The practice of search engine optimisation (SEO) started way back in the late 1990’s, but it wasn’t until 2006 businesses began discovering the importance of ranking high in search engines, and investigating ways on how to accomplish this. This timing coincided with the launch of Google Analytics, providing data and insights on how your website is performing.
Over the past 2 decades, SEO has evolved significantly, with search engines rolling out regular algorithm updates in an effort to continually improve results, and punish those trying to game the system.
SEO is still widely misunderstood
Even though SEO has been around for a long time (in relation to the internet itself), it is still largely misunderstood by a high proportion of business owners. According to the National Retail Association, 64% of SMB owners in Australia lack awareness of the importance of SEO or struggle to understand how it generates results for their business.
If you’re one of these owners, you’ve taken a great step by Googling “how do I improve SEO” or clicking on a link to find this article. We hope the below information helps you.
What is SEO?
SEO – which is short for search engine optimisation – is the process of improving your visibility in the search engines. For the purpose of this article, we will focus our attention on Google, which gets 92% of all searches on the internet.
Improving your search visibility is done by improving the performance, experience, and authority of your website.
It is important to note that SEO relates to ranking higher in organic (free) search results, not in the paid results (through Google Ads).
How Do Search Engines Work?
Search engines use web crawlers (also known as spiders or bots) to navigate through the billions of pages on the internet, using links to discover new pages and new content. These pages are then added to an index that search engines pull results from.
On Page SEO versus Off Page SEO
In simplified terms, there are 2 ways to improve your SEO. On page optimisation and off page optimisation.
On page optimisation refers to changes you directly make to your website. This includes:
- title tags and meta descriptions (we will discuss these in more detail later),
- headings,
- content,
- URL structure,
- images,
- internal linking.
User experience is also considered part of the on page optimisation, with clear navigation, easy access to information, mobile responsiveness and page load speed all factors at play here.
Off page optimisation refers to backlinks, which occur outside of your site.
Backlinks are when another page on the internet links to a page on your website. These external pages might include local directories, social media channels, classifieds, press release websites, membership hubs and a lot more.
NOTE: It is VERY hard to rank well in Google without addressing both on page SEO (telling Google what you’re about) AND off page SEO (telling Google how important you are).
IS THIS ALREADY OVERWHELMING?
Key Steps to Improving your SEO
Here are a dozen important steps you should take when implementing a successful SEO strategy.
1. Keyword Research
This should ALWAYS be the first step when considering SEO for your website. Identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for is crucial for SEO success.
There’s no point ranking for keywords that have a different intent to what you’re offering. Likewise, there’s no point ranking for keywords that noone is actually searching for!
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find popular and relevant keywords.
2. Keyword Mapping
Once you have identified all the relevant keywords, you should group them into “themes”. Themes are similar phrases, such as variations of the same word or synonyms. Each theme will focus on a specific page on your website.
Using a spreadsheet, map out your keyword structure. Sort in terms of highest volume and most relevant. We tend to focus on no more than 5 or 6 keywords per page (theme), otherwise it gets too hard to optimise them all effectively. The top ones should be your primary keywords, which will be placed in the most important spots on your page.
At the keyword mapping stage of SEO, you should also identify which themes don’t have a suitable page on the current site, and thus needs a new page to be built.
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3. Optimise On-Page Elements
- Title Tags: Ensure each page has a unique, descriptive title tag containing primary keywords.
- Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions that summarise the content and include keywords.
- Headers (H1, H2, etc.): Use headers to structure content and include keywords where relevant.
- URL Structure: Keep URLs short, descriptive, and include keywords if possible.
The title and meta description do not appear on the site per se, but are regularly displayed by Google in the search result. Hence when users make a search, these “snippets” you’ve written are what will likely be seen here.
Therefore, the meta tags should not only include your important keywords, but they should also appear natural and enticing for the user to want to click on.
4. Create High-Quality Content
Produce original, valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience. Content should be well-written, engaging, and optimised for relevant keywords. As per above, each target page will have a “keyword theme” so ensure the content uses all the phrases you are targeting for that theme.
We provide SEO to clients in niches such as psychologists, lawyers, dentists and electricians, plus a wide range more. Knowing what type of content resonates in each industry is something we pride ourselves on!
As a minimum, a page you are targeting for SEO (ie. having keywords on it you are trying to rank) should have 300 words. Any less and it will likely be seen as thin content, making it a lot harder to rank.
5. Optimise for Mobile
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly on all devices. Mobile optimisation is crucial as more searches are conducted on mobile devices. Most modern websites are mobile-responsive but if yours isn’t, you’ll struggle to make traction on Google.
6. Improve Page Speed
Fast-loading sites tend to rank higher in search results. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyse and improve your website’s loading times. Modern day websites are very powerful but can also have a lot of moving parts, which slow down performance.
If you have a WordPress website, here are some helpful plugins:
- W3 Total Cache
- WP Rocket
- WP Fastest Cache
- WP Super Cache
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) can also improve your page speed.
7. Optimise Images
A picture is worth a thousand words. But if it’s on Google, there are essentially no words associated with that image. This is where ALT tags are your friend.
ALT tags provide context to what an image is about, educating search engine crawlers so they can index an image correctly. Use descriptive filenames and ALT text with relevant target keywords for images will help search engines understand the content of your pages.
8. Build Quality Backlinks
As mentioned earlier, the key to off page SEO is getting Google to see your website as important. When another website links to yours, it is seen as a “vote” for your site, which increases your authority. Therefore, the more links back to your site, the higher your authority becomes.
This is not an exact correlation though, as high-quality backlinks from reputable sites that are relevant to your niche move the needle a lot more than irrelevant, low quality links. In fact, these types of links can actually hurt your rankings.
While Google states that you should be earning links to your site by creating compelling content that people want to share, in reality most businesses require a helping hand to get backlinks. Some of the types of websites you should look to get your site listed on include:
- Local business directories
- Niche business directories
- Sites of organisations you’re a member of
- Sites of organisations you sponsor
- Social media profiles
- Forums
- Web 2.0 profiles
- Classified sites
- Press Release sites
9. Use Schema Markup
Schema markup is a set of tags (called structured data) which help search engines understand your content. Schema gives Google increased semantic meaning around your website’s content, and as a result, can improve visibility in SERPs.
Some of the popular schema markup include:
- Product markup (crucial for ecommerce sites)
- Search action (useful for publisher listings and ecomm sites)
- FAQ schema (answering popular questions which then appear right on the search results page)
- Job postings (can feature your logo, reviews, ratings, and job details)
Find out more about the various types of schema markup.
10. Improve User Experience
There’s no point ranking well on Google if people don’t like your website website. Similarly, bounce rate is a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm, so even if you do everything else right, if you don’t offer an optimal UX, users will click back, and this will signal to Google that your site isn’t appropriate. And back down the rankings you’ll go!
Provide a good user experience with clear navigation, easy-to-find information, fast loading content, and a responsive design.
11. Monitor and Analyse Performance
Using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your website’s performance allows you to identify areas for improvement, and measure the impact of your SEO efforts. Both these tools are free and provide critical insights that can assist with your SEO campaign.
Tracking your keyword rankings is also crucial so you can see if your SEO is making a difference.
Free tools such as Keyword Rank Checker from SEO.AI let you enter a keyword and see where it’s ranking. But a paid subscription to Mangools or SEMrush allows you to enter ALL your target keywords into their portal and see the changes as they automatically update.
12. Stay Updated with SEO Trends
SEO best practices and algorithms change frequently. Stay informed about industry trends and updates to adjust your strategy accordingly.
Implementing these SEO strategies requires ongoing effort and monitoring to achieve and maintain high rankings in search engine results. This is why most businesses invest in an SEO agency to perform the work, much of which can be quite technical and comes with years of experience.
For more information on our packages, schedule a free 15 minute strategy sessions.
