SEO is a buzz word chucked around by us geeky guys to bring lots of terms under one heading, our team have written this guide to help newcomers understand what Google needs to see and what you need to do to get your website moving up the rankings.
Keyword research
Before we begin to explain how SEO works you will need to do you keyword research, the Google keyword tool will show you how many times per month people are searching for your product or service, there is no point in trying to rank your site for a phrase that no one searches for!
Click this link here to go through to the Google keyword tool.
Just type in a phrase you wish to rank for, tick the box that says (only show related phrases) and click search, you will now have a long list of keywords people search for related to your main search term. Change your preference on match type from broad to exact, Broad will show you how many times the phrase appeared in any term where exact will show you how many times the exact term was typed in.
Now we have a good list of keywords that we wish to target we will start to optimise your site and show you how SEO works.
What do Google look at when serving up results?
1. Meta Data
2. H tags
3. On-page content
4. In-bound links
Meta Data (title tags and Meta descriptions)
Each website has a Title tag that allows Google to understand what the site is about, this Tag appears as the link people will click on when your page is served up. Google only read 66 characters include spaces and grammar, use this tag wisely to ensure you get the most amount of keywords in at one go. Each page on your site will need its own unique Meta data relevant to that page.
The meta description is the black text that appears below the link people will click on when you get served up, this is a 150 descriptive explanation of what the page is about, this also needs to push people to click on you rather than the competition whilst push for the same phrases mentioned in the title tag.
Use the Google keyword tool to help understand the best phrases for your Meta tags.
H Tags
Google put emphasis on certain words in the site like the heading of the site page and the headings of the paragraphs, these should be in bolder font and slightly larger.
On-page content
Each page should have relevant text talking about the pages use or products, this should also involve promotional wording pushing contact or sales depending on the site, using the Google keyword tool will help you understand what you need to mention to make sure the copy is pushing the site for as many phrases as possible, ensure your copy is engaging and helpful and not just gibberish with keywords stuffed in the middle somewhere.
In-bound links
Google needs to see other websites linking to you to understand you are a good resource of products or information, these votes will be the backbone in improving your domain authority in your market, be careful, not just any vote will do, all sites linking to you need to be relevant and linking to you using the phrases you want to rank for.
For more information about link building read our
link building page to understand what Google see as a good relevant inbound link.
More information
Of course there are over 200 variables Google look at but doing these correct will help you on the path to success, for a further in-depth analysis of your site speak to our team today
We hope this little guide helps you understand how SEO works and pushes your site on the road to success, for more information or a full SEO proposal contact our team via our contact page.
Good luck!