As you start on your SEO journey, it can often feel like navigating a dense jungle of information, the sheer amount of data, strategies and understanding how they all fit together can be overwhelming.
Here at The Studio 4 we have an outstanding team of SEO experts who can break down the challenges and intricacies for you over the course of this blog.
In this blog we will go over what we believe to be the 5 most important sections of SEO to help you get started on your journey, while also laying the foundation for some of the more complex areas of SEO. From effective keyword research and on-page optimisation, to planning and creating quality content, you will have everything you need to form a solid baseline for your website.
Over the course of this blog we will go through:
- Navigating Keyword Research
- On-page Optimisation
- Site Speed
- Internal Linking
- Creating Quality Content
- Monitoring
Get those binoculars and machetes ready as we delve into the jungle and carve out a path for you to navigate your own journey!
Navigating Keyword Research
In the vast and busy landscape of the digital world, the compass that directs your content in the right direction is none other than effective keyword research, without it you will get lost in the mass amount of content online.
Cracking the Keyword Code:
Begin your journey by understanding your audience and the language they use. Tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush can unveil the keywords that resonate with your industry. Don’t just chase high-volume keywords; aim for relevance. Consider the intent behind the search—what are your potential customers seeking?
Picture your keywords as signposts guiding users to your digital doorstep. Whether short-tail or long-tail, these phrases should seamlessly align with your content. For instance, if you’re a boutique bakery, “artisanal cupcakes” might attract a more specific and engaged audience than a generic “cupcakes” search (Someone who’s put enough thought into their cupcakes to search for ‘artisanal cupcakes’ has most likely worked up an appetite!)
On-page Optimisation: Crafting a Digital Welcome Mat
Once armed with the right keywords, the next phase is on-page optimisation—a meticulous process that fine-tunes your digital welcome mat for both users and search engines.
Meta Titles and Descriptions:
Think of meta titles and descriptions as your content’s first impression. These are the titles and brief descriptions users will see on search engines before clicking onto your website. Make sure to create titles that provide an insight into what users will see once they click and include relevant keywords. Keep it concise, informative, and irresistible—a teaser for what lies beyond the click.
Follow this with meta descriptions that expand on the promise of your title. While not a direct ranking factor, an engaging description can significantly improve click-through rates.
Headers and Structured Content:
Imagine your content as a captivating story, and headers as the chapter titles. Break down your content into digestible sections with descriptive headers. This not only enhances readability but also helps search engines understand your content’s hierarchy.
A good rule of thumb is:
- H1 title tag – Overall insight into the page (Max of 1)
- H2 title tags – Like chapters of a book, section out different talking points
- H3 title tags – To break down complex ideas further inside of the chapters
H4 and beyond can be used in more complicated structures however H1 – H3 tags are relevant in most web pages.
Bullet Points and Conciseness:
In the digital age attention is a precious commodity. Embrace the power of bullet points to deliver information succinctly.
Why bullet points?
Readability:
- Breaks information into digestible chunks.
- Prevents overwhelming blocks of text.
Visual Emphasis:
- Draws attention to key points.
- Improves users’ experience scanning for important information.
Improved Retention:
- Aids memory retention by presenting information in a structured format.
- Enhances the user’s ability to grasp and recall key details.
SEO-Friendly:
- Supports search engine optimization by emphasising important keywords.
- Increases the likelihood of content being identified as relevant by search engines.
Mobile-Friendly Presentation:
- Adapts well to various screen sizes, particularly crucial for mobile users.
- Maintains content clarity on smaller screens.
Site Speed
Once you’ve gone through the effort of making your website discoverable and directing users to your website, we don’t want that to go to waste if users leave your website after slow loading times or becoming frustrated with navigation.
Optimising website speeds is an in-depth topic that has lots of moving parts. We recommend looking into this topic further once you run into slow website speeds, however for now these are the 3 sections you’ll need to keep in mind while building out the content on your website.
Compress Images:
- Use image compression tools to reduce file sizes.
- Opt for the appropriate file format (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics).
Enable Browser Caching:
- Instruct browsers to store static files for returning visitors.
- Set expiration dates for different types of content.
Minimise HTTP Requests:
- Reduce the number of elements on a page (images, scripts, stylesheets).
- Combine multiple files into one when possible.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is a crucial aspect of website structure and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It refers to the practice of creating hyperlinks that connect different pages within the same website. An effective internal linking structure can improve user experience, help search engines understand the content hierarchy, and distribute link equity (ranking power) throughout the site. Similar to site speed, once you get in the weeds of Internal linking, there are a lot of advanced methods to squeeze out every little piece of optimisation possible.
To keep it short here are some of the most important linking structures:
- Hierarchy and Structure:
- Organise your content in a hierarchical manner. Group related pages under common categories or sections.
- Create a logical flow from your homepage to deeper pages. Important pages should be easily accessible from the homepage
- Breadcrumb Navigation
- Implement breadcrumb navigation to help users understand the structure of your website and easily navigate back to previous levels.
*Breadcrumb Navigation is what you would typically find on clothing websites which show the path of pages that took you to the product.
- Avoid Orphaned Pages
- Ensure that every page on your website is linked to from at least one other page. Avoid orphaned pages (pages with no inbound links) as they may be challenging for search engines to discover.
- Broken Links
- Regularly check for broken links and fix them promptly. Broken links can negatively impact user experience and SEO..
Creating Quality Content
Quality Content is the pillar that keeps everything together and relevant for a website. It will not only captivate and keep your audience engaged but it will also propel your website to the top of the search engine results.
Better user engagement
Websites need constant updates to keep them current and relevant with the most recent information. Make sure when you’re writing content that you align your messaging with the questions and challenges your audience seeks to solve.
It also helps to maintain a consistent tone and style across your content, which allows for your audience to foster a sense of familiarity, making your brand more relatable.
If possible incorporate interactive elements such as multimedia, polls and quizzes to keep users engaged on your website for longer.
For most, using a mixture of images, text, and video will get you a long way; however for more unique websites, find ways to incorporate small quizzes/polls into your content. Not only does this let users interact with your content, but it may also give you valuable insight into what content your audience is reading, and also give you feedback on what your content is getting across.
Lower Bounce Rates
Spending time creating the best content you can will ultimately reduce the amount of users that leave your website. Create engaging introductions to give them a reason to stay and view the rest of your web page/ blog posts and make sure to clearly communicate the value they can expect from the content.
More Backlinks from Other Websites
Creating a great piece of content can vastly improve your chances of getting backlinks from other websites. Other websites are more likely to link to valuable, informative resources so ensure you’re creating comprehensive, well-researched content that positions you as an authority in your field.
As well as letting backlinks come to you naturally it is also important to Outreach and Network to increase the amount of backlinks you receive. Actively engage in outreach to relevant websites in your industry and cultivate the relationships you need for link-sharing.
Guest posting is also another great way to increase backlinks by providing high-quality guest posts to authoritative websites. This can be an excellent way to gain exposure and build backlinks while providing valuable information to a broader audience.
User experience
As an ending note on creating quality content it’s also important to ensure your website is Optimised for Mobile. As it currently stands there are a wide variety of users that use mobile, desktop and even tablet devices, so ensuring that they have the optimal experience on each of these devices is important to the ranking of your website.
Monitoring
Last but not least, we want to make sure that we’re monitoring how our content and updates are affecting the overall SEO of our website.
It’s important to check at least once a month on the overall health and ranking of your website by using SEO and analytic tools. Not only does regular analysis allow you to identify areas of improvement but it can also help you notice issues such as old links no longer existing, leading to 404 errors and bringing the overall ranking of your website.
All of these sections play their part in SEO and as you may have noticed there are many sections of SEO that overlap which can help to bridge the gap between learning new subjects.
As mentioned at the start of this blog there is a lot more depth to SEO than what we’ve explained, however this should give you a good starting point to help you on your SEO journey.
In conclusion the main points that we focused on were:
- Navigating Keyword Research
- On-page Optimisation
- Site Speed
- Internal Linking
- Creating Quality Content
- Monitoring
When it comes to SEO we understand that its a long journey, and even once you’ve become a pro at SEO it requires time and attention to climb to the top of search engines.
At The Studio 4 we are proud of our expertise in SEO so if you would like some of all of the burden taken off your shoulders, reach out to us and we will help out the best that we can.
Check out our services here