Improve your Search Engine Optimisation
What does SEO mean for my Business?
Your website's ranking by search engines such as Google is crucial in driving traffic to your website. Very few people will click on search results that appear past the first page. You need to be on page one.
In order to appear on the first page of the Google search results you either need to spend money advertising using Google Adwords or focus on improving the organic search results for your business. In order to achieve success in organic search results it is important to understand how to optimise your website so that your site rates higher than your competitors. This is known as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
SEO plays a crucial role in driving traffic to your website. Spending time getting it right will bring great benefits to your business.
7 Key SEO steps to get you started.
Ensure your site has relevant, quality content
Over time this is the most important factor in search engine rankings. Search engines love quality original content. Your content should be attempting to provide readers with answers to their search queries. It needs to be original content. In writing content, you need to think about who are your potential clients and what queries they will be searching on. Improving your ranking generates more traffic for your site. This, in turn, will improve your ranking further.
Mobile Optimisation
Google now preferences mobile friendly sites over non-mobile friendly sites when users are searching on a mobile device. Given that mobile searches make up the majority of searches, if your site is not mobile friendly you are missing out on potential website visitors. It’s important that your site also looks good on a mobile device and that the users are able to perform the functions they need to without frustration.
Alt text for images
Search engines cannot see images. Having fantastic images that greatly enhance your content will not in itself help your ranking. However, search engines do index Alt text descriptions of images. By adding relevant Alt text descriptions, you are improving the quality of your content. Search engines can then properly understand your website and send more relevant traffic to your website. Alt text also makes your images readable to screen readers which helps improve the accessibility of your website.
Using header Tags
Header tags (H1, H2, H3 …) are an important function as they make it easier for search engines to make sense of your content and index your website correctly. It also makes it more user-friendly for people if your content is broken into easily digestible segments.
Contact Us page
Sites with sufficient contact information are seen as more trustworthy and therefore rate higher with search engines. They also improve the users' experience as they can easily contact you with any queries.
Regularly updated content
Search engines value regularly updated content. If you keep your website up to date and frequently add more content search engines will see your website as more up to date and relevant and you will see your ranking improve.
Check for broken links
You know how frustrating you find coming across a broken link on a website. Broken links not only frustrate people but search engines don’t like them either. Use this free link checker to check out your site.
SEO is an essential part of your digital marketing strategy. A good ranking gives your business a competitive edge. SEO is more like a marathon than a sprint. It takes time and effort to achieve and maintain a high site ranking. Attention to the seven tips above will see you well on your way to improving your ranking and improving your bottom line.
If you are interested in reading more about SEO I thoroughly recommend checking out Kate Toon's website. Kate is a well-known Australian expert on SEO and has lots of fantastic tips on how to improve your website’s ranking.
If you would like me to carry out an SEO audit of your current site or have any queries regarding Search Engine Optimisation please give me a call.