Let’s not throw anyone under the bus here. I am sure somewhere floating around on the internet you will find website developers that may tackle SEO, but it’s a marketer who knows exactly what’s needed.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization involves knowing a little bit about the technicalities of the website structure and a lot about where you need your businesses to be.

Marketing is a little like keeping many plates spinning in the air at once, and SEO well, that’s the sticks that balance each individual plate. Without the sticks, you can’t work your magic.

In short, SEO is far more important than Ads, because a healthy website can pull in over 50% of your traffic ORGANICALLY – that’s right, without spending a bean on Ads!

The problem is trying to convince how vital SEO is to a business. So, here we are going to cover WHY it is necessary and HOW we can achieve top bonus points in search engine ranking!

Is SEO Important for Every Business?

Every business with a website, of course. The first five results on Google get 67% of all clicks, so it is crucial you take SEO seriously.
Now, some people, especially the startups, may have a one-page website, and that’s okay, we all have to start somewhere. Regardless of size, growing your website is essential if you want to grow your business.

SEO helps everyday users find you in more ways than one. Metadata, Alt text, structured schema data, relevant, informative copy and keywords give you a healthy appeal to both customers and search engines.

Now, most would say, why do I need to appeal to search engines? Its customers I want!

It’s an unfortunate race to the finish line, and many competitors are all hustling for the top spot. So, to make things fair and even, the more informative the website, and the more structured the website is, the better more you will appeal to a search engine and the further up the ranking you will go. It is as simple as that.

Getting there is slightly less easy unless like us, you know-how. But let’s go through it –

How we can achieve top bonus points in search engine ranking!

To maximise your SEO, each page, especially your home page has to conform to rules and regs placed down by search engines –

Relevant keywords

Keywords are critical. Your overall website will have certain keywords, and then individual pages will rank separately with their own unique keywords.

For example –

www.squirrelsforsale.com – The keywords for this site in its entirety would be Squirrel or pets.

You may want to write a blog to add to your website and title it – How to look after a pet squirrel. Your keywords for that individual page would be – Squirrel care.

Key phrases

Key phrases are more extended, less specific and are found within the copy itself rather than within the technical SEO. We usually use key phrases within titles or the first few lines of a paragraph.

For example –

www.squirrelsforsale.com – ‘How to look after a pet squirrel’. Your key phrases for that individual page could be – How to care for a squirrel or what do squirrels eat.

If your website or page is full of useful information, your page will rank highly if any of these words or phrases are typed in.

Mobile optimise your website

Most people don’t even consider turning off large images or graphics to suit mobile phones and tablets. Still, mobile devices accounted for 48% of web page views worldwide so in effect you would be cutting out half of your traffic by not ensuring users get a great experience of your site through their mobile devices (that includes tablets!).

Inbound and outbound links

It’s easier said than done, but if you can get a higher ranking website to share your URL on their website you’re on to a winner.
The reason it is so hard to achieve is that having an outbound link on a website negatively affects the page by redirecting traffic away from it – so no one wants to do it.

Internal linking is fine, though. This is just creating links to other pages on your website, almost creating a journey or sales pitch for the user.

For example

www.squirrelsforsale.com/howtolookafterapetsquirrel/

Could have a link to

www.squirrelsforsale.com/whatdosquirrelseat/

And that could be linked to

www.squirrelsforsale.com/doineedukaukliecancetokeepasuirrel/

The more pages, the more information, the higher the ranking, the more exposure, BUT…

Using informative language doesn’t always bode well

There is also readability to consider. You are also marked and ranked on this.

The best way to perfect a readability score is not to try too hard. Some of our clients past and present insist on academic-style writing, but it simply does not help your score. If you want the business, then you have to relate to your customers and write in a way that a large percentage of the population is going to understand and enjoy reading, not click away after 4 seconds.

Low readability score – As omnivores, squirrels favour fungi, the larval form of Lepidoptera and eggs.

Also a low readability score – Squirrels like nuts and bury them in the ground.

Good readability score – Most people think that squirrels only eat nuts and seeds, but as omnivores, squirrels will also eat eggs, caterpillars and mushrooms!

There is a lot more in readability than complexity, familiarity, legibility, soI will be sure to cover other aspects such as using passive voice, transition words and sentence length in an upcoming blog.

Don’t leave out Meta Descriptions

Keyword and meta descriptions are both essential parts when it comes to a summary of your web page. Not only will this help you rank, but it also gives the user a brief description of what your page is about.

So when they say don’t judge a book by its cover. Meta Descriptions are your cover, and people are going to judge you.

Make it interesting!

Need for Speed

Search engines rank fast websites higher, and there are a few tricks you can pull out the bag to achieve the speed. However, server optimisation, image sizing and mobile optimisation all work hand in hand to speed up your loading time.

Do it right, do it consistently, and it’s a win-win all around.