A Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
So you’ve heard search engine optimisation is one of the best ways to strengthen your marketing strategy, but you’re not sure what it entails, let alone how to use it to your advantage.
In this blog, we take a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of SEO, including each of its elements and the best way to implement these to gain the best results for your business.
What is Search Engine Optimisation?
Search Engine Optimisation, also commonly referred to as SEO, is an ongoing process designed to increase a website’s online visibility on Google, Bing and other search engines. By making improvements to a website and increasing your online presence, you are more likely to be found and engaged with by users searching for your business.
Why Is SEO Important?
The ultimate goal of SEO is to enhance your site so that users are attracted to click on it when scrolling through a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The more users that click on your site, the more potential there is for them to become customers.
Increasing your ranking and online presence leads to more prominent visibility for specific search terms and queries, which leads to a higher position on the SERP when these terms are searched for. These are elements you can (and should) track in real-time with a dedicated ranking tracker once you’ve got the ball rolling: well-maintained SEO takes constant analysis of a myriad of factors that culminate in a strongly optimised site.
Each element of SEO is connected and requires constant work and attention to maintain, but with dedication, the results can be a lead-generation game changer!
The Different Areas of SEO
Technical SEO
Arguably the most important element of SEO, technical SEO is all about making sure your website is visible for a search engine to find, plus ensuring the content on your site is easy to read, understand and be stored in the search engine’s databases.
If your pages are difficult for search engines to access and read, you run the risk of missing out on vital opportunities to appear in the search engine results, therefore losing potential visitors who would then become customers.
You need to ensure your pages load quickly to avoid users becoming impatient and leaving your site before they’ve had a chance to see what your business has to offer. An ideal load time for a website is under two seconds, which seems like such a small window of opportunity, but in the mind of a user can feel like an eternity!
Local SEO
Depending on your business's size and goals, ensuring your site has local SEO could be a lifeline for gaining local traffic and converting customers.
Some best practices of local SEO would be to claim directory listings for your business as well as have location-specific pages for your site, and make sure your Google Business Profile is up-to-date with opening hours and contact information, as well as a location for users to find you on Google Maps.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to the ‘behind the scenes’ efforts to boost your site’s visibility. The most common off-page SEO technique is obtaining backlinks from other high-authority websites to tell search engines that not only is your content relevant, but other websites think so too.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is everything to do with the content you are sharing with users that will draw them to visit your site. It’s vital to ensure all content on your site is informative and useful to ensure maximum benefit to users.
We recommend writing content that is sharable, relevant and interesting to maximise your chances of growing your online visibility. Here are some examples of the content you could produce to help build your on-page SEO:
Web page content
Videos
Blogs
Infographics
Podcasts
Listicles
How-to guides
Case Studies
Whitepapers and e-books
Social media posts
SEO Services from the Professionals at totalsurf
At totalsurf, we are experts in anything and everything SEO. We pride ourselves on transparency, honesty, and hard work, which help your business achieve its potential through the growth of your online visibility. If you’re interested in finding out how your website currently ranks, why not register for a free SEO audit? Alternatively, if you’d like to find out even more about SEO, including a free downloadable SEO checklist, visit our site today!
