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See you at the top – succeeding in SEO in 2018

Succeeding in search engine optimisation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A 2018 Telstra Small Business Intelligence Report recently identified that only 26 per cent of small business owners are using search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics to reach customers. And more than half of the businesses surveyed said they do not intend to use SEO. The reasons behind this relate to the idea that business owners see SEO as time consuming, complicated and confusing.

And I guess it is quite complex if you are busy running your business, have no digital marketing skills and don’t have the time to read about the basics. But there are simple things you can do with SEO today to improve your businesses’ online visibility and your return on investment:

Don’ts:

  • Long are the days gone when you could keyword stuff your content to increase you rankings, known as “keyword stuffing”. Writers would eagerly repeat certain keywords in their content to appear relevant to search engines. For example: “Redhead Digital Marketing are the best digital marketers in Perth. Redhead Digital Marketing offer great digital services. If you are thinking about hiring a digital services company hire Redhead Digital Marketing.” This is bad copywriting. Today you would get penalised for this.
  • Another popular technique would be to create as many links (quantity) to a website as possible, using keywords that you wanted to rank for. This is now frowned upon and could hurt your keyword ranking.

So what is relevant today and what can you do to help improve your SEO?

Do’s:

  • Content is king
    When writing content for your website, think of the target audience you are trying to reach. Remember you aren’t writing for Google’ algorithms, you are writing for people. Think about the value you can offer your audience. What can you tell them, or offer them that no one else can? What are your audiences’ needs? What makes your business unique – share this information in your content to keep your audience wanting more.Write blogs for your website, they are a fast and easy way to create content specifically designed to fill SEO gaps. When writing a blog think about any high-priority SEO phrases that you are struggling to rank for. Does your website lack content related to these words? If yes then get writing about these topics in your blogs. Share your blogs through social media, create a compelling title, add images or videos and optimise your blog’s url.
  • Keywords
    As you know the days of keyword stuffing are long gone, but keywords are still important. Do some keyword research to discover what words or phrases people are looking for when they are searching for products and services related to your business. Once you know what your audience are searching for you can optimise your content and offerings to better match what they are looking for.Include your keyword in your main title, in the H1 or H2 heading. Then use your keyword in your main content, but don’t force or repeat usage of it, just use it naturally based on what you think would be engaging for your audience.
  • Link building
    Quantity of links isn’t as relevant as quality of links today. If no one is linking to you, then why would Google? Focus on backlinks (links from sites back to yours), the higher the quality of your backlinks, the higher your search rankings. Check out your competitors’ backlinks, see who is linking to them and what could be relevant for your site. But getting other companies to link to your site isn’t as easy as you think, but there are some simple steps to take:

    • Local listings and directories – these are the easiest backlinks to start with. Start with Google my Business and then create new business listings with the Yellow Pages for example (yes believe it or not, it’s still around).
    • Donations and sponsorships – you can partner with a local charity to sponsor a fundraising event, they will promote your logo on their event page, which will link back to your website.
    • News and press releases – if you are great at writing content, you can approach other organisations to write a press release for an event for example and ask them to link back to you via a byline.

These simple steps can help make you more visible to online customers. But there’s plenty more that you could be doing in the SEO arena too. Don’t have the time to implement an SEO strategy right now? Why not get in touch with one of Perth’s top digital marketing agencies and we’ll provide you with a one-hour free consultation covering these and many more SEO tips, which will improve your online presence and see a return on investment.