There are some basics of SEO (search engine optimization) that you should know and start to implement on your own website.
While it’s a massive topic, it’s always a good idea to start small with SEO. Start working on the basics and expand your efforts over time. SEO builds upon itself and your reach will grow the more you work on your SEO.
Here is a list of things you can start to tackle on your own. It’s not an exhaustive list of every aspect of search engine optimization, but it’s a good place for you to start yourself.
If you see value in the work you’re doing but run out of time to do it all yourself, you can hire an SEO professional to carry on.
1. Build a list of target keywords
These are the keywords (or more likely, the phrases), that you think your target audience will use as search terms when they look for you online.
This step requires extensive research into what your target market is searching for online. Take note of the wording they are using.
Check the search volume of each keyword you choose. The search volume refers to the average number of searches for that keyword per month, over the previous 12 months. You want to choose a mix of search volumes – some keywords should have a high search volume, and some lower volumes.
The higher volume keywords usually have more competition from businesses who want to rank for them, which makes it more difficult for your website to rank. The lower search volume keywords usually have less competition, which will make it easier for you to rank for those.
The shorter your keywords (eg a single word, or a two-word phrase like “seo agency”) will be more general and therefore have much higher competition. This makes it more difficult to rank for them. Longer keywords (i.e. longer phrases like “seo agency in surrey united kingdom” will likely have less competition and will probably be easier to rank for.
2. Match your keywords to the search terms users search for online
It’s incredibly important to choose keywords that your audience will use, rather than the wording you might use within your own business. Strangely enough, the wording you use internally, and the keywords your users’ might search for, often differ greatly.
Example: When I started my business, email marketing was only just beginning to take shape in the world. No one even knew the correct term for an ‘email newsletter’ because people didn’t really know what they were yet and hadn’t collectively settled on a name for them.
Internally, we called them ‘email brochures’, while users might have called them ‘ezines’, ‘email newsletters’, ‘email brochures’ etc. While SEO wasn’t even a thing back then (early 2000), let’s imagine for a second that it was, and we were trying to optimize for user searches. If we had optimized for ‘email brochure’, but our users were searching for ‘ezine’, our website wouldn’t draw any new traffic because the wording didn’t match.
You must optimize your website content for the wording your AUDIENCE will use to search for you online, to dramatically improve your chances of being found in the search results.
A common question we get asked: “How many keywords will I need?”
The answer really depends on your website, your market, and how much content you will be generating. Ideally, you would choose between 20 and 100 keywords to start. You must only optimize ONE page per keyword, so imagine each keyword will have its own page. The more quality content, the better, so try to generate as much great content as possible.
If you choose 20 keywords, you should have 20 pages to optimize (plus any other pages that probably won’t be optimized, like your Privacy Policy etc.). These pages would probably include blog posts (unless you have many products and/or services).
3. Structure your website menu using your keywords (search terms)
Now that you have your list of keywords, you need to prioritise them according to the products and/or services you offer. You’re doing this so you can build your website structure and menu.
Websites are hierarchical, which means your most important keywords should appear in your main menu. You can then use drop down menus to link to less important topics/pages.
Once your keyword list is prioritized, you must create your website structure in keeping with your prioritized list, while matching the terms to what your business offers.
Let’s use an online shop that sells products for dogs as an example:
- Home
- Buy Dog Products (shop page)
- Dog Beds
- Small Dog Beds
- Large Dog Beds
- Inside Dog Beds
- Outside Dog Beds
- Dog Food
- Organic Dog Food
- Wet Dog Food
- Dry Dog Food
- Dog Treats
- Dog Toys
- Squeaky Dog Toys
- Educational Dog Toys
- Dog Training Toys
- Dog Beds
- Dog News (blog page)
- About
- Contact
In the example menu above, your keyword list would include (but not be limited to):
- Buy Dog Products
- Dog Beds
- Small Dog Beds
- Large Dog Beds
- Inside Dog Beds
- Outside Dog Beds
- Dog Food
- Organic Dog Food
- Wet Dog Food
- Dry Dog Food
- Dog Treats
- Dog Toys
- Squeaky Dog Toys
- Educational Dog Toys
- Dog Training Toys
4. Optimize each page for its keyword
Now you can optimize each of your website pages for the keyword that’s been assigned to it.
The golden rule is that you must never optimize two pages for the same keyword. One keyword per page!
Make sure that the content on that page answers everything someone might want to know about that keyword (search term).
The above example uses an online shop, and these pages would probably be product category pages. Don’t forget to add text content to these pages too. Don’t just display the products – say something valuable about the category itself.
If your website is an information website and not a shop, then your pages wouldn’t have products but instead would contain information about your products and/or services. Make sure that each page has all the relevant information a user might be looking for when searching for that product or service.
5. Use a blog for complementary keywords
You will probably have chosen a lot of keywords in addition to the main pages on your website. This is great – you must try to rank for as many keywords as possible. (Usually, your website will start to rank for more specific, low volume keywords first. As your site rankings improve, your SEO power will compound and you will start to rank for more high volume, general keywords.)
You will have a list of keywords that you would like to rank for but that don’t fit into your main website structure. These are excellent keywords to target with blog posts.
Turn these keywords into blog post topics, and write interesting, informative, useful articles about the topics. Blog posts should be about adding value to your users. After all – creating an excellent user experience is one of the most important foundations of SEO.
Make sure your post has an introduction, interesting headings and paragraphs, and a conclusion. Answer everything there is to know about your topic so if a user searches for it online and they click through to your page, your website answers exactly what they were looking for.
This is great user engagement, which is a key ranking factor in search engines.
6. Use internal linking to drive traffic around your website
Internal links are another way for search engines to understand which are the most important pages on your website.
If many of your pages all link back to one of your main pages (eg: Page A), Page A will be considered more important than the other pages. If Page A is optimised for one of your primary (most important) keywords, this is a good indication of what your organisation is about.
The more relevant your website and content is to a user’s online search, the more likely it is that your website will show up in their search results.
7. Add a clear call to action
Websites exist for a purpose. You build a website because you want users to perform specific actions on your website. Then you optimise your website for search engines so users can find your website, click through to it, and take the action you want them to.
This ‘action’ is considered your ‘call to action’ and could be:
- Subscribe to a newsletter
- Buy a product
- Request a quote
- Fill out a form
- Book a meeting
Any actions users perform on your website are seen as user engagement by search engines. If lots of users engage with your site and perform the actions you want them to, this boosts your user engagement and gives you what you want from your website.
The number of completed actions on your site is also a good indication of whether your SEO efforts are working as they can be easily tracked.
8. Create an excellent user experience
Great search engine optimization is all about optimizing your website for an excellent user experience. A lot of factors are included in a user’s experience, and a lot of these are tracked by search engines to measure the quality of the user experience on your website. Search engines can tell how long someone spends on your website, or on a particular page on your site, how far down the page they scroll (i.e. are they reading the content), whether they click links and move around your site, among many others.
When optimizing your website user experience, make sure you check these factors:
- Fast page load time
- Easy navigation (ie: the main pages are in your menu and easy to find)
- Content quality and relevance (ie: does the content fulfil the user’s search intent)
- Internal linking
- Readability (ie: is the content easy to understand?)
- Responsive design (eg: is your website mobile-friendly?)
There are lots more user experience features to check, but these are a good place to start and will probably keep you busy for a while.
9. Create backlinks to drive traffic and boost website importance
Backlinks are when other websites link to your website. Search engines see these links as a type of ‘vote’ for your website. It’s a way that the other website demonstrates that your content is good enough for them to link to and allow users to leave their website and visit yours.
The more important the website that links to you is, the more important their ‘vote’ for your website is, and the more power that backlink will carry.
Ideally, you want lots of websites with similar keywords to you, who are complementary to your business (not in competition with it) and who are important themselves, to link back to your website. Example: A link from ‘The New York Times’ website will carry a lot more weight than a link from the website of a small business down the road.
Backlinks are usually generated by you reaching out to websites you think would benefit from linking to your content. You will need to explain why they should link to you, and they will need to add the link to their website themselves. It should be a ‘follow’ link, so you get the power from the link. (‘Nofollow’ links don’t carry nearly as much, if any, weight.)
10. Create a Google Business page and get customer reviews
Google Business is a great service from Google that allows you to create a Google Business profile and map pin on Google Maps. These profiles must be verified by the business owners to prove they are legitimate, which makes people take them much more seriously.
Among other things, these profiles allow you to collect Google reviews. These reviews can only be created with an actual Gmail account, so they carry weight because they are definitely from a live person, instead of a bot.
Having a verified Google Business profile will also boost your visibility in the popular searches “XYZ product near me”, as they are geographical searches, and you have a pin on the map.
They can also be used for directions to your premises, and when used correctly, can greatly improve a user’s experience of your business and website.
By now, you will know the basics of SEO, and can get started on your own website.
There are so many factors to consider when optimising your website for search engines. We have only covered a few here – there are many more – but these will give you a good place to start your SEO efforts.
Remember, search engines will rank websites that provide the best search results to their users. If your website is the best fit for a search, your website should be high in the search results.
This isn’t easy to do because there are so many millions of websites in the world. However, it is imperative if you want to be found online. Start small and just keep going. Build on your efforts and soon you will start to see the boost in your website traffic.
Make sure you are tracking your traffic with Google Analytics (free and excellent), and keep adding new, optimized content as often as possible.
If you need help with your SEO, please contact us today.
