A simple Guide to SEO

Did you know there are 5.9 million Google searches made per minute? That means there are approximately 8.5 billion searches being made every single day.

No matter your business, people are searching for your area of work online.

Building a great website is just the beginning of having a successful online presence. Even when your website looks fantastic, the next step is ensuring it reaches your target audience and turns visitors into loyal customers.

This goal can be achieved through search engine optimisation (SEO). Every search engine aims to provide the best, most relevant search results for users. Having an effective and user-friendly SEO strategy helps your website appear at the top of search engine results when people search for products or services like yours on Google, Yahoo or Bing.

If your website doesn’t show up in the first page of search results for terms related to your business, you’re missing out.

what is SEO?

Organic search engine results

Website search engine optimisation is all about enhancing your websites content and usability to achieve higher rankings on search engine result pages (SERPs) when someone searches for something relevant to your business.

For example, if you own a Backpacker in Queenstown, you might want your website to come up when someone searches for 

  • “Queenstown backpackers”
  • “group accommodation in Queenstown”
  • “cheap places to stay in Queenstown”

Here is a task for you: Take a minute to write down a few really important words that describe your business and services or products you offer.

If you sell clothing, you might write down words like:

  • clothing
  • clothes
  • sales
  • adults
  • children’s
  • dresses etc.

Now group them into a few key word phrases such as:

  • clothing store
  • children’s clothing
  • clothing sale

 

Next, search these phrases on www.google.co.nz – can you find your website? If not, you are losing potential customers.

how can you improve your SEO?

Organic SEO takes time and consistent effort. Common areas of SEO include:

  • Keyword Research: Find out what people are searching for. Understanding the search terms your potential customers use helps you create relevant content.
  • Content Creation: Curate content that is user-friendly, engaging and valuable. High-quality content attracts and retains visitors, encouraging them to explore your site further. 
  • On-Page SEO: Make your content as clear as possible. This includes optimising title tags, meta descriptions, headers and ensuring your content is well structured.
  • Link Building: Build trust and authority from other websites. Getting well known websites to link back to your content improves your sites creditably.
  • Technical SEO: Help search engines crawl your page easily. This involves optimising your site’s backend, improving loading speeds, and mobile friendliness.

 

By focusing on these 5 key areas, you can create a strategy driven SEO plan that helps your website rank higher in search results.

what is search engine marketing?

Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is when businesses use online advertisements to boost their website’s visibility in search results. The most common form of this is Google Ads – a cost per click form of advertising.

Well optimised and managed Google Ad campaigns can place your business in the top position of results for key search terms, providing maximum visibility and significantly increasing your business opportunities.

The best thing about a well managed SEM campaign is that your ads are only shown to those people who are directly interested in your product. Unlike TV or Radio advertising which is shown to a much wider group of people, who may or may not be interested in your product.

Another great thing about SEM is that you can set your own budget, whether that is $10 per day or $100. Your ads will run until your budget is reached, ensuring cost-effective advertising.

summary

The Innovate Digital marketing team in Christchurch

Boosting organic growth with user-focused and strategy driven SEO will help your business achieve long-term success in an ever-changing digital landscape. 

Remember, SEO is an ongoing process that requires regular attention and adjustments to continue improving your online presence and that’s why our team is here to help! We’ll navigate the SEO journey for you to make sure your business stands out in search results.