If you own a business and have digital channels such as a website, then you have probably heard of search engine optimisation (SEO). But what is SEO? And why do you need it for your business to stay relevant in this ever-changing digital environment? Well, in this blog we will break down the basics to get you started.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

To put it briefly, SEO is the practice of optimising your website content, to increase your visibility and ranking on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo (yes, people still use Yahoo!). It also goes hand in hand with a user-friendly website. Both will give your business a head start for online success. In today’s digital landscape, SEO is more important than ever, with millions of people searching for answers online daily.

What are the basics of SEO?

To start off, one main building block of SEO strategy is keyword research. You often hear people throw the phrase ‘keyword research’ around when talking about digital marketing, and here at ninetyblack it’s heard in the office on the daily for us. Keywords are phrases or words related to a topic that you’re writing about, which is ranked by search volume and trends. For example, if a topic is trending or you anticipate it to become a trend, you can incorporate the relevant keywords into your content. That’s why knowing how to perform research can help you to unlock the content that you have on your website, and find new verticals that you may want to target with your content. Animation of man and his SEO benefits

Why do you need to update your SEO?

Updating your SEO doesn’t have to be complex, but without regular SEO updates it is almost impossible to rank well on search engines for competitive keywords. The aim of SEO goes beyond just increasing website traffic; it’s about attracting qualified traffic that will ultimately convert into paying customers. While many businesses understand that the role for SEO is to help drive traffic, they often overlook the importance in building brand awareness. Good SEO allows you to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Therefore, a strategy should prioritise conversions from start to finish. And that is when an SEO agency like ninetyblack come in and save your SEO dilemma, with our magical SEO skills leaving you a lot more time to focus on other important areas of your business.

SEO starting points

To be frank, the fundamentals and practises of SEO are mammoth, but there are key concepts that you can and should be working on including:

Meta title and description optimisation

You may have not heard of this term before but it necessary, as it informs search engines about what the content on a web page is about. Meta data makes it easier for Google to determine if the content is relevant, and where to place it for searches. It’s also what displays in the search engine results page before the searcher clicks through, so it should be perfectly clear to the searcher where they’re going to land.

Pages for each service or key topic

Creating landing pages for each service that your business offers is a great way to leverage your SEO efforts, rather than lumping them all onto one single page. Each page should be tailored to a specific keyword associated with the service, this makes it easier for searchers to be directed to the most relevant page.

Building authority

Now this is where is starts to get a bit tricky for your average Joe. But backlinks (when another reputable site links to something on your website) are some of the most important off-site ranking factors, as they indicate to the searcher engines that the content is reliable, trustworthy and of high quality. SEO scribbles

Internal linking structure

Another tricky one, but this is a powerful and quite often neglected part of website optimisation. In simple terms, it is the linking between your pages, and the text that is used for these links. Internal linking helps search engines understand the structure and context for the content on your website, which ultimately improves your ranking and visibility.

User experience

The overall user experience plays an important role in SEO as it influences the success of a page on search engines. When people view your website and content, they expect to find what they need and quickly, for example, most Google users click on their result under 9 seconds – now that’s speedy! Building pages for the user, not for the search engine, is the most important part of any SEO strategy for the future.

Image alt text & descriptions

This is the simple art of adding alternative text attributes and descriptions to your images. It’s an important factor as it is used by accessibility programmes for audio or visually impaired individuals. Search engines also use this “alt text” to work out what’s in the image and whether it’s useful for the person searching. This is a practical element that you can add easily without having to be an SEO guru. The bottom line to SEO is there are no gimmicks and no universal truths to it, apart from one. That is, you must put in the work in throughout all the phases of SEO to grow your visibility, clicks, traffic, leads, and revenue. It takes time, but the results are worth it. Want to find out more about how we can help you with your SEO? Get in touch with us today and leave the hard yards with us.