SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, just incase you haven’t already heard
Many business owners who hear about search engine optimisation (SEO) think it’s a complicated and complex thing. They know that, alongside the website design, SEO is a crucial element to their business’ success (especially if they offer products and services online) but most aren’t looking forward to having to deal with it. So much so, that if they can find a way to avoid it, they welcome the opportunity.
If you’re one of these business owners, you are on the right page. Today, your first impression and everything you used to believe about SEO will change. We’ll show you how it’s not that complicated, even if it feels like it is, and how much you’ll enjoy working on it once you get the hang of it.
What is SEO?
SEO is all about techniques and strategies implemented on a website for the purpose of increasing the number of site visitors and then converting them from visitors to customers. So, when you hear the term ‘website optimisation’, it just means that you are working on getting your site to rank higher on search engines’. The goal is for potential customers to find your website easily, discover your brand, and buy what you offer just by typing a word or two in their browser’s search bar.
What are keywords?
Keywords are particular words that are incorporated into your web content so search engines will understand what your site is about. They are the words that your customers enter in search engines. They are often referred to as ‘search queries’.
For example, if you own a local coffee shop in Wallsend and you have a business website, when people search for “Wallsend coffee shop”, “best coffee shop Newcastle”, or “Newcastle top coffee shops”, you want your website to appear on Google’s first page of results. When this happens, the chances of your local business being discovered through your website increases.
Keywords make it possible for your customers to discover your business through search engines. In the world of digital marketing, keywords can also make or break your chances of driving quality traffic to your business website.
For this reason, you want the keywords on your web pages to be relevant to what your target demographics are likely to search for. Tools like Keyword Planner can help you get started with this.
What are long-tail keywords?
As someone who also shops online, you probably have some keywords already in mind that you wanted to use in your web content. If so, good! But here’s the thing – if you’re a coffee shop owner, and you want to use “coffee” as one of your keywords in your web content, it would be difficult to rank higher than Starbucks.
Using long-tail keywords like “best coffee shop Newcastle” makes more sense. There is less competition and a higher chance of being found on internet searches.
Optimise web pages and posts in WordPress
Optimising your site’s pages and your blog posts for SEO can be a daunting task. WordPress is aware of that, and they created a plugin called Yoast SEO. It’s a basic plugin that you can install when you have your site built on WordPress. It helps remind you about all the SEO-related stuff to incorporate on your website.
Site loading time
Most customers who are on-the-go have the attention span of a three-year-old. If your target market contains this type of customer, it’s crucial to have an attractive and professional website design and, of course, a website that loads fast. If not, it’s guaranteed that they’ll turn to your competition.
Mobile friendly website
Since the number of customers who use their smartphones when making a purchase online now exceeds those on a desktop, a mobile-friendly website is a necessity! There are a variety of ways to make your website mobile-friendly. However, since we’re just covering the basics here, you should start by choosing a responsive website theme. This is so your website can be viewed regardless of what kind of device your customers are on. You can test whether your site is mobile-friendly or not by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
Jezweb helps small and medium sized businesses get found on Google through SEO
If you have a local business in Newcastle and the surrounding regions, we’d love to sit down and talk with you. Let’s review your website design and SEO strategies, and tailor them to your business goals. Get in touch with us today!
