If you're learning about website design and maintenance, you've probably come across the term 'SEO', i.e. Search Engline Optimisation. This refers to the techniques one can employ to get their website to appear as high as possible in google search results. You probably already know that the higher your website appears in these results, the better, as very few people nowadays scroll down or click onto additional search result pages.

This means that ranking high means more website visitors, more leads and more customers, so you should give SEO a great deal of importance when adding or modifying your website and its content. This quick guide will get you started with the basics of SEO, so that you can boost your online presence and get the results you're aiming for.

Step 1: Keyword Research

When Google decides which websites appear in which order, one of the most important things it considers is relevance. If your website is dedicated to selling furniture, for example, but most of your website's text is dedicated to retelling the history of the company, then you may not be seeing ideal SEO rankings. This is because when customers are searching for furniture to buy, Google does not find much relevant text on your site that suggests your website might be what the customer is searching for.

This means that you need to research which keywords your ideal customers are typing into the search bar and organically use them in your website's content. These keywords can therefore include the specifics of products you sell and where your store is located. There would be very little benefit to your website ranking highly in other countries, for example, if you can only ship your products within your country.

Step 2: Competitor Analysis

A good indicator to how highly your website can rank and what keywords to aim for is by looking at what your competitors are doing. Competing websites are those that would attract similar customers to your website. These competitors will rank higher than you if their SEO is better, resulting in them gaining customers' attention quicker and most likely losing you website traffic.

This is why researching keywords that your competitors are ranking highly for can be a good resource to build your SEO targets.

Step 3: Reporting and Analytics

SEO is not a simple process that ends once you reach the top of the search rankings. Customer needs and trends may change over time, so good SEO requires monitoring your rankings over time and identifying where you are succeeding and where you can improve. New opportunities may arise depending on current events or new customer needs, so you always need to be ready to take advantage of the changes to keep your website relevant.

Concluding

You should now know a basic overview of SEO and where you need to start to optimize your website. If you want to know more about types of SEO, you can read more of our blogs below. If you'd prefer to get an expert opinion who can handle SEO for your website, you can take a look at our professional SEO plans here or get in touch with us.