We have all heard that good SEO is important, but how do you ensure that you are doing what you can to improve your SEO? In this blog we take a closer look at what you can do in terms of SEO optimisation.
Optimise your SEO using keywords
You might have heard of keyword stuffing, and how it is generally considered bad, but that doesn’t mean that you should not focus on keywords at all. Keywords are important for SEO because they tell the search engines that the content of your site matches what people are searching for, but remember that you are writing for people, not search engines –so do your keyword research – Copyblogger has some brilliant resources on how to do so – write your text bearing your keywords in mind, and then go through your text and make sure your text is easy to read and understand, and that your keywords don’t disrupt the flow.
Look at your structure
Once you’ve done your keyword research and have written your new copy, it is worth taking another look at your text and make sure that your keyword appears somewhere in the top part of your text and, if possible, in some of your sub-headings. As mentioned before, it’s important that your content is good, and that means readable, but ensuring the search engines that this piece of copy actually is about what you say it is about, by introducing your keyword early on, and not just in the title, is never a bad idea.
Create new content
Another key aspect of good SEO is to keep creating new quality content for your site. A blog is often the best way to do so, just remember to keep it relevant. If you sell hair-products, focus your blog on content which seems relevant to your potential customers. If you are a consultant, write about the work you do and what’s new in your particular industry.
Build links
A key aspect in building good SEO is inbound links. The more people who are linking to your site the better. However, this needs to be qualified links – don’t waste your money on people who offer to link to your site for a fee, often the search machines will find you out, and penalise the both of you.
The best way to get those important inbound links is to create good content and then make yourself known to others in your niche. Offering to guest-blog on other sites can be a good way to get your name out there. But it’d not just about the inbound links. You should be sharing other people’s content as well.
Use plugins
We usually install the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin on our clients sites, as it works really well as a guide to understand whether or not you are doing a good job of optimizing your sites for SEO.
But however good the plugin is, it is not fairy dust. Doing a good job of your SEO takes work – keep coming back to it. Use your Google Webmaster Tool to understand which search terms are leading people to your page and use Google Analytics to understand how people are moving through your site.
We hope you’ve found this short guide helpful. If you want to learn more about SEO we’ve listed a few really helpful resources below.