Search engine optimization (SEO) is something you’ve likely heard about before, but it’s like a different language to you. Essentially…

Search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct traffic or paid traffic. Source, Wikipedia.

There’s a lot to SEO other than keywords. however. And while this article isn’t comprehensive, it will give a broad overview and simplify search engine optimization, the different types, what it does, and how to use it. Let’s start with…

On Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

On-page SEO is any SEO that you do directly on each page of your website, and it starts with content. But also includes architecture, and the actual code within your website.

Anything you put on your website that disseminates information to your audience is content. Posts, articles, memes, images, and videos – all of it is content and its good practice to use different types for maximum SEO value.

Quality vs. Quantity – While it’s true that you should post a variety of content often for audience consumption, it’s equally important for the content to be of high quality. Hence, it’s not enough to post content that compromises the quality of the information.

Keyword Research – many people avoid doing keyword research, but if you do, you won’t create content that doesn’t get results. Rather, you will create awesome content that not only get results but save you time.

Use Words Strategically – Power words make your audience feel a certain way and encourages them to take some form of action. Words such as, ‘devastating blow’ or ‘majestic views’, for instance, gets their attention and stir their emotions.

Focus On Hot Topics And Keep Content Fresh And Updated – Focus on hot topics and trends. Keep the content updated and fresh by using headlines of the day to evoke curiosity. No, not clickbait.

Horizontal And Vertical – Use a combination of both types of content. Horizontal content on your website is filled with content on all pages, i.e., your about us page, or home page and is consistent throughout. Vertical content, on the other hand, is about a specific topic and goes across all channels that serves to improve your website.

Provide Solutions – Your content should provide solutions for your audience. While you want to lead people to a paid product or service that offer a solution, mix your content with tips that will also solve a problem without them having to buy.

Authoritative – In-depth content such as long blog posts, white papers, and articles, as well as guides help search engines know that your site produces information of substance that helps your audience and deem it an authoritative site.

When it comes to content and SEO, they’re many options to improve your content. Some include, using good SEO practices such as, keywords within the first paragraph, the title, subheadings and headings and anchor text, or link text.

Architecture

An important ‘on page’ SEO that is a must for reader engagement, is the architecture of your website. For example, if your page doesn’t load fast, people will lose patience and leave, even if your headline enticed them to click. To avoid this, ensure all of the following is optimized.

Site Maps – Search engines crawl or ‘see’ your pages in order to index them. If the search engines are unable to, your information won’t be listed on search pages. For that reason, create a site map so they can easily crawl and index your website.

Don’t Plagiarize – Check all content you put on your website with tools, such as, Copyscape, Grammarly, or another plagiarism checker. Even if you didn’t purposely plagiarize, ensure everything is unique.

Responsiveness – If your site is not mobile friendly, Google will discontinue listing it. Most people use mobile devices to interact on the internet in our current times.

Load Speeds – Having a website that loads slow is bad for you, bad for users and bad for SEO. Click here to test your website speed. You want it to be less than 10 seconds, if not about 3 seconds. How fast your website loads is very important. If it takes longer than a few seconds to load, not only will you miss out on traffic but on search engine indexing too.

Use Meaningful Page URLs – This goes back to using keywords in titles. Your URL should clearly state what content is on each page. For instance, rather than, page 1 or page 2, name it: ‘About your business’ or ‘Take a course’. People and search engines will know what is exactly on the page.

Security – If you sell anything on your website, having secure HTTPS with an SSL certificate is important, not only for people to feel safe disclosing their personal information, but Google ranks secure sites higher than those that do not. If you don’t yet have this in place, get help from your webhost or webmaster.

How your site is arranged and whether or not your audience can find what they want on your page is imperative for good SEO.

Hypertext Markup Language( HTML)

The other aspect of your ‘on page’ SEO that’s required for it to function properly is HTML code. If you use a good builder such as the self-hosted platform, WordPress.org, this will be taken care of for the most part. However, ensure the following are in place.

Titles with Keywords – Titles for every page and blog post should include a keyword. State what’s on that page, and what’s in a blog post. This will help the page to rank higher, as the content on it is clear.

Meta Descriptions – Behind the scenes of your website are nifty meta codes that tell search engines what’s inside. Use a plugin such as Yoast SEO for WordPress to help you set this up. It’s a simple process, so don’t skip, it’s critical for your site’s success. https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/

Well Structured Navigation – At a glance, your audience should be able to know they’re on your home page or landing page, for example, and navigate your site with ease. Create a ‘start here’ page so people know what to do and how to get around if you have a large site.

Headers – Headlines, subheads, and proper H1/H2 tags are important to use not only for your audience, but because it’s easier to read chunky content without getting cockeyed. Further, these are clues to the search engines to send the right audience to your site.

If you hire a web designer, ensure s/he implement these, so your website performs optimally.

Off Page Search Engine Optimization

The next type of SEO is off-page search engine optimization. This is everything you do off your website to bring people to your website. Let’s look at a few ways you can do this.

Trusting Your Authority – Trust is important to your business success. If your audience do not, you’ll lose sales and any authority standing. But, if you do what you say you will do, you’ll build trust.

Shares/links Authority – When you share anything, ensure the information is correct. If it’s not from you, check that it’s from a reliable source. One thing that search engines use to rank a website is the age of the domain. They assume if it’s been around for a long time it must be trustworthy and relevant. The sky won’t fall if you make the odd human error, but if it’s consistent, you’ll lose authority in the space you invested time and money to build.

Audience Engagement – Engagement helps to build trust. Answer comments and questions. Share things from your audience. Interact.

Advertisements – Depending on the type of site you have, pay attention to how your audience views ads. Many people won’t revisit sites that have loads of ads, because they tend to make computers slow or crash, or they have to jump through hoops to find what they want. What does your audience want?

Build trust by sharing authoritative and accurate content. Just be sure to double check facts, be prepared to answer questions if any arises, so that you’re confident to stand behind the information you share.

Traffic And Link Building

One way to build up traffic to your website is through link building. That means links to your website from another site. For example, if you use LinkedIn, chances are your profile is linked to your website. There are some important factors to consider before getting started with link building, however.

legitimate site links – Ensure that every one that is linking to you is from a legitimate site. To check, go here to get an inside view.

High quality links – If the links are high quality, that’s great. The best links come from legitimate websites, especially educational or news related sites. But some other websites that have been around for a long time and have a huge audience do share valid and authentic information, too.

Links and anchor text – keywords – When someone links to you, let’s say, via a guest post, or any other means, really, Check that the link and anchor text is a good keyword that will get clicks.

More links and clicks – To get more links and clicks connect with authoritative websites or blogs within your niche and request to guest post on them. If your idea is unique and useful to their audience, you’ll likely get a positive response.

Getting links back to your website should be a natural result of the work you do on social media, guest posting, conducting webinars, interviews and more. By the way, never pay for a link and avoid link farms and spam.

Social Media And Its Benefits

Using social mediums is one of the most effective off page SEO tactics. They can do wonders for your website traffic. But it requires know how, a good plan of action and consistency. If you simply post willy-nilly, well, you’ll get willy-nilly results.

So, encourage people to share your content and reciprocate. They’re many creative ways you can grow your presence on social media. For instance:

Grow Your Followers – Run a contest, a give a way, or other event to build your platform.

Ask People to Share – When you share anything on social media, the goal is for it to lead back to you. Thus, give a call to action and ask people to share. If you don’t, they won’t do it.

Optimize Content – People will click on your content, often by chance and so ensure page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, etc., are optimized.

Follow Influencers – Identify those influencers you’d like to mention you and find a way to stand out. Reference their names in posts and call them out so they notice you. You may need to follow them before they follow you. But don’t be a pest.

Have a Solid Brand – Avoid going off brand. It’s easy to get mixed up with your personal and business accounts, keep them separate to avoid confusion.

Geography – Don’t forget the geography factor. List your country and your individual locality by using those terms on your website. Place your address at the bottom of every page, mention things about your area within your blog posts, and make it a priority to mention your local area or your country if you want to be indexed accordingly.

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Summary

Social media provides amazing opportunities for big and small business, brick, and mortar or online. People have become millionaires (and are becoming), by using Instagram, for example, creatively and strategically. Use social media to push people toward your website and you can’t go wrong.

Search engine optimization can mean the difference between success and failure. If you really want to get a lot of targeted traffic to your website, review your on and off page search engine optimization. It’s not difficult. Time consuming? Of course. But by making small improvements, you’ll see a huge difference in your traffic.

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© Cherry-Ann Carew

Cherry-Ann Carew is an Online Business Coach, who supports emerging business owners simplify their start-up journey and helps existing businesses scale, so that they can earn uncapped income and live life on their terms.

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