I feel SEO has a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking.
And perhaps that’s true to a certain extent.
The initial phases of an SEO campaign can, in fact, be grueling.
There’s on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and—everyone’s favorite—technical SEO.
So, yeah, it can be kind of a pain.
But here’s the thing.
There is a multitude of “quick fix” SEO tactics that take hardly any time.
Many can be completed within 30 minutes.
Now, I’m not going to tell you that any specific technique will bring about massive results on its own.
But when done in conjunction with one another, they can have a significant impact and give your overall SEO campaign a nice boost.
So let’s get right down to it.
Here are 18 SEO tactics that will take you no longer than 30 minutes each.
1. Get set up on Google My Business
Local SEO is important, especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.
If you’ve been skimping on this aspect of SEO, you’ll want to spend a few minutes setting up an account on Google My Business.
This allows you to edit the info on your business, verify contact info, add images, monitor reviews, and more.
This can give you a huge advantage over competitors who fail to capitalize on this powerful resource.
2. Optimize your profile
Already have a profile on Google My Business?
Why not spend some time sprucing it up and making sure that everything is “just right?”
Here are a few specific things you can do:
- Make sure all your business info is up-to-date
- Add additional info such as hours, parking location, menu details, etc.
- Choose specific categories (e.g., “fresh organic grocery store” instead of just “grocery store”)
- Replace any amateurish looking images with newer, more professional ones
- Encourage loyal customers to leave reviews
3. Get set up on Google Search Console
I love Google Search Console!
If you’re not using it, you’re leaving money on the table and not getting the most from your SEO campaign.
Here’s a screenshot explaining exactly what Google Search Console is:
Although there is a wide array of features, here are some specific things you can do to improve your SEO:
- Check who’s linking to your site
- Check index status
- Monitor crawl errors
- Manually submit new content to be crawled
I recommend reading this post from Quick Sprout to learn how to use Google Search Console like a boss.
4. Check your site’s speed
I’m sure you know just how critical site speed is.
Even a one-second delay can have an adverse impact.
If you’re not sure what your website’s speed is, you can check it with Pingdom’s Website Speed Test.
It only takes a few seconds, and it will provide you with details on what you can do to speed it up.
Here’s the info I got when I did a speed test for Quick Sprout:
5. Check your site’s mobile-friendliness
I think it’s safe to say that smartphones aren’t just a fad.
In fact, many experts labeled 2016 as “the tipping point” for mobile search, when it finally eclipsed desktop search.
Research found that the average American spent 87 hours browsing on their smartphone in August 2016.
If you haven’t done so already, take the time to run a mobile-friendly test.
This will let you know what shape your site is in and what steps you need to take (if any) to resolve any issues.
6. Improve URL structure
Here’s the scenario.
You’ve been blogging for awhile, maybe several years.
Back in the day, you didn’t pay all that much attention to the URL structure of your blog posts.
As a result, they look something like this:
It’s fair to say this isn’t going to do your SEO any favors, and it’s going to make it unnecessarily difficult for search engine robots to decipher the meaning of your content.
To make your site more SEO-friendly, go back and improve these URLs so they look more like this:
7. Improve mediocre titles
I’ll be honest.
Coming up with epic titles for blog posts can be a little tricky at times.
Maybe in the past, you ended up settling for less than stellar titles.
A good way to make use of 30 minutes is to look over your posts to identify any titles that could use improvement.
One helpful resource for streamlining this process is Title-Generator.com.
Simply enter your main keywords, and it will generate 700 potential titles with one click.
Here’s what happened when I entered “content marketing:”
8. Study AdWords ads to optimize titles and tags
Here’s a little hack I learned from Brian Dean of Backlinko.
It’s simple but genius.
Enter a keyword in Google, and check out the ads that pop up.
Then look for awesome copy that you could potentially use for titles or tags.
Here’s the example Brian uses.
He searches for “glass water bottles” and comes up with these ads:
From there, he comes up with these phrases:
- BPA-free
- Keep you hydrated
- Durable
- Reusable
So, why is this so smart? Just think about it.
The phrases used in ads like these are the result of extensive A/B testing, so you know they get clicks and conversions.
You can save yourself an immense amount of time and energy by incorporating the phrases you find in ads.
9. Find dead links
Dead or broken links can be a real buzzkill.
Not only can they be disruptive to your website’s visitors, but they also won’t do your SEO any favors.
But you can quickly identify any of these links with the Online Broken Link Checker:
Just type in your site’s URL, and it’ll do the work for you in seconds.
Then go back, and make any necessary repairs.
10. Do some internal linking
In an article on NeilPatel.com, I mention that I wrote a blog post every day for five years and amassed hundreds of posts.
But I made one major mistake. I never linked to any of my relevant articles!
Fortunately, I eventually figured out that I could greatly improve my SEO by simply linking new articles to relevant older ones.
If you made the same mistake with your older content that I did with mine, I highly recommend taking a bit of time to set up some internal links.
Even a 30-minute session should leave your SEO in much better shape than before.
You can learn more about this process by reading this article.
11. Find link opportunities on Alltop
If you’re unfamiliar with Alltop, it’s basically a blog directory where you can find some of the world’s best content in one convenient location.
Here’s what pops up when I enter “content marketing:”
Not bad, huh?
What you want to do is spend some time looking for potential link prospects.
Search for relevant blogs in your industry to see if there are any bloggers with whom you could build relationships.
12. Find link opportunities on BuzzSumo
You can use the same process with BuzzSumo.
Just enter your search phrase, and you’ll get a list of results.
Here’s what I get with “content marketing:”
From there, click on “View Sharers” on any articles that interest you.
You’ll then see a list of people who shared that article.
These can all be potential people with whom you may want to form relationships, which could eventually translate into link-building/guest-blogging opportunities.
13. Give your lower-ranking pages a boost
I’m sure you know that having content ranking below the first page of SERPs is essentially worthless.
Here’s what I mean:
If a post is ranked say #42, it might as well be ranked #20,000,000.
Here is how to improve that.
Identify a few of your posts ranked on the second or third pages of Google.
These have obviously gained some level of traction but need a little boost to get onto page one.
To get that boost, set up some internal links pointing to them.
Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get them “over the hump” and onto prime search engine real estate.
14. Target two leading industry blogs
This might be an old school tactic, but it can still prove to be quite fruitful.
It involves finding two A+ industry blogs you were previously unaware of.
Once you find them, leave a couple of awesome comments with a link pointing back to your site.
On top of this, I recommend subscribing and following some of their best writers on Twitter with the hopes of eventually building relationships.
15. Claim your Bing listing
I feel a lot of marketers totally discount Bing.
And I get it.
It’s like comparing David to Goliath in terms of search engine market share.
But pump the brakes.
Bing still receives a decent percent of overall searches.
In fact, a 2016 article from Search Engine Journal reported:
Bing’s share of the search market grew more than Google’s this past April. To be exact, Bing’s market share rose by 0.2 percent while Google’s dropped by 0.2 percent.
Google’s total share of the US desktop search market has dipped below its previous 64 percent to 63.8 percent. Microsoft’s share of desktop search is now sitting at 21.6 percent.
Will Bing be overthrowing Google any time soon? Probably not.
But there’s still SEO juice to be had by claiming your Bing listing.
Sign up for Bing Places to claim, complete, and verify your listing.
This can be especially helpful if you’re a local brick-and-mortar business.
16. Write comprehensive descriptions for videos
Do you post any videos on your website?
If so, you may be missing out on a golden opportunity.
What I mean is that you’re probably failing to extract all the SEO potential from your videos.
And this all boils down to descriptions.
Rather than writing a brief description like this:
Brian Dean recommends leaving a 200+ word description like this:
Not only will this help you improve your ranking in YouTube, but it can also improve your ranking in SERPs.
And it really doesn’t take that long.
17. Turn a standard post into a long-form post
I’m not going to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious fact that long-form content ranks better than, say, a typical 500-word post.
You already know that.
But here’s a nice little trick you can do with thin content.
Look for a shorter post, under 1,000 words, that’s pretty good but never lived up to its full potential.
Then spend 30 minutes “beefing it up” by adding more content, charts, graphs, visuals, etc. until it’s bona fide long-form content.
For more on this, check out this post from NeilPatel.com.
18. Spy on competitors
Finally, it’s time to tap into your inner James Bond.
By this, I mean “spying” on a few of your key competitors.
Just go to SEMrush and type in their URL.
Within seconds, you can find info on their:
- Top organic keywords
- Organic position distribution
- Backlinks
- Top anchors
- Indexed pages
This will provide you with valuable intel that can guide your SEO campaign and enable you to be more effective.
Conclusion
SEO doesn’t have to be back-breaking, mind-numbing work.
In fact, there is a plethora of smaller SEO tasks you can easily complete in 30 minutes.
The ones I’ve outlined in this article will help you step up your SEO without an insane amount of effort.
And when you do several (five or more), it can potentially lead to a major breakthrough.
Do you have any other quick and easy SEO tactics up your sleeve?
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