Just like all technology, it comes as no surprise that SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  is ever changing and evolving and the key to stay ahead of your competitors is to make sure that you understand the fundamentals of SEO to optimise your website and social media platforms to drive more traffic. There are many SEO strategies you need to focus on, and some SEO strategies to avoid.

WHAT IS SEO?

WHAT IS SEO?People browse the internet for all kinds of reasons, and with 63% of the world population having access to the internet, it is very important for your business to be visible when users search for the service or product that you want to sell.

The goal of search engine optimization is to increase the visibility of your website organically in search engine result pages (SERPs). If you are someone that sells custom furniture, you want your website to be high up in search engine result pages (SERP’s) when users search for custom furniture or keywords that relate to your business. SEO is designed to provide a good user experience when searching on the internet. In short: You don’t want a clothing store to pop up when you are using keywords like “Furniture store near me” or “Custom furniture”

SEO Strategy: Do’s

1. Use relevant keywords to optimise your content:

Search engines check for consistency, so it is important to use keywords in your content that relate to your page title. The most important aspect of search engine optimization is optimising your content. It is vital to have optimised content for your website, or else your company's overall performance will suffer.

To improve the keywords of your website, make sure to do keyword research, as this will allow you to see what the consumers in your target audience are searching and how they are reaching you and your competitors. 

• Start by writing down all the keywords that are associated with your business, products, services and offers. 

Hint: There will be a lot of repetition in words and phrases in different orders, which is exactly what you want. 

• You can use keyword search tools like Google Trends to filter out the keyword searches used the least and find the keyword searches that are used the most.

As you incorporate new keywords into your copy, as well as your photos and videos, your SERP’s ranking will start rising.

2. Utilise free SEO tools:

There are many free tools that can help you improve your SEO, that help with using correct grammar, keyword analysing, phrasing, idea generators and many more. You can track leads, page views, traffic, click-through rates, unique visitors, and more with free tools.

• Answer the Public is a tool that can be used to generate ideas on what to write your content about and discover what people are asking.
• Ubersuggest is an SEO tool and Chrome extension that helps you extract keywords and phrases for specific topics for your business

Other useful free tools include social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok that give you the opportunity to brand, reach out and amplify your discoverability, traffic and reach.Hint: If you don't have accounts on at least 3 of these platforms, be sure to go create them!

3. Do have other websites linking back to yours:

Having a website with a strong backlink profile that links back to the website goes a very long way in the world of SEO. Be sure to not link back to your back links, because Google doesn't want to see link exchanges. 

• Share useful tips, guides and tutorials on social media that redirects your users to your website
• Write articles in your field of expertise on another website or community blog that redirects to your website and makes it shareable for users on other platforms.

Hint: Something like this blog will make your target audience want to see who you are and what you do, making them click on the website link 

SEO Strategy: Don’ts

1. Neglect your Metadata:

Metadata is an aspect of SEO that goes unnoticed by most consumers, but is a very important aspect in growing your rank in SERPs. Always make sure that optimise not only the content of your website, but the descriptions, titles, pictures and icons on your website. These will appear bolded in related searches and can potentially grab the attention of readers. Whether they are reaching your website because they clicked on descriptions or even just your logo, you have increased traffic and reach by getting users to visit your website.By failing to optimise and combine relevant Metadata, you will notice a decrease in ranking.

2. Keyword Stuffing:

Keywords and phrases should come naturally within your content and not be stuffed with keywords that sound like an over the top sales pitch.

Hint: If the content on your website doesn’t really make sense to you, it most likely won’t make sense to users and especially not to search engines.

Another way of keyword stuffing is using white text on white background (or any other colour match) to hide keywords. This is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and will negatively affect your ranking as it is seen as trying to deceive the system.

3. Ignore negative comments:

Even without context, customers search for reviews on businesses to see how you respond to positive and negative feedback. 

Hint: Even if a negative review seems old or untrue to you, show users how you treat satisfied and unsatisfied customers.

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written by Karli van der Merwe

Published 16 September 2022