comment, learn more, buy, and order. You should add a CTA on every page of your site. An effective CTA increases audience conversions, and conversions are always good for business.

Remove Duplicate Content

In the past, duplicate content has been used in Black Hat SEO practices (Black Hat = Bad). Neil Patel talks about how it's vital to remove duplicate content as it will be picked up by search engine algorithms, and your site will get penalized by dropping in ranking. If your site has several pages that appear to be duplicates of each other, then you need to delete the doubles. Search engines will only present useful, relevant, content to its searchers. Duplicate content is considered spam.

Many people tend to be drawn to sites who use SEO basics like keywords to actively seek them out as opposed to cold leads. Since most people look up products and services on search engines before making a purchase, implementing the basics of SEO seems to be a logical decision for any online business.

To learn more about how to SEO like a pro read my article What is SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers.