What is Search Engine Optimization and how can we use it to achieve a high page ranking on Search Engine Results Pages? Search Engine Optimization DefinitionAlso known as SEO, Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your website visible to searchers for products or services on search engine results pages. Unlike paid Search Engine Marketing (SEM) SEO is organic (non-paid) and accounts for more than 250% of traffic on Google. The goal of search engine optimization is is to achieve a high ranking for your webpage in search engines especially Google who will only display links it considers relevant and authoritative. Authority is measure by the number of quality links from other webpages. To ensure your links are of high quality monitor them to ensure they are live and trustworthy. Before beginning the search engine optimization process you must consider the following, what is the purpose of my webpage? What do I want visitors to my webpage to do? How is my webpage different tomy competitors in terms of layout and content and is it dynamic and interesting in order to hold the viewer’s interest? These questions should be taken into consideration before taking the next step, keyword research. According to Moz’s The Beginners Guide to SEO Chapter 5. “Keyword research is one of the most important, valuable, and high return activities in the search marketing field. Ranking for the right keywords can make or break your website. By researching your market's keyword demand, you can not only learn which terms and phrases to target with SEO, but also learn more about your customers as a whole.” Keywords aren't just about getting traffic to your webpage it means getting the right traffic. Proper keywords allow you to tailor or produce your products or services and content to meet the needs of searchers. They should not be used in a piecemeal fashion, or for the sake of it, they must reflect your product or service. Using keywords arbitrarily in the hope that your webpage will appear on page one of a search engine will not work. One important factor to consider is your competitors. You want your webpage to rank higher than theirs in search engine results. Analyse their webpages for keywords, content, and backlinks. Ask yourself “what are they doing right, and how can I compete? If your competitors are using SEO properly you can learn from them. Trafficlite is an online tool that allows you to monitor your competitors webpages. Using long tail keywords can lead to higher conversion rates according to Moz. Long tail keywords make up 70% of the searches on the Internet, according to Moz. This diagram demonstrates that long tail keywords convert 2.5 times than a single search term. People searching for ‘books’ are not looking to buy immediately but if they are searching for the best price for a certain title and author they are more likely to purchase at the right price. Using long term keywords to improve your search engine results and improve your conversion rates work, but only if they are related to your product or service. There are several keyword tools available for finding the right keywords for your webpage the most commonly used being Google Keyword Planner a free tool where you can search for keywords by country or globally. Results can be exported and viewed via a spreadsheet application. SEMrush Keyword Finder and KWFinder are also good research tools. In his blog post ‘How to Find the Right Keywords to Rank #1 on Google’ Neil Patel recommends using Google Search Console and Google Trends in your research. Using these tools will show you the most popular and trending keywords at any given time, and using Arefs for competitor analysis. Arefs is not free however, and if you are working on a limited you may need a more budget friendly alternative. Keywords are not the only factor to consider in SEO, content is also key. Bad content is easy to write but writing great content that attracts customers to your webpage is a lot harder. Ask yourself the following questions
The diagram below sets out a Content Marketing Strategy. Your content should be written in language your reader understands, not an academic dry essay stuffed with industry jargon, and be related to your company’s product or service. Use storytelling to engage the reader. Add images and video to break up the text, a text only blog or review quickly becomes boring and readers will click away from your page. Create fat content that attracts and engages, not repels your audience. Audit your content regularly in order to know what is working, and delete outdated and irrelevant copy. Update regularly to ensure your content remains relative, authoritative and trustworthy.
When creating content your title or headline should be dynamic and keyword enhanced. A good headline or title will draw the reader in and want to read more, however a ‘tabloid’ headline may turn him or her off. Also ensure that tags and headings are in the right positions on the webpage. Create links to your page from websites that are authoritative and trustworthy and Google will rank your website accordingly. Invite bloggers to write guest pieces they may add your link to their webpage and increase your authority. Check links regularly to ensure they are ‘live’ there is nothing more frustrating than clicking on dead links, or clickbait links. Make sure your page is mobile friendly as the use of smartphones and tablets is ever increasing, and although consumers may still use their desktops or laptops at the commitment to buy stage they use their smartphone to browse webpages when not at home. Make your website accessible to partially sighted readers and as voice search is becoming more prevalent you may need to optimize your pages for this form of search. Add your Social Media links to your page, and keep them updated. Search engines view social media presence as a sign of authority and trustworthiness and you will rank higher in search engine results if your social media profiles are active and your company is being recommended by your customers to their peers. Finally avoid keyword stuffing and Blackhat SEO. Blackhat SEO refers to the outdated of hiding text in pages of the same color, and creating links for robots not humans. Search engines will fine you for these practices or even remove you from their page index until you comply with their rules. Whitehat SEO is the proper route to take to ensure you are compliant with the guidelines of search engines. Greyhat SEO which is a combination of Black and Whitehat SEO while not strictly breaking the rules is also frowned upon. This is the essence of Search Engine Optimization in a Nutshell. All images courtesy of www.pixabay.com and Google Image Search.
0 Comments
|
AuthorFrancis William Hynes ArchivesCategoriesSearch Engine Optimization
What's Your SEO Score?Enter the URL of any landing page or blog article and see how optimized it is for one keyword or phrase. |