What is SEO and how to apply it to my website for better results
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the practice of optimising a website to improve its visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal of SEO is to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic to a website by making it more visible in search engine results.
There are many different techniques and strategies that can be used to improve a website’s SEO, including:
- On-page optimisation: This involves optimizing the content and HTML source code of a website to make it more search engine friendly.
- Off-page optimisation: This involves building high-quality backlinks from other websites to your own. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website, and are considered by search engines as a vote of confidence in the quality and relevance of your content.
- Keyword research: Identifying and targeting specific keywords and phrases that people are searching for can help improve a website’s visibility in search engine results.
- Content creation: Creating high-quality, relevant, and valuable content can help attract more visitors to a website and improve its ranking in search results.
- Technical SEO: This involves optimising the technical aspects of a website, such as its loading speed and mobile-friendliness, to improve its visibility and ranking in search results.
To apply SEO to your website, you can start by conducting keyword research to identify the terms and phrases that people are using to find content related to your business or industry. Once you have identified these keywords, you can incorporate them into the content and meta tags on your website to make it more relevant to search engines. You can also optimise the technical aspects of your website, such as its loading speed and mobile-friendliness, to improve its ranking in search results.
Finally, you can work on building high-quality backlinks from other reputable websites to your own, as these can help improve your visibility and ranking in search results.
What is keyword research
Keyword research is the process of identifying and targeting specific words and phrases that people are using to search for content related to your business or industry. By understanding the words and phrases that people are using to find information online, you can optimise your website’s content and meta tags to make it more relevant to search engines and improve its visibility and ranking in search results.
There are several tools and techniques that you can use to conduct keyword research, including:
- Google’s Keyword Planner: This is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to see how many people are searching for specific keywords, as well as the level of competition for those keywords.
- Google’s Auto-Complete: When you start typing a search query into Google, the search engine will provide a list of suggestions based on what other people are searching for. These suggestions can be useful for identifying popular keywords and phrases.
- Google’s Related Searches: At the bottom of a Google search results page, you’ll often see a list of related searches. These can be useful for identifying additional keywords and phrases to target.
- Keyword research tools: There are also a number of third-party keyword research tools available, such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz, that can provide detailed information about search volume, competition, and related keywords.
When conducting keyword research, it’s important to focus on long-tail keywords (phrases that are more specific and usually longer than one or two words) rather than short, broad keywords. Long-tail keywords are generally less competitive and can be more effective at driving targeted traffic to your website. It’s also important to consider the intent behind a search query, as this can help you create content that is more relevant and valuable to your audience.