Optimisation is the process of designing, building and updating your website to improve its ranking in search engine results and to attract people searching for information, products and services.
Listing on page one is a tough cookie to crack, let alone getting to the top of the first page. However, it’s really worth the hard work as according to a study by Chitika being in the top spot often leads to you getting 33% of the traffic. Basically, the traffic to your website is bound to increase when you are listed in the top spots of organic search results.
Your organic search rankings are something that needs to be worked upon on a continual basis. You really do need to have a well thought out and strong SEO strategy to give your website a fighting chance to attain the first page listings.
Here are a couple of things you should be doing to kick start your website optimisation.
Identify your target keywords
Keywords are a great place to start the optimisation process. You need to put yourself in the minds of the consumer and think of the types of phrases and keywords that they will be inputting into the Google search. For example, an independent local estate agent, let’s say based in Cardiff, will want to ensure that the keywords “estate agent Cardiff” is included as one of their keywords. The phrase “estate agent” on its own will have too much competition and the chances of listing on page 1 of search results will be pretty small. However, including the location and ensuring that your keyword is relevant to your service, can massively increase your chances of getting targeted traffic as there will be less competition.
You should carry out your research into which keywords your business should focus on. The Keyword Planner in AdWords is a tool that gives a great indication as to how many people are searching for specific search terms on a monthly basis. Top Tip – you want to select keywords that have a decent search volume, you don’t want to be targeting keywords that no one is searching for.
Page Content
Now that you have your list of keywords you want to target, it’s important that these keywords are infiltrated throughout the content on your website. Your content needs to flow well and be easily read; you can’t just list your keywords one after another as Google won’t look on this very favourably. Instead, a good pointer is to include your keyword towards the beginning of your content, so that your user gets a clear understanding of what the page content is about. You want to write your content with your customer in mind.
Meta Descriptions
The meta descriptions indicate to Google and your users what your page content is about. You will see the meta description as a short sentence that appears underneath the list of websites when you carry out a search. Make sure your descriptions include your keywords and are clear and concise, so the user knows exactly what your page content is about. It can be the difference between someone deciding to click on your website and clicking on a competitor’s website.
Website Speed
The speed of your website can dramatically affect your organic listings on Google. If your website is operating at a slow speed, then Google will favour a website that operates at a much quicker speed in comparison to yours. Google want to provide the best service to their users, so a fast website is favourable. There are tools out there like the Google PageSpeed Test that indicate the current speed of your website and what can be done to improve it.
We’ve just given you a quick insight into how you can optimise your website. If you would like to get your website fully optimised for the best chances of attaining those Page 1 listings, talk to our experienced SEO team at Carrick today.