A (very) simple guide to SEO

By Helen Beckingham, SEO Copywriter www.keywordcopywriting.co.uk

This article is about SEO, or search engine optimisation. No, don’t make that face. It’s a simple guide with no technical gibberish, just straightforward information.

OK, let’s dive straight in with keywords. When potential customers search online for your services, which words do they use?

The easiest way to find out is to ask your existing customers. Seriously, it works. And it’s free. What’s more, they’ll probably surprise you with the answers.

• You think: Business solutions facilitator

• Your customers think: Coach for small business

Or you can download a keyword research tool. The most basic (and cheapest) is Keywords Everywhere at $10 per year.

Top tip: Google likes larger websites with 300-400 words per page. Don’t squeeze everything onto a few pages. Cast your keyword net wider by giving each service a separate page with its own keyword term.

Where to put keywords

The correct placement of keywords tells Google’s robots what your website is `about’, thus making it easier to rank. What do they look at, and in what order?

First, your domain name. If it contains a keyword, that’s ideal but… (big `but’) if your domain name has history, leave it be. Google rewards domain longevity.

After that, your SEO title – the clickable 60-character headline on a results page. Write unique SEO titles for each page and put the keyword term at the beginning.

Don’t forget the meta-description – the paragraph under the SEO title.

It’s irrelevant to the robots, but humans always read it. If you don’t write one, Google picks content from the page and you’ll get… random words… and ellipses.

The robots then read the website itself – your page names, main headings (H1), subheadings and page content.

Top tip:
Google is aware that online readers have the attention span of a gnat. Put your keyword in the main heading and within the first 100 words – preferably the first sentence – as instant confirmation that the page delivers on the reader’s search term. After that, sprinkle the keyword (and its synonyms) sparingly throughout the page. 

Backlinks

When other websites link to yours, it sends a trust signal to Google and your ranking improves. Ideally, you want backlinks from high authority websites linked to your own industry. How do you get these gold standard links?

Offer a testimonial for a company you’ve worked with. Bingo! An instant backlink.

Or write a guest blog. Do a Google search for a related service and pick companies which appear on page 1. If they have good quality blog content plus an active social media presence, they are ideal.

First, earn brownie points by posting appreciative blog comments and sharing their content. When emailing them, include links to your best content, i.e., the posts that have attracted lots of attention.

In conclusion…

SEO isn’t’ rocket science, but there’s lots of detail. At the last count, Google had over 200 ranking signals so I’ve had to leave stuff out. Obviously.

For more advice (or to get your on-page SEO sorted out) send me an email.  

helen@keywordcopywriting.co.uk