SEO – Do you know what it is?

SEO – or search engine optimization to give its proper name – is an essential part of delivering a seamless customer experience.

By optimizing a website, brands can increase their chances of attracting organic traffic. This in turn will allow them to feature much higher in search engine searches, increasing the chances of people viewing their website. 

But SEO is about much more than placing a few keyword phrases high up on website pages. Good SEO is about producing great content that contains all of the details search engines use to make a judgement on a site’s reputation. 

So, how can you be a success at SEO?

Know your audience

If you do not have an in-depth understanding of your target audience, SEO success is going to be very difficult. For example, you cannot write compelling and useful content unless you know exactly who you are looking to speak to. As part of this, you also need to know why you should be speaking to these individuals, as this will also inform your strategy and content. Don’t forget, users who know little about your website topic will search for different keywords when compared with knowledgeable users.

Create compelling content

Good word-of-mouth online will help to build your reputation, so make sure every piece of content you produce is compelling and useful. If you are covering a topic that has already been written about extensively, either find a fresh angle or look for a way to closely align the content with your own company. Remember, you are ultimately appealing to a human audience that will only engage with well-researched and thoughtful content.

Optimise your content

We’ve already looked at how Google’s algorithms have changed over time and this will influence your strategy to a certain extent. However, there are some central tenets to successful SEO. Giving pages relevant titles, gaining links from reputable sources and creating the right type of keyword links are all important for good search visibility. By implementing best practices around these three issues, companies can increase the chances of their website popping up in relevant searches. Repurposing old content to give it a fresh new twist is another way of reaching out to prospective clients.

Consider user experience 

A site that looks well, is easy to navigate and boasts a low bounce rate will be well received by search engines. To this end, think about website layout and make sure that important information is easily accessible and well advertised. Promoting your content is also an vital part of the process, as there is no point creating engaging copy if no one knows about it or finds it. Social media profiles and blogs are ideal platforms for self-promotion.

Think about analytics

Measuring your progress is important, as understanding the traffic you are attracting allows you to refine and improve your message. Tools such as Google Analytics offer marketers the chance to see how they are performing and how users behave on your website. By identifying the weak elements of your portal, you can maximise user experience and find out where is the best place to put new content.

By following these tips, your website will fare better in search engines. However, for more in-depth information about SEO, check out Search Engine’s Periodic Table of SEO Success.