SEO (search engine optimisation) is the careful art of getting your website ranking in search engines like Google for targeted keywords that your potential customers are searching for.
Getting in the top spot for these targeted keywords isn’t easy. To give you an example, try searching for a key phrase like “Learn Piano”. When I search for this phrase in Google, I get over 50,200,000 search results. This means that over 50 million websites or web pages are trying to ‘rank’ for the key term “Learn Piano”.
However, only one out of those 50 million can be at the very top of the search results, and only a total of 10 can grace the first page of Google’s search results.
And as SEO research tells us, 42.1% of Google user’s click on the very first listing they see, and only 10.1% look beyond the first page of results. This means that without proper SEO services, your website isn’t doing it’s job by attracting new business.
Here are 3 simple ways you can easily help increase your website’s ranking in Google and other search engines:
1. Optimise your web content. When search engines are doing their thing and deciding which websites to rank first, they are looking at a large number of variables and your website’s content is one of the most important of these variables.
The best way to optimise your copy is to ensure that the products and services that you offer are mentioned on your homepage. For example, a Christchurch-based accountant offering small business accounting services needs to include key phrases such as “accountant”, “small business accounting” and other key terms that describe the services they offer. such as “payroll services”, “monthly account management”.
HOT TIP FROM OUR IN-HOUSE SEO GURU: Always ensure that your content is 100% unique and original. Aside from the fact that taking other’s working and presenting it as your own is unethical, Google’s system knows when you have stolen content, and will punish you with poor rankings when you do so.
2. Optimise your meta tags and descriptions. Meta tags and descriptions are very basic but important parts of your overall SEO strategy. A meta tag is essentially part of your website’s code that tells search engines about your website and the information that site visitors will see.
Make sure your web developer spends some time ensuring your meta tags and descriptions are top-notch. Good web developers will do this free of charge.
Your meta tags need to be specific, and just like your content, give a very short snippet of what your business offers. Website visitors cannot read your meta tags, but as search engines can, it’s important that your meta tags are similar to what your site visitors will type in when they perform a search.
For example, if I was looking for a new hair dresser in Christchurch, I would simply search for “hair dresser Christchurch” so this would potentially be a good meta tag for a Christchurch-based hairdresser. In sum, it’s important to think about what keywords that your site visitors will be typing in when they search for products or services that you offer.
Talk with your web developer to ensure that your keywords are doing the best job possible.
3. Invest in Link Building. Link building is a very important part of your SEO strategy. Put simply, one part of Google’s algorithm assumes that the more valuable links you have to your website, the more valuable and trustworthy your website is. For example, if you have a great deal, or some helpful information, other websites will link to you. Therefore, building certain links to your website can help search engines recognise the value and trustworthiness of your website, so they rank it better. You have to make sure you get the right links as the wrong links can dramatically drop your rankings.
However, not all links are created equal so it’s important that you only invest the time and money in getting highly valuable links to your website. We offer some fantastic search engine optimisation packages that start from just $95 and can really help to boost your search engine rankings. Contact us today for more information or view all our SEO services here.
