SEO Is So Much Easier Than You Think

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It involves optimising your website to increase the number of visitors by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results pages of a search engine.

Why is it so important?

SEO is the number one priority when it comes to website publishing. After all, according to Search Engine Journal, 90% of online experiences start with search. If people can’t find your website they can’t read it, use it, or share it with others.

Over the years, SEO tactics have changed with modern strategies that focus on user experience. Before these modern strategies, there were keyword-based optimisation methods and other black-hat practices, although these are now obsolete.

That said, throughout its history, SEO has been a cost-efficient and valuable strategy for website owners.

Is it really difficult?

Website owners who are unfamiliar with the technical side of coding believe Google’s search algorithm is something extremely complex. As a matter of fact, it is complex, but that doesn’t mean you cannot understand it.

Despite the complexity of Google’s search algorithm, it is possible to achieve positive results with simple strategies. The main goal of Google is to provide the best online experience to its users which means giving them appropriate and relevant search results.

Anyone can learn

Google uses complicated techniques to calculate search rankings. In fact, even search experts don’t understand it fully because Google has never published its search algorithm. However, we do know that you must complete two requirements to rank high on a search engine:

• Providing high-quality content
• Demonstrating you are an authority

Thankfully, these search engine requirements can be achieved by basic strategies. Today, SEO strategies come in two flavours: onsite and offsite.

Onsite Content

Onsite content involves making sure your website pages, titles, tags, content, and overall structures are optimised for your target keywords.

Another important factor is to include strong headlines and compelling paragraphs on the main pages of your website including the homepage and product pages. On these pages, use words and phrases that explain your business.

In addition, you should implement a blogging strategy as this is a great way to boost your online presence. Write at least one or two blog posts per week about topics related to your business and make sure you engage with your audience.

Offsite/ Inbound Links

Offsite SEO is a little tougher than onsite SEO. Offsite SEO involves building authority. To understand the authority of your website, major search engines look at other websites that link back to yours.

If lots of websites link back to you then Google will think you have good content. This will rank you higher although this has also been the source of many black-hat SEO tactics in the past.

Social and local integrations

Building a social media presence is now considered compulsory in order to attract a bigger audience. So, you should create profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc and post regularly to engage with your audience. This will ultimately improve your online reputation.

Challenges of SEO

Basic SEO strategies are easy to adapt. However, you might encounter the following challenges:

Find your audience?

Challenges in finding the right audience occur when you don’t know what type of articles you should write on your blog or what keywords you should include. The best solution is to first describe your business. This will help you find out who your customers are.

Time is money!

SEO is very time-consuming and it is certainly not a one day job. It requires a lot of figurative sweat and blood to implement properly. In addition, you may have other responsibilities and tasks to do along with optimising your website. Remember, you can always hire an SEO company if you can’t manage it yourself.

While SEO is easier than you think, the time-consuming nature of the task means it is not always possible to do it by yourself unless you are able to dedicate time to it.

At Kiwi Website Design, we create websites and provide SEO services using the latest techniques to help increase the online presence of your business.