The OYM Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an element of website design that makes your site more visible in search engines such as Google or Bing. This means that when people are searching for your products, services, or areas of expertise, search engines will be more likely to match your site to their queries. In this blog we give a detailed response to the question ‘What is Search Engine Optimisation?’ and discuss the techniques used to optimise websites.
What is Search Engine Optimisation?
The goal of Google is to make “the world’s information universally accessible and useful”. In order to achieve this, they’re committed to offering the very best responses to search queries. In order that Google can be sure that the websites they promote are the very best, they have created over 200 ranking factors against which websites are assessed and ranked.
Google suggests that SEO strategies should be driven first by the desire to create ease-of-use for users, and second to provide content that adds value for visitors to the site. The practices that facilitate these aims include simple navigation, speedy loading, mobile responsiveness, clear headings and the use of appropriate keywords.
An Example of SEO:
Suppose someone is looking for Origami crafting ideas. They’ll type this phrase into Google expecting illustrations and ‘how to’ instructions in return. If this is something you have on your website, you’ll want Google to offer it up as the best response to that query. This can only happen if your website is SEO optimised.
Why Is SEO Important to Online Businesses?
Organic searches deliver 53% of traffic to websites which is why online brands invest in SEO marketing. Search engine optimisation drives traffic to your website, and it also builds trust in your brand. If your website ranks well on Google or Bing, it is recognised as both trustworthy and authoritative – both key criteria in the ranking process.
Once your SEO strategy is established, it can be used in all your marketing channels; social media, and search marketing using paid ads.
Types of Search Engine Optimisation
There are two types of search engine optimisation:
- Technical SEO. Techniques relating to the technical design of your website.
- On-Page SEO. Techniques relating to individual pages, with the goal of enhancing visibility.
Technical SEO
Your site can only be matched and ranked in the search engines if it can be read by search engine bots. Technical SEO ensures, therefore, that it’s easy for bots to understand what you do as a business, and how you do it. The specific components that allow this to happen are your sitemap, navigation, urls, and internal linking.
Essential criteria relating to the technical SEO of your site include fast loading pages (2 seconds or less), and a mobile-first, or responsive design. Site security also plays an important part in your ranking; a site that does not have ‘https’ in its web address is unlikely to rank.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO, also known as content SEO, focuses on the use of appropriate keywords. These are phrases or words that are used by online searchers when looking for your product or service. If, for example, you have a cookware business, your keywords would include: cookware sets, saucepan sets, pots and pans, non-stick pans.
Integrating relevant keywords into your website copy, titles, and content, helps Google or Bing to match your pages to relevant online searches. The use of keywords is not allowed to distort the reading experience, though. Keyword inclusion should feel natural and organic.
What is Search Engine Optimisation Success?
Once you have implemented a search engine optimisation strategy, there are a number of SEO metrics that will help you to measure your progress:
- Organic Traffic – Google Analytics shows you how many people have visited your site. You’ll also be able to see which pages they accessed, how they found you, and what their location is.
- Click Through Rate – Analytics shows you how many people are clicking through to your site from Google. If you’re low in the rankings it will be low numbers. If you’ve got a top ranking though, your CTR should be healthy.
- Bounce Rate – What do visitors do once they land on your site? If they arrive and then leave without interacting with any pages, it’s called a bounce. Analytics will show you your bounce rate; if it’s high, you need to add value for your users.
- Returning Visitors – A successful SEO strategy will encourage visitors to return to your site by adding new products regularly or publishing frequent blog posts. If you not only attract new visitors but also retain existing visitors, you have a far greater chance of converting leads.
Ready to Rank Better?
Outsource Your Marketing has a team of SEO experts that will:
- Integrate technical SEO into a new website design.
- Retrofit technical SEO into an existing website design.
- Research keywords for your product.
- Create SEO rich content to add value to your site or enhance a PPC campaign.
- Refresh your site’s SEO if it’s a while since it was optimised.
- Provide a free SEO audit, and a report of your current analytics.
We don’t promise instant results (for that you need PPC), but we can guarantee a gradual growth in traffic to your site and significant ranking improvement within 3-6 months. We currently have an unblemished SEO success rate with 100% of our clients seeing their web pages in the top 10 Google search engine results listing.
