Five Top Tips Towards SEO Success

Anyone whose business has an online presence has probably heard of SEO, but not everyone knows exactly what it is or why people use it.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is how people find what they are looking for in search engines. For example: if someone is looking for a pair of black boots, they will type ‘black boots’ into a search engine and websites that sell black boots will be the first to appear.

Search engine traffic contributes a lot to a website’s total amount of views and – when used correctly – SEO is also capable of boosting your presence online, making your website even more popular. So, what can you do to your website to make it more SEO-friendly?

Here are a few easy tips that you can apply right now to boost your website’s SEO:

1          Ensure that posts are properly titled

The titles of your posts are the first thing that people look at. If you are trying to sell a product then you need to ensure that the name of the product is going to appear in the title. If you were selling pink staplers on your website then the product’s name should include “pink stapler” in the title. If you title your product with something like “office stationery”, it may attract people looking for office stationery, yes, but not those who are looking for a pink stapler specifically. Therefore, you could lose those target customers to another website that has titled their pink stapler products the correct way.

2          Ensure that images are properly titled

Search engines can also find your website through the images you use; at some point, you may have found your way on to a website through Google Images. To take advantage of this, you should title your images correctly. For example, if you are uploading an image of a blue glass you want to sell, instead of uploading the image as “IMG_01.jpg”, you should rename it “blue-glass.jpg” and then upload it.

3          Quality not quantity

Even though SEO is mainly based on keywords, the written content of your website still needs to be of a good quality.

Frequently using your product’s keyword in your written content can boost your website’s SEO, but overstuffing your content with keywords definitely won’t do you any favours. Some people think that to boost their SEO they need to cram in as many keywords as possible, but this isn’t the case; your written content still needs to flow and be legible, otherwise people are simply going to click off your website.

4          Make navigation easier

The easier it is to navigate around your website the better, and adding links to past posts that have a similar product/topic is a great way to boost traffic to your website.

If you are selling a pair of shoes on your website, including links to other shoes you are selling on that product page will draw customers in and allow them to see what else you sell.

You want people to be able to navigate your website with ease as it will also make it easier for search engines to do so. Another thing you can do is remove any broken links or images as this will clean up your website and make it appear less cluttered.

5          Networking

Getting your website out there and networking with other business owners is a great way to boost your website’s SEO. Websites with high search engine rankings that link back to your site will give your site greater visibility to both search engines and other people. Therefore, being active on social media, sharing your links, and engaging with other people is a great way to get you and your website noticed.

Applying these basic tips to your website is a great way to make a positive difference to your website’s SEO. Actively practice these tips on your website and you will be well on your way to boosting its rank on search engines!

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This article was written by Holly Brown and was originally published on Lincolnshire Business on 4th August 2017. Holly is a recent graduate of the University of Lincoln with a degree in English literature. Since finishing her course she has been building up experience in SEO, content creation and copywriting working for digital marketing agencies such as Shooting Star.