Introduction
In simple terms, search engine optimisation (SEO) are steps you can implement to help your website or content rank higher on Google (Google’s market share is around 92%). SEO involves organic rankings; in other words, you are not paying to be high on the rankings.
So to rank higher, you need to ensure that you optimise your website or content accordingly. Your objective is to increase the quantity and quality of the traffic you receive through searches.
Search engines – the new digital library
Search engines store web pages, and there are literally hundreds of billions of pages and content out there. Once a search query is submitted, the search engine will look through all the web pages, using an algorithm to produce the most relevant results as quickly as possible.
The challenge with optimising your content is that search engines like Google continually update their algorithms to ensure that their users find the most relevant results – Google is all about giving their users the best experience.
How do search engines work?
If you are wondering how Google’s search engine works, lets look at their high level explanation, “To give you the most useful information, search algorithms look at many factors and signals, including the words of your query, relevance and usability of pages, expertise of sources, and your location and settings. The weight applied to each factor varies depending on the nature of your query. For example, the freshness of the content plays a bigger role in answering queries about current news topics than it does about dictionary definitions.”
When searching for anything, Google considers the following key factors: meaning, relevance, quality, usability, and context. But their algorithm actually takes around 200 factors into account when searching for the most relevant content! An important fact to remember is that Google ranks actual web pages as opposed to websites.
Search engine optimisation key factors
You will never be able to take all 200 factors into account; firstly, because no one really knows what all those factors are, and secondly, as previously mentioned, these algorithms are continuously being updated.
However, there are a few factors that we know about, and these have generally remained consistent.
Create value-add content
If your objective is to write content simply to gain rankings, you are making a big mistake. Your content should add value to your customers, and you also want to be seen as an authoritative source.
As discussed in our previous article, many businesses make the mistake of writing content for SEO purposes instead of writing content for their customers. In other words, write for your customers, not for search engines.
Remember, nothing will beat high-quality content that adds value and encourages your customers to want to learn more about your products or services. Writing valuable, high-quality, original content is one fundamental way to increase your rankings. Your aim should always be to connect with your customers and keep them coming back for more.
Plan your content
Your content should always be relevant and exciting – no one likes to read boring content!!! And you need to be consistent; posting once in a while is not going to cut it. To become a reliable and engaging source, your customers need to know that new content will be available regularly.
Planning your content is crucial and will make all the difference. Creating great content is not necessarily about publishing what you think will be an exciting post. Instead, your objectives are to add value to your customers, have them return to your site, and gain organic traffic.
When deciding on the type of content you want to publish, you need to think strategically and ask yourself questions.
- What is the objective of your content, or what outcome are you trying to achieve?
- What are the current trends within your industry?
- What are your customers’ current pain points?
- What solutions or advice can you provide to your customers?
- What are your competitors doing, and how can you produce superior content?
You want to always create top-quality, engaging content as we previously mentioned. This will go a long way to ensuring that you are the go-to place for your target market. Don’t forget that another key aspect is encouraging your customers to share your content, so ensure they have easy access to those all-important social media buttons.
Keywords and long-tail keywords
Keywords are crucial, but for them to have any impact from an SEO perspective, you must ensure you are using the right ones. Neil Patel, a New York Times bestselling author and a top influencer on the web, according to The Wall Street Journal, says, “The goal of keyword research is to find out what your target audience is searching for online and determine what it will take to actually rank in search engines for those keywords.”
The only way to establish which are the right keywords for your business is through research. This is a lot easier than it may sound, as there are a variety of tools out there that can help you identify the perfect keywords. Keyword research is not a once-off practice; you will need to regularly monitor what keywords are ranking to stay relevant.
You can run free searches and sites like Ubersuggest, Keyword Tool, or WordStream. These sites will help provide ideas for keywords related to your initial keyword search, and you can get hundreds of relevant keyword results tailored to your industry and location.
Long-tail keywords are often under-used but will often be more successful when it comes to improved rankings as you are competing against fewer sites. A long-tail keyword or key phrase is more specific and, as the name implies, longer than keywords. Although they tend to get less search traffic, they often provide higher conversion rates because they are so specific.
Although keywords play an integral role in SEO, using too many in an article may lead to Google registering your article as spam. In other words, too many keywords will detract from your rankings. A general guide is to include your keyword in the first 200 words of your content and then use them where they make sense.
Easy-to-read paragraphs
It doesn’t matter how great your content is; if it consists of long paragraphs, it looks boring and is difficult to read. You are better off using shorter paragraphs of around 3 or 4 sentences and adding bullets, bold text, and different fonts will also make it more readable.
According to Jason Fried, Founder, and CEO of Basecamp, “Short paragraphs get read, long paragraphs get skimmed, really long paragraphs get skipped.”
The impact of word count
This is another aspect you need to keep your eye on, as the optimal number of words changes according to those algorithms. However, longer posts or articles feature higher in search results. Currently, the optimal length of an article is between 1500 and 2000 words.
From a minimum perspective, typical blog posts are between 300 and 500 words. But a 300-word engaging and value-add article will always beat a boring 2000-word article that is repetitive and full of keywords.
Consistent original content
As we mentioned earlier, consistency is critical, but another aspect that impacts your rankings is the ‘fresh factor.’ The easiest way to optimise your freshness score is to publish unique and consistent content. If you post now and again, you won’t attract and retain your customer’s attention.
Research has shown that you will be far more successful if you are consistent. You need to decide how regularly you want to post and be sure to stick to that. You are not the only source; there is an entire world of content out there! If your customers love your posts and know they come out once a week, they are bound to return to your site to read that new and exciting article.
Back to that freshness score, Google is always looking for fresh content, and you can cover this by updating your content regularly. If you are in any doubt, according to an article by SingleGrain, companies who followed this type of strategy saw their current traffic nearly double.
Image optimisation
Everyone loves images, and they are important when it comes to SEO. If you intend to include images in your content, you must ensure that they are optimised for search engines and your readers. More than 22% of all Google searches are Google Image searches, making it an easy way to gain extra traffic.
Optimising your images involves two key steps. The first step is adding alt text – this text describes the image and should be done in as few words as possible. The second step is around reducing their file size as large files take longer to load, and Google takes page speed into account.
Linking to other websites
Your initial instinct may be that this strategy will drive traffic away from your site. Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz, says, “Linking out sends trackable traffic; it makes your site a more valuable and scalable resource.”
And Neil Patel says on his site, “If you’ve been reading my blogs, you’ll notice that I regularly link out to different sites. Whenever I write a new post, I reference other trustworthy sites, where appropriate. Link building remains a fundamental part of smart search engine optimization strategy. I link out to tons of high-quality sites and sources, including my direct competition.”
Yes, we agree it may seem counter-intuitive, but according to Google, backlinks and content are two of the most important ranking factors they take into account. Remember you are always trying to add value to your customers, and if you put out quality content, you will probably find that people will also link to you.
When someone visits your site, you want to encourage them to spend as much time as possible on your site, reducing your bounce rate and improving your SEO rankings. An easy way to achieve this is to add internal links to either other pages or articles on your site.
Creating title tags and meta descriptions
When you search anything on Google, the first thing that pops up is a list of title tags and meta descriptions. Your goal is to create enticing titles that convert into many clicks driving customers to your site.
Meta descriptions simply provide a summary of the various websites, and because they significantly impact the click-through rate, they will seriously affect your rankings.
Conclusion
Once again, we can’t stress the importance of fresh, original, and value-add content. If your content isn’t engaging, it won’t matter how many SEO tips you follow; no one will read it.
Optimising your web pages and content is key to gaining organic traffic and getting your website out there – think about it, how many times have you ever gone to page 2 or 3 of the search results? Be intentional with your content and all the other tips. Remember, planning and research are crucial to any successful strategy. As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to plan, you are preparing to fail.”
