Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is the process of optimising your website so that it ranks higher in search engines like Google and Bing. While there are some complex aspects to SEO, there are many essential elements you can use to boost your Google rankings.
Here are 5 critical SEO elements (together with 7 awesome free tools) that all website owners can put into action to improve their search engine optimisation and rank more highly on Google.
Add Page Titles & Meta Descriptions
To write great page titles and meta descriptions, first, you need to brainstorm the keywords your prospective customers use when looking for your products and services.
Once that’s done, the next step is to write and add descriptive page titles and meta descriptions to your website using a free SEO plugin like Yoast. Make sure you include your keywords and weave them into your marketing messages to improve your organic traffic and rankings.
Mobile Responsive Design
Mobile has overtaken desktop and represents more than 50% of all web traffic. Depending on your industry sector, the percentage of customers visiting your website using mobile devices could be as high as 70-80%.
Many businesses don’t realise the importance of a mobile-friendly site, but when you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, it hurts both your SEO and your audience’s perception of your business.
Quality Content Rich With Keywords
High-quality content, rich with keywords, is critical for SEO. What do your customers search for on Google when they’re looking for your services? For most businesses, it’s a combination of what you do and where you do it, e.g. “SEO company Brisbane” or “electrician in West End”.
Step 1: The first step is to identify the keywords prospective customers use when looking for your products and services. As a starting point, come up with a list of 20 keywords and add them to a word document so you can refer to them when writing your content.
Step 2: Once you have your keyword list, then you’ll want to optimise your page content by weaving your keywords throughout the page in a natural way. You can add your keywords to your headings, text and in the names of images.
Google has rolled out an update called the Helpful Content Update to prioritise content that connects people to helpful information and ensures people see more original, useful content written by people (not AI), for people, in the search results.
Add Internal Links
An internal link is a clickable word or phrase (also known as anchor text) on your website page that directs visitors to another page on your site. It is a crucial on-page SEO factor as it provides visitors with easy navigation and encourages them to explore further into your website. Internal links also help Google understand the structure of your website.
If you can imagine, these interlinked pages create a spider web for Google, making it a lot easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages.
Add H1 Title Tags
H1 headline title tags are an important part of SEO that helps Google understand the page contents and draw the reader in. Having great H1 tags, especially when you match them to your page titles, will make a real difference to your site’s SEO performance.
The H1 tag is usually the largest and most important heading on a web page. Your H1 should describe the topic of your page or simply reflect the name of the page itself. Search engines give this tag more weight over other headings, so it can improve your search engine ranking when you use it correctly and in conjunction with other SEO techniques.
Ready to gain more exposure?
One thing to keep in mind with SEO is that getting the basics done well can result in significant gains. You can often get 90% of the benefits with only 10% of the effort. By following these five tips, you’ll be able to rank for more keywords, boost your rankings for those keywords, and gain more exposure and traffic on Google — a win-win situation.
If you’re looking for a friendly, local team to help with your SEO, Google Ads and Facebook Advertising, or perhaps a new custom-designed website, feel free to give us a call. We’re based in the beautiful bayside suburb of Cleveland, just 30 minutes from Brisbane. We love working with local businesses and supporting the community. We service clients throughout Brisbane, the Redlands, South East Queensland, and right across Australia.
We’ve already driven amazing results for many of our clients – and you could be next! Call our team of friendly in-house SEO growth experts for a chat on 1300 924 356 or complete the form below.
