So much focus is put on keywords and search engine optimisation (SEO) these days that it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. After all, you get numerous companies promising businesses large and small that they can get you ranking number one on Google, or whatever search engine you want.
But what if you are a small business with no SEO budget?
There’s no need to panic as there are some very simple steps that any business can take to optimise a website for search engines.
1. Understand your users
Spending some time and effort learning more about your users helps not just SEO, but your business as a whole.
Things to find out include:
• Where do they come from (do you want a local or international audience)?
• How do they access your site (search engines, direct links, or referring sites)?
• How do they describe your product (what would they search for in the first place)?
2. Choose your keywords
What words would your users use to search for your products? What variations would they use? What spelling? Would they use a location when they searched? (For instance ‘St Kilda mechanic’.)
If you are having troubles, use a keyword generator such as https://adwords.google.com.au/select/KeywordToolExternal. It’s free, easy to use, and suitable for those starting out in SEO.
You simply enter a couple of words or phrases that you think people would use to search for your site, and the tool generates other keywords or phrases to consider. The best thing is that it also shows how many times those keywords have been searched for recently – so you can quickly choose the more popular ones. (Be aware of course that the more popular keywords are, the more competition there will be out there for them. That’s why it’s important to know your users – it will help you choose some more specific keyword phrases that have less competition from other sites, but will still be used by the people you want to attract to your site.)
3. Understand how search engines read your site
Search engines are not people. They don’t ‘see’ your site. They view the code. Make it easy for them by having code that is clean and easy to read:
• Give content a clear structure with <h1>, <h2> etc tags.
• Make sure each page has a unique <title> tag and a meaningful description Meta tag.
• Have a logical information architecture (IA) that is reflected in the URL.
4. Never forget that content is king
Obviously as a web copywriter I am *slightly* biased about the importance of good content. But I think that content is often overlooked or only addressed as an afterthought.
Search engines may get people to your site, but it’s the content that will close the deal for you:
• Keep it fresh.
• Keep it relevant.
• Keep it written for humans NOT search engines. Use your keywords but don’t saturate your pages so much that it’s unreadable.
5. Revise, review and test
The Internet is constantly changing. So are your competitors. Targeted SEO is not a set and forget activity – you should be measuring the success of any campaign you are running and making adjustments as needed.
And don’t forget, if you do plan to engage someone to help you with a SEO campaign – get them in early! Let them be part of the planning process so that you get the full benefit of the services they can provide you.
Want to know more? Over the next month or so I’ll expand on some of the topics in this post. If you have something specific you’d like to know about (from a content point of view), get in contact and I’ll do my best to help.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
From doing some reading and research recently, that was a lot of R’s there, I think the most important point that people should be focusing on with their SEO is “Content is King”…
These days too many ‘SEO gurus’ are keyword loading, and people still think that it’s ok…but Google, bing, Yahoo, and co. are all constantly tweaking their searchbot algorithms and people who keyword load their sites are bit by bit dropping down the rankings.
As the web gets more semantic it’s going to be about phrases, relevance, and incoming links, instead of keywords. Authority will be earned and not bought like it currently is.
Nicely written article Sally.
Hi there Mat
Thanks for the positive feedback
I think another key thing for businesses to figure out is what they actually want from their site. Do they want more leads? Are they just there to sell products online? Do they want people to self-service and leave them alone? Few people have a good web strategy behind their SEO (and content) decisions.
I’m looking forward to reading your articles on the techy side of things as well!
“I think another key thing for businesses to figure out is what they actually want from their site. Do they want more leads? Are they just there to sell products online? Do they want people to self-service and leave them alone?”
Funny you say that, that’s one of the topics I’m covering in my series.
I think all too often people just build a website because someone said “You’ve got to have a website”..
Great!
Want to cover creating measurable goals as well?
Hahah.. Well there’s a little bit of that in their in the form of deciding what you want to get out of your website. I doubt it’s a full article in itself, at least I hadn’t thought it would be based on the notes I’ve written so far, but who knows……