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For anyone that isn’t tech-savvy, SEO may appear complicated and inaccessible. If you have no time for a deep dive into SEO, you can still learn the basics. Some SEO knowledge will give you an insight into how your website works.
Driving traffic to a website is all-important. There is little use in having a web presence if no one knows it’s there. Here is a brief introduction to SEO.
The basics of SEO, why is it necessary?
The majority of businesses operating today would benefit from having some presence on the Internet. Some companies find that social media is perfectly adequate for raising awareness, while others require a fully operating online store to trade.
Yet, many website owners neglect search engine optimization. It has been reported that up to 70% of smaller businesses don’t have an SEO strategy. Using SEO services will make your website run smoother, and see an increase in visitors.
Imagine you have opened a store in a street that has little footfall. Without some type of signpost, most people won’t know your store even exists. Publishing a website and just expecting people to find it without signposting it, will have the same consequences.
SEO is vital for boosting the visibility of a website on search engines. No visitors equals no conversions. Below are the basics behind some of the main areas of SEO.
On-page optimization for content and structure
When reading about SEO, you will see the phrase ‘content is king’ mentioned repeatedly. Content is a key part of how search engines rank websites.
When writing content consider the following:
- Relevance
- Freshness
- Engagement
- Value
- Keywords
Content needs to be relevant to your site, and your visitors. It must be up-to-date and engaging. If your content is shared on social media it will have a positive impact on traffic. Informative quality content will add value to your site. Visitors are more likely to return when you publish reliable information of value.
Video and images must be optimized also. The correct file types must be used, and visual content should be optimized for loading speeds. Loading speeds impact conversion rates and increase bounce rates.
Keywords are a crucial part of website content too. These are the phrases that your visitors will use during searches to find relevant websites.
Finding the right keywords
Identifying the right keywords can be tricky. Often, this area needs some proper research and regular reviews. Keyword analysis shows what phrases are working, and which ones should be adjusted.
You can identify effective keywords through the following methods:
- Brainstorming
- Keyword research tools
- Competitor website analysis
- Identifying your audience
- Search intent
- Long-tail keywords
- Local keywords
When choosing keywords, think about your target audience. What will your audience be searching for? If you identify keywords that align with search intent then you will reach your targeted audience.
Long-tail and location-based keywords are very effective too. There is a lot of competition on the web, but long-tail keywords can help you appear before your rivals.
Instead of using keywords such as ‘shoes’ try ‘running shoes’ for instance. The less broad your keywords are, the more they will match search intent. Location-based keywords help to boost local SEO too.
For example, use locations near you in your keyword strategy to attract people looking for business within a set radius. A coffee shop in Brooklyn may benefit from using the keyphrase ‘coffee shop in Brooklyn Heights’.
Meta tags and descriptions
Meta tags supply information to search engines. Visitors to a website also benefit from descriptions and meta tags.
There are different types of meta tags. These include tags for the website’s title, keywords, description of the site, and author. The title of a website will appear in search engine results, and in the browser tab when the site is visited.
The purpose of meta tags is to help websites determine how relevant a page may be to a user’s search.
Building quality backlinks
Any e-commerce requires visitors and sales to succeed. If you want to operate a successful online business, then you need traffic. Backlinks help to drive referral traffic as well as improve search rankings.
Backlinks are an important metric for search engines when deciding on rankings. Quality backlinks help to establish websites as authoritative and trustworthy. These backlinks should be from relevant websites and ideally other authoritative sites.
Methods for building quality backlinks include publishing engaging content. If you publish quality content with value, you are more likely to find other websites linking themselves to you.
Other effective ways to build backlinks include guest blogging and outreach. Developing relationships with other website owners can lead to backlink creation.
It is vital though that you only build quality backlinks. Using link farms and black-hat SEO techniques may lead to higher search rankings, but ultimately this will be short-lived. Google takes a dim view of certain SEO practices such as keyword spamming and low-quality backlinks.
Mobile Optimization
This part of SEO should never be skimmed over. Over 92% of internet users access web pages through mobile devices. And nearly 61% of the US population make purchases the same way.
Online shopping is the future of retail, and if your site is not mobile-optimized then you are harming your business.
Mobile optimization simply means getting a website to operate properly on a smartphone or tablet. The same SEO rules apply to mobile optimization but with a few other factors.
Your site needs to be responsive, and have a mobile-friendly layout. The pages should load quickly. And all the elements on the site should be optimized. Your site needs to be touch-friendly too.
Consider things such as whether your buttons are large enough, and if forms are easy to use on a mobile device. You may need to compress videos and images for faster loading times. Consequences of ignoring mobile optimization include a high bounce rate and poor search engine placement.
Google primarily ranks websites on mobile versions when someone searches on a smartphone or tablet. Considering 55% of web traffic comes from mobile phones, this is a crucial part of SEO.
The importance of user experience
Amazingly, 27% of businesses have no website. But, just as important as having a website, is having one that works. Poor website design coupled with no SEO strategy will result in minimal traffic and likely no conversions.
User experience is a critical factor for website success. Google even has metrics to determine the UX of websites, and this contributes to how a site is ranked. Positive user signals help increase visibility on search results.
Positive user signals include repeated visits and long sessions. Social sharing can also be seen as a sign that your site has a positive UX. When a site offers a good user experience, it will have a lower bounce-rate, and lead to higher conversions.
Summary
SEO helps websites to run seamlessly and load quicker which improves UX. But, SEO also helps search engines to establish the relevance of your website, and how to rank it. The more visible you become during searches, the more organic traffic you will see.
Backlinks will help to increase referral traffic. And quality content will help with social sharing, and repeat visitors. There are other areas of importance such as local and technical SEO. But, this is just a brief intro to the basics.
Just as important as the steps here is to keep monitoring and analyzing your website’s performance. Websites need maintenance if they are to keep running effectively.
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