Wondering how the Search Engine ‘front row’ made it into VIP? It’s no secret! The plug you’ve been waiting for is “Search Engine Optimization” or commonly known as SEO.
Search who now? Webopedia defines SEO as a methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the number of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine.
1. Technical Website Structure Setup for SEO
The first step to a successful SEO strategy is a well-designed website with strong content and a good user interface. This process has to start when you are developing your site structure and is one of the most crucial aspects of your website’s SEO performance. The main goal is to create a great user experience; this means that everything on the site is easy to navigate and the menus make logical sense to users.
Some of the most important things we keep in mind when planning your website structure are:
- Keep navigation simple; never over complicate how a user gets from point A to point B.
- The number of options in your menu bar should be minimised; ideally under seven. It’s best to have the main functions of the site on your main menu bar with relevant sub-categories. Anything you are considering putting on the menu bar that isn’t a main function of the site can be placed in the footer. Always think of this from your user’s point of view
- Relevant keywords should be used when naming menu bar options. For example, are users more likely to search for the term “boutique” or “shop”, “electronics” or “tech, etc. Select the terms that will help you get the most traffic to your site, not the one that you simply like better.
- Make sure the verbiage you use in the menu bar is the same for the corresponding URLs.
2. On-Page SEO Content Optimization
On-page consists of all the measures we take on your website to communicate what the website (or the page) is about. This directly impacts what keywords or phrases the site ranks for and its position in search rankings.
The main things we consider here are:
- The use of relevant keywords on each page of your site. We spend time on keyword research before selecting the ones you want to optimize your site for.
- Ensure your site is fully responsive across mobile devices, desktops and tablets.
- Include helpful internal and external links; internal links should enhance user experience and external links should be to useful, authoritative sites only.
- Speed tests will highlight areas of opportunity.
- Optimize all images on the site by uploading correct size images, using alt tags and title tags.
- Updating your site regularly proves a site is not stagnant. A great way to do this is by having a regularly maintained blog.
- The use of a SSL certificate on your site assists in keeping credit card information and login information is secured.
3. Off-Page SEO Optimization
Off-page refers to how authoritative or popular your site is and this is also a major factor in how well your site ranks in search results. We can boost your off-page ranking by getting press from authoritative publications or sites, having great engagement on your social media accounts, and staying relevant by gaining links from bloggers and experts within your industry.
HelloYes Marketing meets your SEO and various digital marketing needs! Visit our website and we’ll say Yes to your Hello!