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As a recent Wriggle recruit I can hardly call myself a marketing guru… well, not just yet. After only a matter of hours in the office I was becoming increasingly confused by the sound of marketing acronyms being thrown about. The one creating by far the most buzz was SEO. So naturally, i’ve been swatting up on the new lingo and thought I’d share some thoughts for my fellow marketing newbies out there. SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the king of search engine marketing (SEM), so here is my beginner’s guide…. First things first, before we delve into the thick of it let’s take a step back and go over some basics - I can already hear my mother screaming ‘but, what on earth is a search engine?!’ Here are some key words you absolutely need to know….
A search site is very simple, it is quite literally a website through which you can search - I’m sure you will be familiar with Google, but search sites also include the likes of Yahoo and Bing!
Within your search site comes the search engine which is a system that sifts through individual pages inside websites. As a user of a search engine you might type ‘keywords’ into the search bar, for example, ‘best dog groomers newcastle’ enabling you to find the top sites providing dog grooming services. Of course it is good to be aware that people may also find a website via social media sites, online stores, or even YouTube (which is now the 2nd largest search engine by the way). This may lead you to think you could be without SEO - but you are wrong, despite the power of social platforms web traffic from internet users is still acquired dominantly through search engines. This is where SEO comes in….
By definition, SEO is a marketing technique focussed on affecting the visibility of a website in organic (non-paid) search engine results.
Take this analogy…. Think of a search engine functioning like a library! Before the golden age of Google, if you needed information about a holiday to Greece let’s say, you might have toddled down to your local library to query you librarian for literature on Greece. She might have asked you if you are interested in a specific area of Greece, and you could respond Mykonos. Therefore, when the librarian checked their library catalogue they could give you books specifically detailing this area of Greece, tailoring the search exactly to your needs. A search engine is quite simply the technological version of this process - and thank god far more convenient! Optimising the search simply encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings and drive organic traffic to a site with the hopeful outcome of driving sales. Therefore, if used correctly and effectively SEO can prove a key tool for digital success by ensuring your site is hitting the first page of Google rankings.
So…. how do you optimise a website? This is where the SEO wiz kids come in and make sure your services have prime search engine real estate. Firstly, it is crucial to create an SEO strategy. This involves doing your market research (essentially check keywords that your competitors are ranking for), filtering out keywords you don’t want to rank for, choosing your keywords wisely, and creating a landing page for important topics on your site. You can then plan how to optimise...
Ensuring your website includes your keywords in its web pages, be it on you're welcome page, page titles or a blog posting is key. This is in essence content writing. SEO content writing can be make or break in reaching the pinnacle of the google hierarchy - aside from making sure you post valuable and readable content on your website you should be sure to include keywords in the title and subheadings of your page, as well as in your page URL, include internal links to draw people back to other pages of your site (nothing wrong with a bit of self promotion!) - In SEO content is king! Another key aspect of SEO is ‘local search’. If you have a business that provides goods and services in a particular location, then SEO could be a game changer for you by ensuring your business is one of the pins on the Google Map Pack at the top of the search engine results. Henceforth, SEO can be key to maximising local visibility, such as through optimising a businesses Google Places pages. Quite frankly it’s not a quick fix and this is only the basics! Don’t end up in the Google graveyard- If this sounds like something you could do with a hand with, get onboard and give one of our in house experts a call. For more SEO information or other digital marketing posts take a look at our blog page.
