There is a very good reason why SEO should be your new best friend.
Imagine that you’ve built a fantastic website, written great content, and even set up your brand’s social media pages. But when you check your website traffic metrics, it’s just you, your team, and maybe a friend, who have engaged with your content.
This is why creating content is not enough, especially for website owners. You still need Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make sure people can actually see your work on the internet. SEO is what helps your website appear on Google when people search for topics related to your content, or your business.
If you are a marketer, blogger, or business owner, mastering SEO means more visibility, more traffic, and ultimately, more paying customers. It’s a long-term game but it pays off. This blog post reveals key SEO terms you should know, as well as basic SEO tips you can practise on your own.
KEY TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Before jumping into the tips, let’s clarify some key SEO terms:
- Algorithm: This refers to Google’s rules and processes used to rank websites on SERPs. The algorithm updates quite often and is ever-changing in nature.
- SERP: This is short for Search Engine Results Page. The page that appears after you enter your search request, is the SERP. It is more than one page. Since most users find what they need in the first page, many ignore the existence of subsequent pages. That first page is your goal.
- Keywords: This refers to the search terms people type into search bars on a search engine e.g., “how to write a cover letter”.
- Backlinks: This is when other websites link back to yours.
- On-Page SEO: This means optimizing elements within your website such as titles, content, and images.
- Off-Page SEO: This refers to building authority outside your site or off your web pages either through backlinks or citations, or other external activities.
6 BASIC SEO TIPS EVERY MARKETER SHOULD KNOW
1. Keyword research:
Just like you wouldn’t sell pork in a predominantly Muslim community, the same logic applies to SEO. If you’re targeting the wrong keywords, you’re wasting effort. To get your keywords right, use free tools like Google Keyword Planner. Also, use long-tail keywords. These are phrases rather than single words. Eg. ‘ Ready-to-wear sellers in Maitama Abuja.’
Make sure you avoid mistakes like stuffing your content e.g blog posts, with keywords, so much that they make no sense to visitors who find your page.
2. Focus on high-quality content:
Similar to avoiding stuffing your content with keywords that make it hard to read, Google’s main goal is to provide the best answers to searchers. If your content is probably copied, oversaturated with keywords or just plain boring, Google will ignore it and it would definitely not make it to the SERP first page.
Instead, write well-researched and structured content articles, incorporate subheadings, numbered points, and images to make it easy to understand. For example, if the topic of this post was a vague ‘Reach people online’, it may never reach the second search engine results page.
3. Optimize your content for mobile:
Over 60% of internet users browse on their phones. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you will lose a lot of site visitors. You can use various mobile-friendly tests to check your site. Especially its navigation and speed.
4. Watch out for page speed:
I know I just mentioned this, but it’s a whole point to consider. If your site takes less than 3 seconds to load, visitors will leave. To improve your website speed, compress images, and ensure to use a good hosting provider.
5. Backlinks:
Backlinks are also known as inbound links. They are links leading to your website or webpage, from another website. Oftentimes, when the backlink is added to a site with a good reputation (like featured posts and promotions), Google automatically trusts you and your page will rank amongst the top results in no time.
6. Optimize your titles:
Your title is the first impression people have of you on Google. If your topic is not compelling enough, nobody will visit your webpage. Therefore, do the needful and discard vague titles immediately!
Even though SEO won’t give you instant results, your consistent efforts will. So get started with these basics, track your progress, and keep learning as you go.
Does this feel overwhelming? Or you simply do not have the time? Let us handle it, while you focus on your business. Contact our team here.
