When you launch a website, your primary focus is likely to ensure that it’s easy for users to find and navigate and this validates the importance of Search Engine Optimisation.
After all, what good is a beautiful website if no one can find or use it? However, there are so many other factors that you need to consider when launching and maintaining a new website. An excellent example of this is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
If you aren’t familiar with the term, SEO refers to methods used to improve the visibility of your website on search engines like Google and Bing. In other words, SEO helps users find your site more easily when they search for relevant keywords related to your content.
In this Ultimate Guide to Website Optimisation, I will provide you with everything you need to know about optimizing your site with Search Engine Optimisation best practices.
Related: Is Content Marketing Important
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation.
SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines by increasing the quantity and quality of traffic.
The primary purpose of SEO is to increase the number of visitors to a site, usually by optimising your web pages, loading speed, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and content strategy.
The most commonly targeted search engine is Google, but SEO can also be applied to other search engines like Bing and Yahoo. With a few simple changes to your site, you can increase the amount of organic traffic (i.e. people who are led to your site by Google) that you receive.
This can have a significant impact on your business, as the use of search engines to search for products, services and information keeps increasing year in and year out.
So SEO is the process of optimising a website so that the search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex will list your site higher in the search results.
Importance of Search Engine Optimisation?
As people increasingly rely on search engines like Google and Bing to find information and make purchases online, SEO has become an essential element of any online marketing strategy.
When your website ranks on the first page of results, it is visible to a much wider audience than when it ranks on other pages.
The higher you rank, the more traffic you can expect to receive. And this isn’t just about getting more visitors to your site. It’s also about improving the quality of your leads.
While there is no way to know for sure how many people will click on your site, there is a way to improve your chances of showing up near the top of those search results.
Fundamental elements of SEO
Search engines are looking for certain elements on your site in order to determine if you should appear near the top of their results.
If you can provide these elements, you can expect to make a significant impact on your SEO.
Keywords
Keywords are critical when it comes to SEO. They are the words that people enter into search engines like Google to find information.
The keywords you include on your site will be used to determine where you rank on search engine results pages. The more frequently your keywords are used, the higher you will appear in search results.
URL Structure
The URL structure of your site is partly responsible for how it is indexed. The URL is the path that people take when going from one page to another on your site.
The easiest way to optimize your URL is to simply name each page something that people would search for if they wanted to find it.
Content Quality
The quality of your content is one of the most important elements of SEO. If your content is low quality, your web pages will probably not rank as high as others with high-quality content The content you publish on your site can have a significant impact on your search engine ranking.
Visitors will click on your site if your article is relevant to their search.
Site Speed
Site speed is also an important factor when it comes to SEO. Google has stated that site speed is a small factor in search engine algorithm. This can be a big issue if your site is slow because people won’t want to wait around for your pages to load.
How to perform SEO analysis
As we’ve discussed, SEO has a significant impact on your online visibility. So how do you know where you stand?
The key is to conduct an SEO analysis to determine how your site is currently performing. This process is simple.
Check out how your website is ranked on relevant keywords
First, make a list of your top competitors. This list could include your direct competitors, as well as sites that are in the same industry but aren’t necessarily direct competitors. Then use the search engines to do an analysis of your own site. Take note of your rankings on the first page of results.
Compare those results with what shows up for your competitive analysis.
Evaluate your content quality
The quality of your content will determine how your website will rank on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Evaluate your content structure, and check if your content is optimised and human-friendly. It’s important to write for humans first and search engines second.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) best practices
Now that we’ve discussed the basic elements of SEO, let’s take a look at some best practices that will help optimize your website.
Keyword research
The first thing you need to do when optimizing your site for SEO is to identify the keywords that your target audience is using to find your content. You can do this manually or you can use a keyword tool like Google Keyword Planner to discover what terms people are using to search for your products and services.
URL structure
As we discussed earlier, the URL structure of your site is partly responsible for how it is indexed. The easiest way to optimize your URL is to simply name each page something that people would search for if they wanted to find it.
Content quality
Write quality and optimised content. Create human-friendly content and avoid typography errors and hard-to-read content.
Site speed
Site speed is also an important factor when it comes to SEO. check your website’s loading speed regularly. Google recommend two to three seconds load time. Research shows that 43% of consumers will wait no more than two to three seconds before abandoning a site.
Conclusion
There are many things to consider when launching a new website, but there is no element more important than SEO.
It will help you attract more visitors to your site, increase their engagement and make them more likely to become customers.
Keep these SEO best practices in mind as you design and launch your new site. It will help you attract more qualified leads and keep them engaged from the very beginning. This will lead to more traffic and improve your conversion rate.
