Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the key elements of any good online marketing strategy to give your business a competitive edge and attract new customers. Keeping your website in top shape is the key to earning Google’s respect and achieving a Page 1 ranking.
Performing SEO involves using a number of tactics to help your website rank for specific keywords in the natural search results. Most search engine users will only click on the first page of results, with the #1 ranked page or site receiving about 35% of clicks, #2 17% and #3 8% with the rest receiving around 1% and lower.
Search engine optimisation is not about typing in your business name and seeing it in results, the proof of success is in seeing your business rank well for the products and services you offer.
The recipe for a successful SEO campaign involves four ingredients: Keywords, Traffic, Competition, and Relevance.
Keywords
SEO providers can get your page a top ranking, but you want to make sure that it’s for the right keywords. There’s no point achieving a high ranking for keywords that your customers aren’t using, so this is something you’ll need to discuss with your provider. A good SEO provider will get to know your business and research the best keywords to give you long lasting and quality results.
Traffic
Investing in good SEO practices will help drive traffic and build your brand. Strong keyword selection is very important as it can determine how much traffic will be driven to your site. Sharing on social media is also becoming increasingly important for website referrals and brand exposure. Google + is especially useful as content is indexed efficiently and appears in search results for a long time.
Competition
Something to remember is that other businesses are competing for the same keywords as you. SEO providers will measure how difficult it will be to rank for a particular keyword and can estimate how long it will take to achieve a good ranking for that keyword. Page 1 rankings don’t happen overnight; it can take several months to achieve a high ranking for a competitive keyword.
Relevance
Make it easy for your potential customers to find exactly what they need. Very specific keywords are more likely to lead to conversions as they are more valuable to the person searching for them. The example used in our video is that, if you make gluten free cupcakes, you’ll want to focus on that instead of a generic term like ‘cupcakes’ which will have a lot of competition. Choosing relevant keywords is more important than choosing high traffic keywords.
SEO is never done. Google constantly changes and updates its algorithms and you will need to keep up. It is important to have fresh content to get noticed by the search engines, as an old page which hasn’t been updated in a long time is going to be deemed less relevant and up to date for search users. A basic way of producing fresh content is through blogging on relevant topics and sharing content through social media.
Think of SEO as fuel for a boat engine – your boat needs fuel to get up the river and without it, it will drift slowly backwards. When you put fuel back into the boat, you’ll be starting again to get back to where you were. Search engine optimisation is a long term investment that reaps long term rewards, and shouldn’t be left out of your online marketing strategy if you want to succeed.
If you have any questions about SEO, give us a call or send us an email. We’d love to help you out.