Search Engine Optimisation
Who visits your site?
What words and phrases do they use to reach your content?
If someone lands on your site will they be pleased with what they see?
Will the information engage, inform and keep the user on your site?
Will they return, bookmark your site and even share your site as a resource to friends?
These are just a few questions that will need answering when considering onsite optimisation, but before you jump straight in, also consider some of the best SEO techniques to use.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is a great place to start for anyone wishing to do some search engine optimisation.
Firstly, it is always a good idea to do a little bit of research. Think about the words and phrases that you would like to rank for. If you are a Chinese restaurant, do you want to rank for that keyword? How about 'best Chinese restaurant'? Don't limit your options, expand your keywords and phrases and tap into the long tail of keyword demand.
Once you have an idea of some of the more successful keywords for your competitors, jot down a list of your own. This can be a list of 10 or 100, it's up to you.
Then, whittle it down.
Is the keyword relevant to your website content?
Will the searcher find what they are looking for?
Will they be happy with what they find?
Will this traffic result in achieving a goal?
NB: Goals can be anything from financial reward or email signups
Once you have a researched and compiled a relevant, comprehensive list, now it is time to test.
Which keywords drive traffic to your site and help you reach your goal?
Once you have this data, analyse the information collected and determine the value of a keyword.
Then optimise, optimise, optimise!
Tip: Ask your customers how they found you. If it was via online resources, what did they search?
For a thorough explanation and more information have a look online. There are many guides on how to conduct keyword research, such as this brilliant one from Moz.
On Page Optimisation
Now you have a list of keywords that are relevant to your site, that people search for and will drive traffic, implement them onto your site.
In the past, keywords used to be hidden in backgrounds and stuffed into content. Best practice now discourages this, but it is important to include these words in specific areas to rank successfully.
Include keywords in the main header, sub headings, content body and in links or picture descriptions if possible. It is also important to optimise meta data. Add keywords into the title tag, description tag and within URLs.
Tip: Use keywords naturally. If you think that there are too many keywords within the content and it is difficult to read or extremely obvious that you are trying to rank, not only will search engines realise, but so will your audience.
Website Optimisation
With Google's Mobile Friendly update now rolling as well as more and more people using their phones and tablets as a device to use the internet, it is important to ensure that your site can be read easily on these devices as well as easy to navigate and use.
Furthermore, site speed is an ever increasing important factor in terms of Google's ranking algorithms. Modern times demand instant, easy access and people do not appreciate having to wait in today's fast-paced lifestyle.
Tip: If you want to check whether your website is mobile friendly, you can check using Google's simple to use test here.
Social Media Optimisation
Social media is becoming more and more prevalent in terms of SEO. Social factors such as the number of shares, likes and interaction with your social media presence show search engines your popularity and in turn allow you to rank higher.
Tip: Consider your audience. If you are a professional organisation, your content is going to be a lot more suited to organisations on LinkedIn compared to streams of images and gifs on Tumblr.
Content
We all know the popular saying that content is king and in some respects it is still relevant. Blogs provide an excellent resource for up to date, fresh, keyword rich content that many static sites lack. However, don't just optimise blog posts; consider landing pages, product pages, web design and really improve user experience.
Tip: It takes more than just good content to rank highly in search engines. Share content, reach out to your audience and push people see your great content!
Link Building
Do not disregard link building. Although some practises are regarded as spammy, do not be afraid of it. However, instead of reaching out with poor comments and a lack of information, be useful and provide great content to earn links.
Tip: It is all about link earning, not building - use quality domains and reach out to authoritative figures.
If you are interested in any of our SEO services have a look here or get in touch. If you have any questions or wish to discuss anything further, we are always here to help.