5 Steps to SEO Success

Search engine optimisation has been around almost as long as the search engines themselves. Yet, it’s amazing how little most business owners know about the processes that are behind an SEO campaign. It’s all ‘black magic’ to most people. Granted, the guidelines have drastically changed over the years, but the core elements have always been the same. Below is a basic 5 step SEO process that you can implement for your own business, or at the very least, gain an insight in to how SEO works and the processes behind it.

1 - Do Your Homework

And by this I mean research. This is probably the most important step. Use Googles key phrase planner to find the phrases people are searching for and in what quantity. This then enables you to plan your website and SEO campaign around the search terms that people are actually using. You can find Googles Key Phrase Planner here, and remember, there’s no point optimising a website for a phrase that nobody searches for!

2 - Be a leader in your field

Aim to have the very best information on your website. If you can answer user’s questions better than anyone else, you’re placing your website in an incredibly strong position opposite search engines. Think of it this way, the function of a search engine is to provide its users with the best possible answers to their search queries. If search engines value your content more than your competition, because you provide the best answers, then they are going to want to display that content to their users when the relevant questions arise.

3 - Make It Easy

Your website must be functional and intuitive. Search engines measure website engagement rates, as well as time spent on site as part of their ranking algorithm. So in order for your website to perform to its potential you need to keep your users engaged. The simplest way to do this is to make it easy for people to use your site, it sounds silly but you would be amazed at how many websites ignore this simplest of processes.

4 - Build Your Link Profile

Having a strong backlink profile is essential for SEO success, and in order to obtain a strong profile you need to source quality backlinks from high authority websites. Start simple, you can do this by registering your company on high authority business directories. Unfortunately the simple steps won’t take you all the way, building backlinks is definitely the most difficult aspect of SEO, you might find that the best use of your time is to outsource this part of the process to a marketing agency and concentrate more on the areas you can handle more effectively. But, if you’re determined to do it yourself, you can find a more in depth breakdown of backlinks here.

5 - Track Your Numbers

If I’m being totally frank, there is absolutely no point embarking on an SEO project if you don’t have a method in place to track and quantify your results. Use a simple solution like Google Analytics, monitor your traffic levels and drill down into details such as what pages are being viewed most often ect. This will then allow you to work on the areas of your website that don’t perform as well as others.