If like me, you developed a warped view of search engine optimisation based on online articles and messing around with a CMS, OR, if you have no idea what the letters S, E, and O mean or why they occur in this particular order, here is a back to basics guide to all (or most) things SEO.

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning…SEM

No, it’s nothing kinky. Search engine marketing, or SEM, promotes your business and website through Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines, by delivering your most relevant content to searchers and encouraging them to click through to your website. Depending on the search engine and the nature of your website,  there are various factors that affect how likely you are to appear in the top positions.

Search engines are specialised websites that use automatic tools to index web pages of registered sites – a little like a library organises books. Users can search the index by typing words related to their specific interest. Pages containing these keywords will be listed, and by clicking on the hyperlink the user will be taken to the site.

The two key techniques in SEM are:

• Search engine optimisation (SEO) – improves results from the natural (unpaid) search engine listings.
• Paid search marketing – delivers results from the sponsored listings within the search engines through pay-per-click (PPC) adverts, usually at the top of the page. Don’t worry about this, we don’t deal with it here!

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Explained

SEO is different from other marketing tactics and is a process that requires time, effort and patience. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. Many elements of SEO require technical knowledge and expertise, so if you’re not sure, you may find the support of an SEO specialist beneficial. You should approach SEO as a long-term strategy that builds long-term value.

SEO for established businesses

For some businesses, concentrating on SEO simply isn’t considered a priority. And that’s fine. You may receive a lot of client referrals, make great connections through networking or have an amazing social media following. However, it is still worthwhile investing a little time and effort into optimising your web presence.

It is also very important for businesses in competitive online environments. In our agency, we are constantly battling for the number one spot for key terms and pay close and regular attention to making our website as savvy as possible. There are even some schools of thought that believe if your website isn’t in the top three on Google, you might as well not exist! It’s certainly food for thought if you haven’t looked at your website in a while.

SEO for start-ups

Your digital strategy may need supplementing with tactics such as PPC advertising or social media advertising, particularly in the first few months after launching your website. Without intervention, it can take weeks or even months for your site to gain traction and work its way up the ranks in Google, so be prepared to invest in other marketing methods to achieve the results you want.

SEO for non-profits

If you are a charity, social enterprise or similar, you may be well known locally, regionally or nationally. Or you may be the only organisation offering your products or services. However, SEO can still be important, particularly if you are looking to raise funds. There can be a lot of traction in focusing SEO efforts on targeting people looking for events (family days out or corporate team-building opportunities), volunteer opportunities and, perhaps more importantly, support related to particular circumstances or conditions, such as “accommodation for homeless families”, “mental health crisis support” or “cancer FAQs”. Having worked in non-profits, it can also be difficult to understand why more people haven’t heard of you – so never assume that you’ve reached everyone you possibly can.

The basics of successful optimisation

Keyword Research

A keyword (or key phrase) is the term people use when they search for something using a search engine. Your first step to SEO is finding the keywords relevant to your organisation.

• Brainstorm potential keywords, such as what you do, the products or services you offer, and the locations in which you offer them.
• Use a keyword research tool to identify new keywords. Free tools such as ubersuggest and keywordtool.io are available.
• Search for your keywords – when you do, you will often see suggestions in the search bar as you type and there will also be a list of suggested keywords at the bottom of the page. Add any relevant variations to your list (and search them again!)
• Try to allocate one primary keyword to each page and then throw around a few alternative terms in your page content to keep it user and search engine friendly. (Too many keywords in your body copy – or keyword stuffing – can flag your site as suspicious and result in penalties)
• Take a look at what keywords your competitors are using. SEOQuake is a great tool for this.

On-site SEO

On-site SEO is an element you have complete control over. Although, you are still competing against every other website online. Top tips are to:

• Remove anything that may affect the loading speed of your website.
• Ensure images are resized to less than 1MB and that videos are embedded using YouTube, Vimeo or something similar (unless you’re running a video-content site, in which case you’ll need your own dedicated system or server).
• Ensure your site is easy to navigate. If it is difficult for visitors to find what they are looking for, it will also be difficult for search engines to index.

Next, you’ll want to get intimate with your metadata. Metadata is simply the bits of your site that you don’t see but are really important for search engines. If you’re comfortable with your website’s content management system (CMS), you might want to consider doing the following:

• Keep URLs concise while at the same time offering useful information about the page (e.g. marketingmelon.com/easy-SEO)
• Ideally, you should use a key phrase in the URL and match it to your primary keyword.
• Include a page title (title tag) and description (meta description). These are the words that appear in your search engine listing and should be aligned with your keyword. Your meta description should also be engaging for users so that they want to click through to your site.
• Images and other media should have ALT tags to describe what the image shows. This is not only helpful for users with screen reading software, but it also assists search engines in listing your page.

Off-site SEO

• Make sure that your details (or NAP – name, address, phone number) are EXACTLY the same across channels. If they aren’t, update them now.
• Set up a Google My Business account (and link with Bing Places, if you have time). This is a particularly underused service but can really help with demonstrating authority and relevance – it is a Google product, after all!
• Build “trust” for your site by acquiring links to your content from other relevant sites such as business directories, industry bodies and partner sites. The more relevant the site, the more credit Google will give to the link. If you have lots of spurious links referencing your site, you may be penalised, as they will be treated as spam.

Final thoughts

The most important thing to remember when reviewing your SEO is not to attempt ANYTHING unless you are confident you know what you’re doing. SEO mistakes can take many weeks or months to rectify, and they’re easily made. So tread carefully, and if in doubt – leave it well alone!

Bedtime Reading

• Coombe, W. (2017 – updated for 2020). 3 Months to No.1: The “No-Nonsense” SEO Playbook for Getting Your Website Found on Google
• Neil Patel – https://neilpatel.com/blog/
• Google Webmaster Central Blog – official news on crawling and indexing sites for the Google index – https://webmasters.googleblog.com/