SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and, depending on your perspective is the science or art of improving the ranking of your website or web pages. In other words making them easier for people to find and making them more visible than those of you competitors.
We all use search engines, most of us use them numerous times a day. Think about it. How many times a day do you google something? We do it all the time, in the office for work, at home in the evening to obtain the answer to some random query, out and about for weather or traffic info. The advent of smart phones and tablets has meant searching the web has become second nature to almost all of us. We’re attached to our smart phones as if they are a third hand and google is our second brain but do you ever stop to think about how the search engines throw up the answers to your queries?
Understanding how search engines work and investing in SEO can be the key to a successful website.
Here are some of the basic things to consider which will help improve your SEO.
- Make the content on your site relevant
- Think about what the audience you want to reach might be searching for
- Use these keywords
- Use language that is clear and concise
- Understand your web pages and how effective they are – a high bounce rate will affect your ranking (Google analytics can help you with this – link to google analytics blog post?)
- Look at your competitors and their websites, how are they performing and what is working for them.
- Ensure your site loads at a reasonable speed, is accessible and responsive (displays on mobile devices)
- Build a presence on social media to encourage sharing of your content
One of the reasons some businesses don’t invest time and energy in SEO is because to do it effectively requires knowledge and expertise. SEO techniques are constantly evolving to keep up with changes online so it can be difficult to keep track of particularly if SEO isn’t your main job. Google and other search engines regularly change and update their algorithms so to stay current requires time and dedication. Getting your SEO right is down to a combination of technical understanding, original and relevant content creation and investing time and effort.
The other reason is it isn’t visible so is one of the elements of marketing that people feel able to put off. It’s worth remembering though that the results are visible. If you have been ignoring SEO for too long it’s time to put it on your to do list. Or let us help!