For those who don’t know much about how search engines work, we understand how difficult it can be to see your site isn’t showing up until page 35 of the results.
But, it is important to understand that boosting your website’s position doesn’t happen overnight:
It’s a process that needs attention over time, and you need to be in it for the long game.
But first, what actually is SEO?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving your website’s ‘position’ in search engine results.
When you search for a specific topic or keyword on any search engine, such as Google or Bing, there are algorithms used to determine the most trustworthy and relevant sites to display in the results.
The goal is to make your website more appealing and understandable to search engines: meaning you rank higher and increase your site’s organic (non-paid) traffic.
How to be more SEO-Friendly
So now you know what SEO is, in its simplest form, you can figure out what you need to do to your website for it to rank highly.
And to make sure you’re not kept in the dark, here’s how you can make a start.
1. Keyword Research
Before getting started on creating a new page or post, do some research on what terms and phrases your target audience is searching for.
Using tools like SEMrush can help you discover relevant keywords with decent search volumes and low competition.
Focus on long-tail keywords (made up of 3-5 words), that are specific to your content.
2. Content Structure
Create high-quality and engaging content that lines up with the researched keywords.
Use headings (h1, h2, h3, etc) to structure your content and make it easier for search engines to understand.
Ensure that your main keywords appear in the title, any headings, and the body text of your content naturally.
Don’t force keywords where they clearly don’t fit.
3. URL Optimisation
When creating a page on your site, customise the permalink structure to reflect your target keyword.
Short, descriptive URLs that include the primary keyword tend to perform better in search engine rankings.
For example: Instead of,
“yourwebsite.co.uk/page111” use “yourwebsite.co.uk/target-keyword”
4. Meta Tags
Make sure to optimise your page’s meta tags, including the meta title and meta description.
These tags provide a concise summary of the page content and appear in the search results.
Include your primary keyword in the meta title and description, making them compelling and relevant to draw in clicks.
5. Image Optimisation
Images can be great for the visual appeal of a page, but they also need to be optimised for SEO.
Before uploading images, rename them using file names that incorporate relevant keywords.
Also, compress the images to reduce file size and use alt tags to provide search engines with context about the image content.
6. Internal and External Linking
Linking is essential in SEO and there are two significant types.
Internal: linking to other relevant pages or blog posts within your website, improving user navigation and search engine crawlability (navigation of the content).
External: these can be used to provide supporting information from authoritative sources, establishing credibility and relevance to search engines.
7. Mobile-Friendly Design
Phones are, for most people, the main piece of tech used for browsing websites. So make sure your site is mobile-friendly.
Choose a responsive theme or plugins that adapts your page’s layout to different screen sizes.
A mobile-friendly website improves UX (user experience) and can positively impact search engine rankings.
So, that’s it?
It may not look like much when it’s put in a list but creating an SEO-friendly site doesn’t need to be super complicated.
By using this as a guideline, you can lay a really strong foundation for your website’s SEO.
Even the things that seem small can have a huge impact on how your site ranks.
And if you’re still not convinced, why not read up on site maintenance to help you deepen your understanding?
Or even better, you could get in touch with us here at Toast, and we’ll do all the hard-work for you, so you can focus on producing the best content with no distractions.
