Improving SEO is complex, and one of the most searched phrases on the internet. You could waste hours on researching and even then, the SEO tips be out of date. Sometimes it’s best to stick to the basics, especially if you’re a beginner.
Here are five basic tips, for beginners, on the most useful things you can do to improve your website SEO.
- Keywords still matter, but in a new way
In the early days, when it was all about keywords, website writers stuffed them into content until the content became unrecognisable and ended up being unreadable for browsers. Nowadays when we talk about keywords, we mean identifying key search terms (words and phrases) that browsers use to find your goods and services, and then ensuring that they feature in your web pages.
Think about the natural words you would use to search for your goods and services. Think of variations:
Plumber in my area
Plumber 24-hour callout
Plumbing services south Yorkshire
Type your variations into Google and see what other search terms are suggested under ‘People also ask’. You can also test these words and phrases in Google Analytics if you want to go a step further.
- Optimise your meta title and description
These are not featured on your page but are put into the CMS end of your website, and will eventually show up as the listings pulled up by a search engine. While these meta fields do not in themselves increase your SEO, if written well, they will increase your click-through, simply because browsers will find them relevant to their search and want to find out more, which WILL increase your SEO.
You need your title and description to accurately depict what is on the page, and include a hook at the same time, so there is a bit of weaving in of information and sales pitch.
For example:
Title: Emergency plumber | 24/7 |Contact 01234 567890
Description: Got a leak or urgent issue with your plumbing? Don’t worry. We can be with you in record time, and are happy to help. Contact us now for a time.
This title and description give the basics of the plumber’s service, while accurately describing the contact page and getting in some brand values and selling points along the way. Don’t ever optimise these fields, for instance by doing this:
Emergency plumber | Plumber | Plumber in Yorkshire
Fields must be readable and make sense, not be a jumble of keywords for the sake of it. - Optimise page content
Write your page content in natural, engaging language that’s easy to read and understand, and includes your identified keywords and phrases. Again, do not ‘stuff’ or put your keywords and phrases in artificially. You must find a way to weave them in naturally, and don’t worry if you can’t get them all in. Headings are a great way to structure content, make it easy to read and use your keywords.
Included in optimising your page content, is also ensuring your images are optimised. This means that you need to make sure your images are the smallest file size they can possible be without compromising on quality, and that the image descriptions are in straightforward, keyword-rich terms. Remember, Google is looking to index your images correctly, so help it along by not using your default file names, but naming each one correctly according to what it is and what keyword audience it is intended for.
- Link up your online presence
Search engines, as well as looking to index your content correctly, are also looking for authority to attribute to your website. This means linking all of your online presence, including business listings and social media presence.
Your website is just one part of your SEO so make sure your business listings in local directories, including Google My Business, are up to date and active, with customer reviews regularly being added. Are your social media accounts active or are they gathering dust? Good engagement across the channels will add to your website’s SEO and positively affect your rankings.
- Refresh with new content
A regular up-to-date blog post on your news or blog page will help your SEO. Keep up with current trends in your industry and show your audience you have something relevant and useful to say about them. You must always look to make your content useful to your audience, so they see value in your content. Search engines will reward you for fresh content that browsers search for and don’t jump away from.
An extra tip here is a regularly updated FAQ page. If your customers are asking your questions, you can be sure they are asking search engines too. Look to answer those questions online in a useful Frequently Asked Questions page and take the SEO reward of responding to those searched for terms.
There’s a lot more to SEO than these five tips listed here. But these will give you a good start when it comes to making your website work better and achieving better rankings. It should hopefully help you to understand too how all SEO measures are just ways to make it easier for search engines to index your content, in order to return it in the relevant search results for your audience.
CloseComment or share
< Read more articles on our Web Academy
The changing role of social media in marketing
Social media isn’t what it used to be. User-behaviour has evolved, and businesses are under increasing pressure to adopt different posting habits to make it worth their while.
Providing digital help and support – what to consider
Do you want to offer your customers digital help and support they can access online? It’s not as simple as just removing the phoneline. Here’s what to consider.