How SEO Works For Websites

The topic of SEO can get quite in-depth, but let’s explore SEO in brief, cover how it works for websites, and introduce steps you can take to improve your site’s SEO on your own.

What is SEO?

SEO, short for Search Engine Optimisation, is the process involved in attracting organic or natural traffic to a given website through search engines. SEO seeks to improve a website’s visibility by allowing it to climb the search engine results pages. When a website reaches the first page (better yet, the first couple of results), the website becomes far more likely to receive traffic from individuals searching for a specific term.

In addition to general SEO, local SEO is another element of this practice that targets locals who are searching for specific information. Usually, local SEO utilises area-related keywords, such as, “fresh produce in Manchester”. This way, it pulls Manchester-area residents and visitors toward a grocery store that has mastered those keywords.

The Significance of SEO

SEO is a crucial part of digital marketing, as a good SEO strategy is what makes Google recommend one website over another. Getting decent traffic, especially compared to a site’s competitors, is important for obvious reasons. If a website doesn’t attract visitors and is hardly visible when terms within its industry are searched, it fails to gain new customers or make sales.

On the other hand, an excellent SEO strategy promotes one website over many others and makes it much easier for potential customers to find. People are unlikely to scroll through pages upon pages of search engine results, so getting one of those front-page spaces is critical when it comes to gaining visibility and growing one’s business.

Elements of an SEO Strategy

Before covering the way SEO works, it’ll be helpful to learn about the various elements involved in an SEO strategy. By covering each of the main components of organic SEO, it will be much easier to understand how these elements work together. Key areas to focus on include keywords, content, on-page/off-page optimisation, and competitor analysis.

• Keywords: Keywords are perhaps the most well-known element of SEO. Almost everyone knows what a keyword is, but plenty of people aren’t aware of how keywords are used. Keywords are words or word phrases that people key into Google during a search query. Using common keywords throughout a website’s content can help increase a website’s visibility when Google combs through content to populate.
• Content: Content refers to the information that’s listed on a website. This can be landing pages, sales pages, blogs, and other written resources. Well-written, organised content that properly utilises popular keywords can make a website stand out among others.
• On/Off-Page optimisation: On-page optimisation includes SEO practises a website’s owner (or marketing team) can use to improve the site’s functionality and user experience. Off-page optimisation is the way SEO can be used to promote a website or specific brand across the internet.
• Competitor Analysis: Competitor analysis refers to the improvement methods that can be used to rise above competitors in the industry. By reviewing a competitor’s strategy, a specific company’s owner can use the strengths and weaknesses of a competitor’s performance to their advantage.

Benefits of a Good SEO Strategy

Not only does a good SEO strategy help attract visitors to a company’s website, but it provides an array of additional benefits that business owners and marketers value.

SEO doesn’t cost a lot of money to work with, especially when a company uses low-competition keywords. As such, it delivers great returns on any investment made.

SEO allows business owners to collect and analyse data as well. This way, they can discover their own strengths and weaknesses, and develop ways to make smart changes.

Finally, SEO attracts relevant traffic to a specific website, nurtures new leads through the company’s marketing funnel, and fosters a sense of credibility and authority for the brand.

How SEO Works

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of SEO elements, let’s cover how it works as simply as possible.

SEO is a process that search engines use to discover and promote high-quality, relevant content based on the keywords typed into the search bar. To do this, the search engine will explore and analyse millions of web pages, then promote the sites that meet or exceed the qualifications that the search engine deems important. These qualifications include the page’s loading speed, keyword usage, content quality and length, content relevance, internal linking, backlinking, mobile-friendliness, and content organisation.

Search engine optimisation is quite sophisticated, so it’s difficult to “trick” the algorithm into promoting low-quality content. This means that good SEO strategies include far more work and planning than simply loading pages with popular keywords.

Example Site A:

Let’s say that the owners of this site are contracting professionals located in Bristol. Their website contains various internal links to different pages within the site. They create 2,000-word pieces of content twice a week, and they use popular keywords throughout the site’s pages.

Example Site B:

This website is also a contracting company in Bristol. This website contains both backlinks and internal links. It uses relevant and local-SEO keywords throughout the site, and it’s optimised for mobile users. The owners post an 800-word blog post each week, and the posts also utilise relevant keywords.

At a glance, both sites look like they’re doing well, but Site B receives a higher search engine ranking. This might be because Site A, though they produce longer content more often, doesn’t produce “relevant” content. Site A’s posts might be long, but they also might be rambling and low-quality. They might stuff keywords into the content hoping to convince the algorithm to promote their content.

Site B is doing well because they’ve optimised their pages for mobile visitors, they have a well-organised site, and their links are relevant. The site’s content is shorter, but it’s better written and conveys a clear message. The keywords are used naturally, and the site has made use of local-SEO keywords.

Getting Started with SEO

There’s a great deal of competition in almost any market, so optimising your website in ways that outshine your competitors is easier said than done. If you’re relatively new to SEO, though, there are several elements you can explore on your own. Try experimenting with your content and using different SEO tools to monitor your work. Doing so will help you keep track of which elements generate more traffic and which elements need more adjustment.

For SEO beginners, work on enhancing the following metrics within your experimental SEO strategy:

• Keyword Usage
  Research the keywords related to your company and find common but low-competition keywords to use naturally in your content. Don’t forget to include keywords in your titles, meta descriptions, tags, headings, and more.
• Content Length/Quality
  Create content for your website (landing pages, resource areas, FAQs, etc.) and have a clear goal in mind as you create. Include your keywords, proofread, edit, and enhance the information you include. Your content doesn’t have to be thousands of words in length, but it should be high-quality no matter the length.
• Site organisation
  Try to design a neat, sleek website that has all of your pages and resources organised so that they’re easy for a visitor to find.
• Loading Speed
  Work on improving your site’s loading speed. There are several methods you can follow, but in general, you’ll want to make sure that your website loads in less than five seconds.
• Mobile-optimisation
  Mobile users make up a good deal of search engine queries, so if you want to keep these users on your website, take steps to optimise your content so that it’s convenient for mobile users to view.
• Schedule
  When you create content, try doing so on a consistent schedule. You don’t have to post at the exact same time every week, but do your best to post high-quality content on a regular basis.
• Internal Links
  Include links in your content that will lead visitors to other, relevant pages on your website. For example, if you’re posting food blogs and you reference a recipe you wrote in the past in a current piece of content, link to it.
• Contact Information
  Keep your contact information current and make sure it’s easy to find on your pages. It’s a good idea to include it in either the header or footer of your site pages. Additionally, making sure your contact information is consistent across social media accounts and Google Business pages is a plus.

If you’ve experimented with the SEO elements of your site and you still find yourself overwhelmed, you’re not alone. Fortunately, WTBI is here to help. To connect with SEO experts who specialise in creating professional strategies, contact us anytime!