Search Engine Optimisation or better known as SEO. What does it all mean and what are the actual benefits of including this important aspect of your website? Let’s Get Visible looks at this vital component in website creation, and why it will make or break your visibility on search engines.
Search Engine Optimisation or SEO came to life in the early 1990s when the first website was launched. As many others quickly followed, the now crowded internet scene was in desperate need of some decent structure. This led to the first search engines being launched in hope of making internet usage easier to navigate and much more streamlined.
This need to categorise webpages saw the birth of search engines such as Alta Vista and Yahoo, but in 1996 SEO really took a big leap forward with the new player coming on board – BackRub, better known since 1997 as Google.
Tired of the spammy and desperate attempts from clickbait, Google revolutionised SEO by doing something other search engines were not – creating algorithms that would reward those websites that had good quality content and encouraging websites to create relevant content to allow their users to gain access to what they were looking for. This trend has only increased year on year, with Google implementing endless algorithm changes to ensure their users get the best search engine experience possible.
It’s no wonder Google is now a household name while also giving birth to the importance of ethical SEO, and creating content that gives value to its users.
SEO is just that – ensuring that your website holds good real estate when it comes to search engines. But also, your website has valuable content that is educational and gives the search engine user exactly what they are looking for. For your website to seem important to Google, SEO is an ever-changing vital component.
The Basics of SEO
For your website, ensuring Google and other search engines rank you is important. You are wanting to ensure that when someone types in your product to a search engine your website will show up. If you have no SEO this will literally be impossible. More importantly, your website will not be attracting traffic, leads, and imperative sales. Having a good functioning website is paramount to driving all of the above. Good SEO is an important component of this chain of events.
SEO will also allow you to broaden other aspects of your business that can drive people towards your products and services. Allowing you to interact with these potential customers and also become an educator, an authority, and a source of good information.
So how do search engines trawl for this information? Though keywords!
Google is most certainly the most dominant search engine tool available today. By the use of algorithms, they will read your website, and look for keywords to match their users to your information.
Google also looks at other aspects;
- Does the user find the information they want or do they bounce back to the search page?
- How slow is the website? Is it mobile-friendly?
- How good is the content or is it just duplicated content?
Not only that – Google will update how their algorithms work, sometimes daily! But the great news is you don’t have to be a search engine guru to figure out how to get your website ranking and get noticed by search engines – including Google.
The King of Keywords
The most important aspect is to understand what terms people are most likely to use when they are looking for your business and to ensure these keywords and phrases are contained in your website.
However, it’s paramount you make sure the keywords you are using are actually being searched. It’s important to understand the search volume and to ensure that the keywords on your website are relevant to your business. So it’s important to look at who your possible customers are and what terms they are likely to use when finding you on a search engine.
There are plenty of sites that offer keyword analysis for you to come up with the best keywords to use for your particular industry. If you already have a website chances are you are already being searched and will be able to analyse the data of the keywords your website is being discovered by and capitalise on these particular words.
Looking at your competitors can also help develop keywords. It’s all about understanding what terms you can utilise to rank better and where more opportunities lie…think blogs and other content on your website.
Other important SEO aspects
SEO is the total package to get your website visible and also functioning at its best. Making it user-friendly, easy to find, and driving those all-important organic clicks.
- Create unique content – loaded with relevant keywords
- Have a clear easy to read layout
- Mobile and desktop friendly
- Simple beautiful design
- Meta descriptions
- Keyword targeting – headlines, content, and subheads
- Easy information that can be shared on social media
SEO can be easy to learn and a huge advantage for anyone looking to expand their skills when it comes to creating websites. Once you are ranking on search engines your content becomes even more important. Having great descriptions with keywords alongside well-written, easy-to-understand content is vital. It’s all about enticing the user to click on your link and stay on your website. Longer content that is unique alongside world-class information with no duplicate text is exactly what search engines are looking for.
You also need to check you are developing longer content. Having oodles of pages with no good content will only create low-value pages, and search engines such as Google will not take lightly to this scenario. It’s quality over quantity and making sure you are talking about things that are relevant to your industry and promoting those pages correctly.
With a little knowledge and some extra upskilling, you can easily navigate the important world of SEO and get your website visible.
Need some help with SEO? Get in touch with SEO Specialist Doreen Brown today.