We thought we would put a quick list of top tips together for SEO - Search Engine Optimisation. Now SEO is a not a small subject and search engines change the way they rank sites frequently so we could be here some time, but the simple SEO principle is all about good housekeeping and relevance.
Our quick guide lets you know what you can do before you start to pay out for Pay Per Click Advertising and ensure you get the ground work laid for when you are at this stage.
- Get A Google Analytics Account. Google's free website analysis tool is the first step to managing the traffic on your site. The sign up process is quick and easy and can easily be integrated into your website. Google provides you with a unique ID that is inserted into your pages. This ID enables Google to track the visitors to your website and much more. The interface gives you the ability to see where your users are coming from, what type of device they are using (did they browse your site on a Mobile Phone - Key for making sure your website works for its demographic), what pages they viewed and how long they viewed them for.
- Do Research On The Best Keywords Before You Start. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to assume you know what a user will search for when looking for your product or service. For example you may be a plastic surgeon and want to sell your nose surgery, so you optimise your site for this search term when actually what people search for is nose job! Google comes to your rescue again with another good free tool Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool, there are also others on the scene such as WordTracker.
- Use A Unique & Relevant Title & Description On Every Page. The page title is the single most important thing for SEO. The page title must carry relevance to the page content, and keywords. The "meta"description will appear as the text below your listing, so it should include the relevant keyword(s) and be written so as to be quick and catchy, remember you want people to click on your page above others.
- Content Content Content! The key to attracting users is to have great content that keeps users coming back. Write good articles and product descriptions that make you stand out from the competition and encompass the keywords you have chosen for your page.
- Have A Site Map & Link It With Your Google Analytics Account. Search engines use spiders to trawl through webpages and reference its content. Having a site map will help spiders find all the pages on your site website, and help the search engines understand there structure. This is very important if your site has a lot of content and complicated menu structure.
- Be Sure To Use Your Keyword's In Anchor Links Within Your Site. Anchor text is the text that tells the spiders what the linked page is all about. having links that say "click me" are useless, having links that say "my product / service in my place of business" are much more relevant.
- SEO Friendly URLs. Be sure to use your keywords in your URLs (links) and file names, such as yourdomain.com/bathroomfittinglondon.html. Use hyphens in URLs and file names, not underscores. Hyphens are treated as a “space,”. Remember though don't go mad with how many keywords you have in your links.
- Image Alternative Descriptions. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in image ALT attributes this will help to let the search engines know what the content on your pages relates to.
- Image Alternative Descriptions. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in image ALT attributes this will help to let the search engines know what the content on your pages relates to.
- Build Quality Back Links To Your Site. Quality not Quantity is the key with this one. One single, good, authoritative link can do more for your ranking than a few poorly placed ones.
- Call To Action. Once you have done the hard work on your Content, keywords, descriptions, links, and Analytics set up, make sure you have a clear Call To Action on your site. If all your hard work has paid off and you have attracted the user, make sure you can convert that visitor hit on your site into a sale.
