What is SEO and why does it matter?

24 Oct What is SEO and why does it matter?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a process of tailoring your internet activity so that when people Google the product or service you offer, you’ll appear at the top of the list of search results.
SEO has a reputation as being all smoke and mirrors so we’re going to break it down into chunks.

Keyword analysis

The most important part of SEO is to know the terms (the keywords) and phrases that people will use when they are looking for a service like yours.

Keyword analysis finds the phrases people type when looking for your product or service which you can tailor according to your particular service and location.

On-page SEO

These are things you can do to your website that affects your Google position. Some of it is unseen, using “meta tags” in the code of your site, which tells Google what your site is about.

The other, visible part is using your chosen keywords and phrases in the writing and other content (images, video, audio etc.) on your pages. Updating your website regularly will tell Google your site is current and relevant, so put blog posts and news items up regularly.

If, for your website development, you use content management software (CMS) like WordPress, frequent updating will be quick and easy. There is also a software plug-in called Yoast which helps WordPress integrate different types of content and optimise them for SEO.

Off-page SEO

You can do a lot elsewhere on the web to tell Google your site is worth coming higher in search results. Google will rate your site better if other “good” sites link to yours.

Some of the many things you can do to link back to your site include:

• Social media posting, read more about how to optimise your social media posts, here
• Posting guest blogs and commenting on well-regarded blogging sites
• Answering questions on relevant forums
• Writing articles and stories for relevant magazine and newspaper sites
• Sending press releases to relevant news sites
• Posting images, audio clips, videos and infographics, not just written content

Clearly, this is only the very tip of the SEO iceberg. For a more in-depth understanding of SEO and what it can do for your business, get in touch today for a chat or explore what we do before you jump in.