A beautiful marriage, a match made in heaven.
No exaggeration, because one cannot work without the other. Firstly, for those that do not know SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation sounds technical and fancy and not only is it those two things but it is also highly effective.
In this article, I will cover the building blocks you need to know and need to have to make your website rank in Google.
- The basics of SEO
- Keywords
- Websites content
- The hidden stuff (Meta Data, Image File Names)
- Tracking the results of your website (effectiveness, traffic and ranking statistics)
Sounds hard and complicated, but if you break up the components of SEO and how it works with Google, you will understand why SEO in Google is important and oh so very useful.
The Basics of SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is all about ranking. Everyone wants to have their website at the top of page one of Google. This is the aim. It is human nature to start at the top and read downwards as you were taught as a child to read a book or read anything for that matter. It is automatic. Now how to get to number one, I have listed some basic yet crucial steps below.
Keywords
Google is kind enough to have established a tool called “keyword planner” here you can find not only how much each keyword costs if you choose to use it to pick up a particular phrase or word on your website.
Keywords will usually be your industry, service, product, and area mixed with words like best, cheapest, top, etc. Think of phrases that customers, clients and yourself use when conducting a simple Google search and what would appeal to you no matter which industry, product or service you are looking for.
Same goes for your business. You want to match up keywords to a Google search that is related to your company’s products and services. Sounds simple? There are a few more hoops to jump through first.
Your website Content
You have the keywords that are most popular (most viewed) in your industry to target your audience highlighting your services and usually area. Now, where do you use them? The first place you should begin is in your website content. Seems straight forward, include your keywords when you are describing your services, products, and information about your company right? However, there is a catch.
There is an unknown limit on how many times you use your keywords, because if you do use them excessively Google may class your website as “spammy” meaning it is not a trusted and real website and your website won’t be listed on any page at all. For the safety of consumers, Google automatically identifies and classifies spammy websites. So, your website content needs to include keywords, but also your site’s content has to be easy to read and informative.
Because once you have attracted potential clients and consumers to your website you also want them to go through and purchase your product and services, and you want them to come back, right?
The Hidden Stuff
Here we get a little more technical. The hidden stuff is small but not insignificant in any way shape or form. It is not to say that without the following your website will not rank. However, with Meta Data, Image file names and Anchor texts (I will explain briefly don’t worry!) your website will have a better chance of ranking.
- Meta Data: When you type in a search into Google, and you see the site title or phrase which will be a Bold blue link (this is the Meta Title) and the sentence or sentences below it (Meta Description). This is the meta data, and I don’t know about you but the more relevant, simple and informative the title and description the more likely I would click on that search result. Hence why it is important for your website to be successful.
- Image File Names: Every website should have pictures, not only are they eye catching but as the saying goes “a picture can say a thousand words.” So not only is it important to have pictures for aesthetics but it is also important what you name each picture. Believe it or not, how you name your picture, should also include keywords which will help it rank when you enter the picture name into the website which Google uses to pick up as It cannot recognise the picture itself.
- Anchor Text: This refers to having links from one page to another, connecting a product, for example, a “Conditioner product” should have a link back to the main “Hair Products Page” or “Commercial Plumbing” should link back to the primary “Plumbing Services” page. This makes it easy not only for potential clients and the internet users to navigate through your website but also for Google to rank your page.
Tracking your Results
There are many ways to do this, and unless you are a digital marketing expert I would leave it at that, leave it to the professionals. If you aren’t using a digital marketing company the only way you may be able to tell is perhaps if you have an inquiry form that includes “how did you hear about us,” searching for your website on google to see where it ranks when you type in specific keywords.
All of these are fine, but there are much more ways that can assess how many people visit your site, how long they spend on each page, which website they were referred from if your website is listed on a directory or was navigated from social media, etc. Beneficial and specific tools that the average Joe or Jane will not be able to calculate without an expert.
Summary
Here are the steps very briefly of how you can help your website rank in Google. And the steps any good Digital Marketing Company will use plus more to help your site not only rank but be effective in increasing internet traffic, exposure to products and services and hopefully increase the sale or purchase of your company’s products and or services.
- Research Keywords which relate to your industry, products, etc.
- Include Keywords into your title, body of text and subheads (just not too much!)
- Use the hidden tools (Meta Data, Image tags, etc.)
- Ensure you or your marketing company you have employed uses Google or other methods to track the effectiveness of your campaign, and if it is not as effective as it should be it should be revised and altered.
Good luck and happy ranking!
