Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an incredibly important component of increasing the visibility of your site, and ultimately drawing in more customers and exposing them to your products and services. We've put together a few steps in some tips that should help you ensure your website is optimised and ranks well on the major search engines. You'll find a list of the most frequently asked questions at the bottom.
Do you know who your ideal customer is and what they are looking for online?
SEO good practice begins with identifying your target audience and determining which keywords they use when searching for offerings that are aligned with yours. Keyword research is pivotal, and the good news is that they're really helpful tools out there, such as SEMrush and Google keyword planner; they can help you dive really deeply into the search patterns and behaviours of your ideal clients.
You’ll need to identify:
- Your ideal customer
- Where they are to be found
- Which search terms they use
So that you can effectively:
- Implement keywords into your content
- Integrate them into webpage titles, headings, and meta descriptions
- Significantly improving your website’s visibility.
Web Structure
The structure of your site should be easy to navigate, with a clear sitemap. This helps customers use your site but also boosts your SEO performance. Web loading speed is a factor too, and slow sites are marked down by Google. Reducing file sizes and utilising browser caching are two good practices that will help speed up your site.
Become mobile friendly
Smartphones are becoming the most used device to access the Internet. Therefore your website needs to be built with all devices in mind. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test will check the performance of your site on a number of different devices to make sure there are no compatibility issues.
Don't forget Backlinks:
Backlinks are weblinks from external sources that point to your site and content. Backlinks inform the major search engines that external bodies trust your content, so they are a huge boost to your credibility and reputation. Partnering with leaders in your niche can really help solidify your credibility, and once again, boost your search engine rankings.
Content strategy
Always keep your site up-to-date by adding the latest content and information and search engines will be looking for evidence that your site is a relevant source of information in response to search queries. Once again, there are tools that can help you with this.
SEO FAQs
What is keyword research and how is it conducted?
Keyword research involves identifying the search terms and queries that your ideal customers use, how frequently they use them, and how competitive those terms are.
Is mobile optimisation for SEO important?
Yes, it’s very important indeed. Google actually prioritises mobile sites when it conducts its indexing.
What are backlinks and should I be using them?
Backlinks point from external sources to your site. You certainly should use them because it will help boost your credibility, and ultimately your search engine rankings.
How can I speed up my website?
You can optimise image sizes, erase code that’s not required, and implement browser caching.
How often should I update my website to help with SEO?
Web developers suggest refreshing the content on your site at least on a weekly basis, even if this is just by adding a blog post or tweaking text for some products and services.
