SEO or search engine optimisation is very important to get yourself noticed by Google or other search engines. Over 80% of all searches are made on Google so we have to pay attention to what they use to rank websites higher.
Google are not looking for manipulation of their rules, they are simply looking for a website that is visible and makes sense; making sense means that the page heading, the contents and the images all seem to match, thereby ensuring your site is a genuine business website or information portal. The elements that are important in SEO are:
- Page titles in h1 headings
- Page content
- Keywords
- Description
- Page slug
- Images Alt text and titles
- New content
- No duplicate content
- Back links
- Internal links
- Embed video from a video platform rather than uploading to your site
- Google tools
Each type of web build will have its own way of putting in the right information in the right place. I am mainly looking at WordPress sites in this post as this content management system dominates the web build space, but you can apply these tips to any type of site. Much of the list can be done in a WordPress plugin – see Yoast for WordPress below. Let’s get started on the details…
Page titles
Page titles are the first heading for your site. You can work on getting this 100% right before you even begin your web build or making new pages by planning well in advance. Researching your keywords is a great place to start (see keywords below). It is good to use keywords within the page or blog post title. For example, the address above should read https://www.kitewebdesign.co.uk/what-can-you-do-to-help-your-seo. I thought about what someone looking for this information may search for, I used this as the title for the page and will use it below for keywords etc. If I title the page ‘What can you do to help you SEO’ this will become your ‘permalink’ or url slug and won’t need to be edit to match your information below.
If you are using WordPress and your url appears to be numbers instead of the words you can change your permalink display in settings. However, if you are changing this on an existing site, it is important to ensure all redirects are in place from the old url to the new. When you build your web page ensure that the first title on the page is placed in an H1 or Heading 1 tag. WordPress will default to this. If you make the title shorter on the page for display purposes make sure you include some of the original words to match the permalink.
Page content
More content is best for SEO. Google likes pages to be at least 300 words (quite a lot!). As people have short attention on web pages make sure you break the information up into chunks and put a summary at the top so it is clear what you will be including. You should include your keywords within the text, make sure you mention it a couple of times not much more as this can be viewed as ‘keyword stuffing’. You can use sub-headings but make sure they are not also in H1 or Heading 1 format, they should be in H2 or H3 formats.
Yoast for WordPress
This is a plugin to help you optimise your site for search engines on each page taking care of these specific things:
- Keywords
- Description
- Page slug – done with care!
- Duplicate content
There are both free versions and paid for versions of Yoast. The free version is good enough for nearly all sites as it is quite sophisticated. Yoast adds a section at the end of each page and blog post where you can enter the following information:
Yoast: Keywords
Single words are not great as they are highly sought after or they can be called a ‘high’ keyword, you need to get more niche by using ‘low’ to ‘medium’ keywords which are often more than one word. For example, ‘shoes’ will be a high keyword on rankings but you could use ‘school shoes Weybridge’ as low to medium keywords, or ‘kitchens’ would be competitive so use ‘hand-built kitchens Esher’. The principle is that you are more likely to be ranked for low to medium keywords as the high keywords are too competitive. It is good practise to use 3 to 5 words, no more, no less.
Researching your keywords is where the dark art of SEO comes in. SEO consultants will be able to target the best keywords for your site to get the most organic search results. There are many SEO tools that are paid for, Google keyword planner (see Google Tools below) is a good as free tool, especially for beginners. You need to set up an account. It will tell you which words are high, medium or low.
A great way to put up content, especially in blog posts is answer the questions people will be asking on the internet relating to your profession or sector. You probably already know what questions prospective clients ask already. as they are often the first things people ask you when you start a conversation.
It is important to know what questions people are searching for too. Answerthepublic.com allows you to search for subjects (a couple free per day before it becomes a paid for service) and you will see what questions people are asking about that subject. There is great book called, They Ask, You Answer which expounds the theory that if you blog about what people are asking for you will really capture peoples’ attention and showcase your expert knowledge.
Yoast: Meta description
This is important for rankings and a great opportunity to quickly sum up a page contents, it is the short passage just under your link on Google rankings. Up to 150 characters (don’t go over!). People look at this quickly and so you need to give concise information but accurate, if not people will leave the page quickly, this will affect your rankings.
Yoast: Page slug
Firstly, be very careful about changing this if you have an existing long standing page. Changing a page ‘slug’ or url will make the old page appear as a broken link. Google doesn’t like a broken link! There are ways around this by putting a redirect from the old url to the new in place. What ever you put here will become your page link, if you have already thought about what this should be then leave it in place. See page titles above.
Images
Preparation of images is immensely important before you upload them to your media library or post them to your site. Oversized images will slow your site load speed which will disadvantage your rankings. You need to look ask your web designer for image sizes that should be entered. Usually, there are a few different sizes needed for the construction of a website. As you will see on this site the super large image on the home page is considerably wider than the image at the top of this post.
When you upload an image you must enter the Alternative text (Alt text) and Title; these are important and should contain keywords for the page. Images are often searched for on the internet and this will increase your visibility. If your image name (file name) has the subject too this is even better. WordPress uploads an automatic title for the image which is the file name, I often change this to match in with the Alternative text or page contents.
New Content
Search engines love new content and updated sites. You may have a similar site to a competitor but if they are updating information more regularly they will be ranked higher. This is often why businesses blog, not only are they showcasing their knowledge but they are keeping information current and fresh.
I resisted blogging for a long time and threw my self in at the deep-end when a networking colleague and I challenged each other to begin. Read my first blog ‘Writing a blog for the first time’: www.kitewebdesign.co.uk/writing-a-blog-for-the-first-time/
No Duplicate Content
This means that if you have a blog or information on your site that you guest blog on someone else’s site you need to ensure that the blogs are different. If it is identical the copy version, not the original, needs to have a ‘canonical link’ placed on the post. You can do this through Yoast’s advanced settings. To read more about a canonical links click here to read my post about canonical links.
Back Links
These are links that come from someone else’s site back to your site. It is a great way of connecting you to other businesses, directories and sector listings. If you put guest content on someone else’s site ask if you can have a back link.
If you list yourself in directories try to keep track of where these links are in the event information changes.
Internal Links
These are links that lead your visitors from one page on your site to another.
Google Tools
Google has some great free tools that may help you.
Google Analytics will connect you to Google where it tracks your visitor traffic: Google Analytics
Google My Business will store useful information about your business, contact information and product information, the more you fill in the more you will be noticed. You can use keywords in Google My Business too: Google My Business
Google Keywords Planner will help you identify the low to medium words that will add value: Google Keyword Planner
I’ve given you quite a list to work from, maybe break it down into achievable chunks. Without doubt having an overview of your site with a keyword plan is helpful. I’d love to know if you found any of this useful or may be we can help you further, click here to email us.
Since posting this article we have added a post on the Future of Search and SEO.