How Do We Improve Our SEO Performance?

Would you like your website to rank well on Google?

No doubt, the answer is yes, but with the sheer volume of information out there you may well be left wondering where to start.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can seem like something of a maze, but by following a few simple techniques you will soon find your way through the thicket and start maximizing your site's appeal to search engines.

Here are 5 things you need to know to boost your business' SEO results.

What is SEO?

Simply put, search engine optimization means making your business' website as friendly to search engines as possible.

SEO means taking steps to make your site attractive to search engines. Well executed search engine optimization will make the search engines like your site more, and rank it higher. With the majority of businesses using the internet these days, good SEO has never been more important.

Make Sure Your Content is Search Engine Friendly

Now that you understand the basis of SEO, the big question is how to make your website attractive to search engines?

This can seem rather mysterious, but in fact there are some simple things you can pay attention to that will boost your SEO:

• Relevant content – search engines are interested in how relevant your content is. If your page is titled “about my awesome company”, be sure the content is clearly focused on your awesome company. If your site is about “the best lawn mowers”, make sure you have plenty of content relevant to the best lawn mowers, and so on;
  
  
• Ease of navigation – think of the search engine spiders (spiders are what search engines send out to look at your site) as very busy. They are more likely to index content that is easy to find, so make sure your site is quick and easy to navigate. If it's easy for a human, it will be easy for the spiders;
  
  
• Fresh content – spiders are looking for fresh, new content. Outdated content isn't so attractive to them, so make sure your content is regularly updated.

Keywords Are Vital

Keywords are your key to helping search engines understand what your site is actually for.

If you use the key phrase “personalized wedding gifts”, the search engine will know that your site would be an appropriate search result if someone was searching for “personalized wedding gifts”.

To make the most of keywords, it's vital that you take your time to do some keyword research.

Google offers a free tool to help you see which keywords and phrases are being searched for in your niche.  The aim is to use keywords that people out there are searching for, so that the search engines can bring their query and your site together. 

Make sure you include your keywords in your site title, meta title, and image descriptions. This will help the search engine spiders to “see” your site more clearly. 

Importance of Links

Search engines see links as an endorsement of your site, so having links to your site from other places is a vital part of search engine optimization. However, not all links are created equal. Search engines prefer quality over quantity.

Taking part in link farms (sites which simply list links) is likely to get you penalized by the search engines.

The best links are those which come from good quality sites which are relevant to your niche. Such links take time to build, but it is worth setting aside a couple of hours a week to work on building good links back to your site.

Think “Human” Not “Spider”

It's easy to get caught up in having just the right title and making your content SEO friendly. These things are vital, of course, but don't forget that search engines are not going to be the only ones visiting your site.

When you offer content that is relevant, engaging and drives sales, your business will become more popular, and people will link to it and tell others. When you write for your human visitors while keeping the search engines in mind, you make your site attractive to both.

Search engine optimization can seem daunting at first, but armed with a little knowledge you can overhaul your site in next to no time, and give the search engines something they will want to index.