8 SEO Bascis To Take Your Business To The Next Level

Did you know that 70% of people who use Google never go past the first page of results? 30% only ever click on the very first link. That’s an enormous amount of traffic all focused on one small selection of websites. If your business isn’t showing up on that first page of Google, you’re missing out on a lot of traffic! So, how exactly do you get your website up on the crucial first page? Well, it’s all down to SEO, or search engine optimization.
It’s one of the trickiest aspects of building your online presence. The techniques are often complicated and long-winded. Google itself changes its algorithm on a regular basis, which means you’ve got to stay on your toes. Despite the difficulties, SEO is one of the best returns on investment you’ll ever make. It drives a serious amount of highly targeted traffic to your website. With smart tricks and techniques, you can double or even triple your visitor numbers. Today, we’re going to show you the basics of SEO, and how to get started.
A strong primary keyword
First of all, you’ve got to find that one primary keyword. This is the word or phrase that defines your business. It’s the word that should send as many visitors to your website as possible. The easiest way to choose it is to put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. What would they type into Google to find a service like yours? If you sell snowboards, your primary keyword would be ‘snowboards’. To choose the right keyword, you need to identify your target audience, and think about what they’re searching for. The more targeted, the better.
Long-tail keywords
Of course, if you’re selling snowboards, you’re probably also selling skis, jackets, and gloves. You need to cover all the other aspects of your business too. Long-tail keywords are all about casting a wider net. It’s about catching all the people who might be interested in buying a snowboard one day. You can start by simply brainstorming some related words and phrases. However, we recommend using a simple tool to help you out. It’s called Google keyword planner, and you’ll find it in the ‘Adwords’ section. In this example, you’d enter the word ‘snowboards’. Google will generate all the similar words and phrases that people are searching for. Simple.
Use these keywords wisely
Now that you’ve got your primary keyword, and lots of related words, what do we do with them? That’s the tricky part, and you’ve got to be incredibly careful about how you use them. The trick here is to understand what Google is looking for. They’re trawling your site looking for relevant terms and keywords. So, put them all in the most obvious places! Make them easy for Google to find. Start with your urls (that’s your website addresses). Then put them behind the scenes in your meta data (image tags etc). Lastly, make sure they’re used in all your titles and headers across the site. These are the first places Google will look, so make them count.
Content
As well as headers and urls, you should make use of longer content to harness your keywords. Lengthy blogs are perfect for squeezing in the right keywords throughout your site. Content isn’t just vital for keyword optimization, however. It serves a bigger purpose. When ranking websites, Google is looking to provide the best possible information. It’s looking for the most respected and useful websites. Content helps you do that. Blogs and articles get shared and reposted across the internet. They get linked to by others (we’ll come to that shortly). It builds your authority and reputation. And Google cares a lot about your reputation.
Backlinks
Ask any digital agency about their professional SEO services, and they’ll place a heavy emphasis on backlinks. Why? Because, they’re one of Google’s most trusted ways of identifying authority and reputation. Remember, Google wants to send people to the most trusted sites on the planet. They do that by measuring the quality and quantity of backlinks to your website. The more links you have to your content, the stronger your reputation. The better quality those links (ie, from The New York Times, or Forbes), the higher your rank. Good SEO relies on sourcing organic, natural links to your content.Performance
As you would expect, Google will never send its searchers to a slow or unusable website. That makes Google look bad! If your website is sluggish, Google will actively push you down the ranks. They’ll do the same if your website is difficult to navigate and densely populated. Make sure your website is fast by using a website speed checker, and regularly monitoring the response. Make sure your website’s usability is up to scratch. Remember, user experience is everything!
Social media
There’s a lot of discussion about social media in the world of SEO. That’s because Google have actively claimed they don’t take it into account when ranking websites. What they mean by this is they don’t measure your follower numbers, or content likes etc. Social media doesn’t influence SEO directly. But it does have an enormous effect indirectly. If you’ve got a large following, your content will spread further. More people will see it and link to it. Your authority will grow. You’ll boost your traffic. You’ll increase ‘time-on-site’ (which Google loves). Social media improves the overall reputation and reach of your site. And that’s only a good thing in SEO terms.
Patience
The last factor involved in SEO is patience. A lot of website owners expect instant results when it comes to search rankings. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like that. It takes months to see the effects of search engine techniques. SEO is all about playing the long-game. Lay the groundwork, and keep expanding larger and larger.
Follow the advice here, and you’ll soon find yourself on the first page of Google’s results! Congratulations, you just took your website and business to the next level.