What Is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the science of getting your website to the top of the search engine results for relevant search queries.
Why Is SEO Important?
95% of users will select a result from page 1. This means you can forget about being on page 2 or 3. Page 1 is the only place to be if you want your website to be seen.
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines know that the only way to gain people’s trust is by presenting them with high quality and relevant results for their search queries. To determine which web pages should be displayed for a keyword phrase, and in which order they should be displayed, search engines use automated robots called “spiders” to crawl through your site and collect information.
The search engine will take on page and off page factors to determine how to rank your site.
On Page Factors
Page Titles
Each page and section should have its own unique title, which includes the necessary keywords.
Meta Tags
These snippets of text appear in the page’s code, describing the page’s content. It is important that they contain relevant keywords.
URL Structure
Shorter URLs which include targeted keywords tend to perform the best.
Body Tags
Your content should be broken up into sections, with each section given a heading (H1, H2, H3, H4, etc.)
Keyword Density
It is important to include relevant keywords throughout your content; however, keyword stuffing can lead to the site being banned from search engines.
Image SEO
Your image titles should include relevant keywords so your site can be found on Google Images. Including Alt Text and Descriptions for your images will also help you rank.
Internal Linking
Placing links to your other website pages improves ease of navigation and is a great tool for SEO.
Off Page Factors
Link Building
Getting authoritative external pages to link back to your website is great for SEO. This includes getting links back from reputable websites, local business directories and social bookmarking sites (e.g. Reddit, StumbleUpon).
Social Media
Another way of increasing your ranking is by growing your social media presence. Regularly posting engaging content on your social media channels that links back to your website can drive a significant amount of traffic and boost your ranking.
How Long Does It Take to See Results?
It depends. There are many variables at play that will affect how long it will take for your website to rank, such as your location, your domain age, competition in your industry and more. Even the most skilfully executed SEO campaign may take time to show results. In most cases, you can expect to see results in 3-6 months.
Do I Need SEO?
It’s no longer enough to just have a good website. If you want people to visit your website, you need to be on page 1. If your website is not properly optimised, you will have a hard time attracting organic traffic to your site.
Would you like to get to page 1? Give Yodle a call and let us get you there.
