What is SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a technique for raising a website’s position in the online search results. Most people searching for a product or service online only access those websites that appear at the top of their search results. The specific focus is on Google in most countries as this is the most popular search engine (by a long, long way). If your website tops the list of Google, or comes close to the top, it brings increased traffic and sales. This makes it well worthwhile to have a new site designed or redesigned by people who understand SEO.
A sound SEO strategy must include both the content and structure of the website and content sharing with other sites. A strong awareness of how people normally search for the items on sale at the website should guide the choice of text, graphics and other website elements. At the same time links to your website from other sites need to be optimised for best SEO practice. Having a responsive website design that comfortably displays on both desktops and mobiles also helps improve these search results ratings.
There a number of things a professional SEO does for their client. These include:
Research Keywords
A central element in successful SEO is working out how people search for items they want to buy online; you need to figure out the keyword expressions they will probably enter in their search queries. The research begins with finding out about the client’s products and their customer profiles. What are the products or services on offer and how are they normally described? For example, “website SEO” is a keyword expression people are going to use when searching for a skilled website development service. We research the keywords that bring visitors to our clients’ websites as well as the keywords that bring customers to successful sites selling similar products. Our inventive SEO experts also come up with original keywords to help give a head SEO start over your online rivals.
Optimising existing website content
Ideally SEO considerations should be a high priority when a website is designed and developed but it is never too late. Existing websites can be redesigned in ways that significantly improve their search list positions. The SEO expert typically starts by optimising the website with a redesign that puts all the target keywords in the correct places. While revising web content has a key role to play here updates also need to be done on title tags, image tags and other elements. Sometimes online tools are employed to assist in this process, for example, the Google Adwords Keywords Planner.
Creating New Content
It might not be possible to completely revise existing website content to deliver better SEO and so new content must be added. Google and the other popular search engines are configured to reward publishers of original web content with higher search result placements. However, these benefits are contingent on whether or not this new content really is original. It has to convey new information rather than simply be a rewording of the existing web content. Furthermore, the content needs to be well-written and with attention-capturing headlines. The gains from adding new content are intrinsically linked to content quality.
Sharing content and getting links
The idea that your web content needs to be configured for SEO is easy to understand but the importance of doing the same with links from other sites maybe less obvious. The fact is that such link acquisition is a vital aspect of SEO. Google takes into consideration the number of links to your website as a measurement of its excellence. However this is not a game won by the business who acquires the most links. The real value comes not from the number of links but their quality. A large number of artificially created links from spam comments won’t do any good. The objective should be to acquire a modest number of links from respected website, professional forums, and blogs.
Pagespeed optimisation
The time it takes to load your website is another SEO issue that merits attention. Slow websites are sure to turn away some potential customers, and this is particularly the case if they are using a mobile device. In many cases rather than wait for the website to load they will close it and go to the next URL in the search results. The leading search engines also take account of website speed when they determine the website’s positioning in the search results. There is everything to gain from having a talented web developer improve your page speed optimisation, for example, by replacing any home page graphics that slow down page display, correct setting of caching objects and enqueuing code so that it loads in the best way for the user.
