When customers are ready to buy, the first place they go is to Google. For your website to start appearing in search results, it is important that you understand and follow at least some very basic SEO principles. There are many So-called SEO experts and gurus out there.  Many of them will probably contact you offering their services the minute your website gets published. Regardless of what anyone may tell you to get you to pay for monthly SEO services, if you stick to some basic principles and do them often enough, your site will start to get organic traffic after a while, and even start ranking highly for some of your more specific niche keywords.

Here are some key areas you need to evaluate to ensure your site meets at least the basic SEO requirements.

Ensure Your Site Has Great Quality Content

The first thing search engines look for is the quality of content you have on your website. Is there enough landing page text content to explain your business? Is the content type dynamic enough, meaning you have used a nice balance of great design, mixed with different media formats such as images and videos, to create a user-friendly interactive experience for your site visitors. Spend time writing good content for your website; the more information you can give the better. Make your site attractive and engaging by adding good quality images and use videos whenever you can.

How Relevant And Engaging Is Your Site Content

Search engines like Google determine this by monitoring how long site visitors stay on your site. Are your visitors engaging with the pages, meaning they are spending time on each page scrolling and reading? Are they clicking through to second and third pages? If users are just coming to your site, landing on one page and then exiting your site, to search engines this means your content is not engaging enough, our you are promoting your website to the wrong audience. A good way to monitor the behavior of your site visitors is by creating a Google Analytics account and have the tracking code added to your site so you can monitor the daily activity and make improvements where necessary.

How Many People Are Talking About You

The more people are talking about you, the more popular you are. That is how it works in the real world, and that is how it works online. Even better, just like in the real world, the more credible people you have talking about you, the better your reputation. Google will rank your website very highly and very quickly if other credible sites are referring your content, as long as those referred users are engaging with the information on your site. When you launch your website, reach out to some credible media outlets, submit a press release or a well-written article about your services and why it's needed, and ask them for a link back to your website. Create affiliate partnerships with establishments that attract the type of customers you are seeking and run contests or host a giveaway on their site to get some referral traffic back to your travel site.

Accessibility

In 2016, people are browsing the web on a variety of devices, ranging from 52 inches smart TVs to smartphones, even watches. Your website needs to be accessible and readable across all platforms. More than 60% of your site visitors will be on mobile devices, and Google will rank your website based on how mobile friendly your site is. You also want to be accessible across all web browsers, so check your site on Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer to make sure the user experience is consistent across all browsers.