Wiliam Guide 101: Why should we care about SEO?

When people hear the term ‘SEO’ they immediately shift in their seats. It sounds awfully technical. Is it just ‘super-highway mumbo-gumbo’ created by tech’s to confuse us mere mortals? Or is there a scientific art to it?

No. It’s purely an extremely efficient and cost effective online marketing strategy to direct a continual stream of traffic to your web site.

So what is SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation means implementing or changing web site copy, page layout, links and meta-tags on your website so it will be listed within the top results when specific terms or words are searched for.

Using highly searched keywords scattered throughout your web site copy is just one of the many techniques used to optimise a web site.

The higher a web site rank on the search engine results page; chances are the site will be visited by more consumers. Most users skim through search results, so it is crucial for driving more traffic towards your web site. 

SEO ensures the site is easily accessible to search engines and web crawlers - strengthening the chances of being found.

What is a web crawler?

No, it’s not the latest action figure for kids. A web crawler is a program that visits web sites and allows search engines to ‘see text’. Think of a spider crawling over your website. The ‘spider’ reads the copy and any other information to create entries for a search engine index. Entire sites or specific pages can be visited and indexed.

These programs were dubbed ‘crawlers’ because they essentially ‘crawl’ through site pages one at a time, following links to other pages on the site, until the entire web site has been read.

Let’s SEO our site!

Easy tiger. While it’s not rocket science, there are several key steps you should follow in order to optimise your web site. Good Search Engine Optimisation is really a combination of content, great design useability and accessibility. Here are three of the basics to your started.

1. Make sure your copy contains keywords

You have probably seen and heard the term ‘keyword’ knocked around quite a bit. It’s nothing more than a title that describes what a person is likely to use to search for a particular topic or term.

Well written copy featuring keywords is now just as important as design or e-commerce on a web site. The way text reads on a web site is very important.

The correct use of language and appropriate tone for your target demographic, the length of text and the use of headings and sub-headings make a significant difference.

Your objective should be to create quality content that contains appropriate keywords and is clear, relevant, unique and useful to users and web crawlers.

2. Back Linking

In general linking is a very important SEO source that contributes to your web sites popularity. Back linking, is having other web sites link to your site and is probably one of the best SEO tactic’s to get high search engine results. Links that contain keywords can enhance your chances for higher search engine rank.

The first step in back linking is hunting down other related web sites and link to those. The more popular the site is, the more valuable the link is. Looking for a high ranking or influential web site could unlock potential to drawn more online traffic to your web site and generate revenue.

Another great way to create back links is writing blogs and publishing them on social media sites. Using keywords in your blogs will attract more visitors.

3. Layout

Great looking websites crammed with lots of images and banners will hinder rather than boost your search engine rank. Web crawlers can’t read pretty pictures.

Place the most important message about your business brand at the beginning of your site. You not only will maintain user interest, you will make it easy for search engines to access your web site information, ensuring you a higher rank, drawing more visitors to your web site, increasing sales query and boost revenue. 

To learn more about SEO, contact Wiliam.