Search Engine Optimization (SEO): What will be the strategy?
Actually, it's pretty obvious: If something isn't on your site, you won't be found on it. Search engines are getting more intelligent, can deal with conjugations, singular & plural forms and can even recognize synonyms, but they can't create new content for you (yet).
Write valuable, real content. Don't throw around keywords to rank with, because content quality is also checked. In fact, with thin text you risk actually lowering your findability. These guidelines are there to increase the quality of the results, because at the end of the day, the search engines only seek the most valuable match for the end user.
What is Search engine optimization (SEO)?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is optimizing your website for online search engines such as Google and Yahoo. By applying some useful tools, you can ensure that your website will be found better and thus get more visitors.
Positive and negative impact on your SEO score
There are two main groups of factors that count when calculating your website's ranking: Internal factors such as the content quality of your content, website architecture and HTML structure and external factors such as reliability, links to and from your website, a user's personal situation and who, how often, shares your content on social media.
For a detailed representation of these factors, check out the infographic below from Search Engine Land. This also explains what, specifically, has a negative impact on your ranking. At Google's Inside Search section, you'll find even more information.
Optimize your text and use keywords
First, make sure you have good content, as this factor weighs most heavily in the calculation. Think about what exactly you want to communicate and make a list of keywords on which you want to be found. Then apply these keywords in your texts and mention them especially in the titles.
However, avoid thin content and the overuse of keywords without proper context, this will deduct them from your score.
Beware of copying others' content, this is considered "duplicate content" and disadvantages your ranking. Providing an interpretation on someone else's content is of course possible.
Ideal for rich, new content on your website is writing articles. You can dive deeper into a topic related to your organization and use many keywords. This keeps your site dynamic (in fact, it also counts how often you have new content, especially if it's on a hot topic).
Name your image
Also pay attention to image descriptions. Ideally, the image itself should have a name that relates to the image, so not DSC201.jpg but flower-bouquet-uncinc.jpg. In addition, give the image a 'title' and an 'alt'.
The 'title' is a description that is displayed when you hover over the image ('Unc Inc sells beautiful bouquets').
The 'alt' is the description that is displayed when an image cannot be loaded or displayed and told when reading aloud from a website (for example, for the visually impaired: 'Bouquet of red roses and white tulips, in a florist's hand at Unc Inc').
A clear structure
Website structure also counts. Make sure the HTML elements are used correctly, such as consistent use of H1 through H4, and good architecture. Also, make sure the URLs provide a clear description of the page; for example, uncinc.co.uk/about-uncinc is more valuable than uncinc.co.uk/about-us. After all, you want to be found on the term "uncinc," not "us.
Finally, it is advisable to add meta descriptions to your pages. Often the teaser text of a page is fine for this.
What is out of the question is "cloaking," or creating different pages, one of which is indexed by the search engine and the other intended to be displayed to the user. This is false content and is heavily penalized.
During the design and development processes at Unc Inc, we advise on the content and ensure a good structure of the website anyway. So don't worry if this part is too technical!
Share content and use links
Get others to link to your content, immediately the hardest thing to arrange but one of the tougher factors. Make it easier by adding 'share' buttons or use other hints and tools to encourage the user. Of course, you are also good at sharing your website content yourself on social media so that more people will see it and hopefully share it further.
You can actively approach websites that may be interested in your website and ask them to link to your site. For example, aggregate websites on a particular theme, in Unc Inc's case for example a listing in the Global agency directory of Digital Agency Network (DAN).
Keep it relevant though: getting links by buying them or spamming forums will have a negative effect.
Internal links also count and are user-friendly. It ensures that the user does not end up at a dead end on your website. For example, a great link with good linking text is the following link to the page where we explain what we can do for you in website design and development.
You can use external sources to make your content richer, like the infographic added in this article. Of course, don't forget to mention the source.
Understanding your position
There are several tools that give you a better understanding of the online battle for attention. What is your position compared to other sites and on which keywords do you score well or can you improve?
We ourselves use Strawberry SEO from the Dutch company Protagonist BV, but there are many other alternatives such as Majestic: Marketing Search Engine and SEO Backlink Checker and Moz: SEO Software, Tools and Resources for Better Marketing.
See for yourself which service best suits your needs and budget.
Need help?
If you're looking to get a new website or boost your current one, take a look around our work or ask one of our SEO experts your burning questions right away.