SEO, What is it?

SEO Introduction

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), is the practice of improving and promoting a website in order to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines. There are many aspects to SEO, from the words on the page to the way other sites link to you on the web. Sometimes SEO is simply a matter of making sure your site is structured in a way that search engines understand.

Now more than ever, it is important to keep up with the latest SEO market trends as showing up at the top of search results can make all the difference for your business. There are great reliable ways to get predictable results when it comes to SEO, however nothing about it is easy.

A crucial part of your internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by your targeted audience.

So, what’s making users click?  Here are our five key points you should know about SEO, to ensure you’re getting the most out of your web presence.

1. Keywords – it all begins with words typed into a search box.

Keywords are the most important SEO element for every search engine, and are often described as the string connecting your business to your target audience. Choosing the right keywords is the first and most crucial step to any successful SEO campaign. It’s not always about getting visitors to your site, but about getting the right kind of visitors, therefore keyword research is needed to ensure you're reaching your specific target audience. Transition away from thinking of keywords like data, and put more of an emphasis on the person who will be typing in that keyword.

With keyword research you can predict shifts in demand, respond to changing market conditions, and produce the products, services, and content that web searchers are already actively seeking. You need to select keywords that are proven performers for delivering traffic. We call these “predictive keywords” because they relate to themes on your website and have proven performance on Google and other search engines through daily use.

Entering the same keyword over and over again is not SEO. All too often people think they can put a bunch of keywords together in the backend of their site and this will increase their website traffic. You want to give each page its own set of keywords as not doing this can have a negative impact on your site’s optimisation and can lower the ranking on the search engines.

Keywords can be added within the content of the website, included within page titles, within anchor texts for links, or alt attributes connected to images and videos upon the website pages. Useful social content (blog, video, images, audio) that cannot be discovered via search is a lost opportunity to reach an audience that is looking.  The use of meta keywords are not used by many search engines theses-day as it had been misused by early website developers 

2. Relevant page titles and accurate page descriptions lead to target audience

Page titles are one of the first factors used to determine where a page will show in results. Similar to traditional SEO, it is important that these titles reflect the terms that people use to search, increasing the likelihood that the site will appear relevant and receive better page rankings. Additionally, each page should include a unique topic, title and Meta description for the snippet that appears below the link listed on the Google search results page. The Meta description is always hugely important as this is one of the first informational section seen which can have an influence on a user's choice of click.

3. SEO requires content; lots of content!

The biggest SEO challenge facing business owners is the lack of high-quality content. Everyone involved in a website project gets excited when they see the design for the new site, however when it comes time to writing the actual content, the project can come to a screeching halt. Today’s search engine requires lots of amazing content (not just any content, but amazing content) that provides real value to its users.

When it comes to content writing yourself, limit the content on each page to a single topic running between 500 and 1,000 words each. Fewer than 500 words will prevent you from using enough keyword mentions, and more than 1,000 may lose the attention of your visitor.

People search in Google because they have a question. Anticipate those questions  whether they are about the best social media marketing technique or who to contact for a website redesign. Your keywords and the content on your pages should reflect the answers to those questions.

4. SEO may require a complete site overhaul

Many website owners believe that getting SEO services provided by someone like SteadyGo is as simple as signing an agreement and making a monthly payment. Truth be told, it’s not always quite that simple.

In order to be successful at SEO, you need to be ready and willing to help with site changes, writing content, leveraging business development relationships and so on. SEO is a long-term strategy, and it takes time to build the right links to be able to compete. As previously mentioned the keywords and content all have to link with the context of your business. Therefore, when working on SEO, this can result in big changes to occur including website page titles and the written content within the pages itself.

5. SEO practice is continually changing and getting more complex

The search engine bots that crawl the web for content are getting smarter and smarter every day. They can tell when a blog or website is full of gibberish content and when it might actually be relevant. This can mean the difference between having a website with heavy traffic or getting sent to search engine purgatory.

The rules of traditional SEO are shifting at a fast pace and this challenge presents a unique opportunity for how you should work better with your content marketing teams to ensure that they are delivering an integrated SEO campaign that supplies better search rankings, greater levels of brand awareness, an excellent user experience and lots of new customers.

When it comes to increasing traffic to your site, it cannot be simply achieved through minimalistic practices therefore when planning you need to set SMART goals. These are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-sensitive. It’s great to have a fancy site, but try not to focus so much on site fanciness that you don’t actually have indexable and searchable text.

Ultimately, all things are possible in the glorious world of internet marketing and SEO is a major piece in the puzzle of how to get it all to fit together. If all this sounds daunting we are always happy to help, whether it’s a simple piece of advice or a strategic overhaul, feel free to get in touch for a brew and a chat.