Search Engine Optimisation (or Search Engine Optimization in the US) is a fundamental part of the digital space. As SEO stands, scores of articles and opinion pieces have been written about it.

There are those who say the death of SEO is imminent, others say that SEO is the future. One thing is undeniable. When done correctly for your website, SEO can have Google knocking at the door putting your business right on top of Google search.

This means more traffic, plus the benefits that come with having a high-quality website with a constant stream of visitors and engagement; don’t forget higher conversion rate and ROI (return on investment).

If you’re not entirely familiar with what SEO entails, put simply, SEO is defined as the process used to improve a website’s technical configuration, content relevance, and link popularity so its pages can become easily findable, higher quality, and popular towards user search queries.

As a consequence, search engines rank them better. Search engines are designed to provide users with the best, most relevant results for a specific keyword search.  By implementing some basic SEO strategies, you can help your site rank higher than your competitors.

Below is a list of pointers that can be applied to your own site.  

High-Quality Content

If there’s one thing that this information age tells us, people really love high-quality, consistent streams of content. And guess what? Google does too. The reality is, your competitors will most likely have some compelling content that resonates with their target audience.

Having a unique content strategy that’s relevant to your industry, audience and is consistent is key.

Funnily enough, articles like the one you’re reading right now are one of the most effective ways to really get those potential customers onto your site.

Other quality forms of content can include regular updates, news, videos, and photos.

For organic SEO, you can’t do much better than getting some fresh, originally produced content. It not only establishes you as an authority on the content you’re uploading, but you’ll also be much more attractive in the eyes of your audience.

If your site is looking a bit old and stale, it’s probably screaming for a bit of attention.

Put some high-quality articles on your website and watch them get found online before you know it.

Keyword Research

In the world of search engine algorithms, keyword research remains a fundamental part of the SEO process.

Whether it’s SEO for a small business or a large corporation, specific keywords are a make-or-break factor for how attractive your website looks to the Google algorithm.

If you haven’t got the right high-ranking keywords, it’s more than likely search engines will ignore your site for other websites that do.

Spend some time conducting a keyword research exercise applicable to your business and find what your customers are looking for and apply that to your company website.

Determine the keywords and long tail keywords that represent your business, its service offerings, and your brand.

Building traffic to your site is a process that doesn’t happen overnight.  If done correctly, you will see improvements over a few months. The more relevant your keywords, the richer the copy, and the more searchable your site will become making your business more authoritative and this should reflect in the growth of organic traffic, lead generation, and prospects.

Having the right words on your website pages is never a bad investment in your company.

Backlinks

Google ranks websites using an authority score. Authority Score is how search engines grade the overall quality of a website or a webpage. The higher the score, the more assumed weight a domain’s or webpage’s backlinks could have.  So, include in your organic SEO strategy,  a backlinks plan.  They are an incredibly good way to establish authority.

Think of it this way.

When you are thinking of tools to ensure your path to success in any area of life, it’s always much better to have people vouching for you and backing you up. It provides legitimacy and establishes your business as trustworthy.  SEO works in a similar way.

For example, if your company provides financial advice and the Economist and Financial Review link to your website’s content in their articles, they tell the world that what you have to say is worth looking at. Taking note of this, Google and other search engines when crawling your website will improve your rankings considerably.

If your website doesn’t utilise links from top-tier websites, look into ways to create some link-building.

Generally speaking, the more reputable the better.

There is something called toxic backlinks and Google can recognise these straight away.  Where possible, avoid companies offering miracle backlinks for your site as they might even diminish your standing in SERPs.

Aim for only quality backlinks, and watch search engine optimisation start working in your favor.

Competitor Analysis

SEO specialists (or any marketing professional for that matter) will tell you that competitor analysis is a fundamental part of standing out above your competitors.

It seems obvious, but it is a fundamental part of SEO.

Let’s say you’re one of the small businesses in your neighborhood selling cookies.

For some reason, the other cookie business is killing it, seemingly able to generate leads and clients out of thin air, crush sales and draw enormous traffic through their website from their advertising and SEO.

Meanwhile, your business is lacking in clients, and you’re not able to get in the kitchen and bake delicious cookies anywhere near as much as you’d like.

What is going on?

Analysing your competitors is the perfect way to find out.

Find out exactly what that business is doing, adapt their organic SEO strategy to your business, and use other marketing tactics they’re utilising on their sites.

If they’re offering a free consultation for every client, consider doing the same.

Your competitor’s content, backlinks, and keywords are all something to consider when devising your organic SEO strategy. See what they’re up to, and mold their SEO success into your own business.

As Picasso once said, the best artists steal.

Mobile SEO

Unless you’ve been living a nomadic lifestyle under a rock in the Mojave desert for the last 20 years, it’s a given that people are even more connected to their mobile devices.

If anything, an organic SEO marketing strategy needs optimisation for mobile like bread needs butter.

As data reveals, the number of individuals browsing for products and services on Google are on their phones, and if your site is devilishly hard to use on a mobile, chances are your site is getting the boot for a more worthy competitor.

It goes without saying, Google knows this as well.

For the survival of your business on the organic SEO stage, you’re going to want to create a page full of features and a process that runs like water for mobile.

So to ensure your ranking stays consistently high and rising, ensure your website is built to be mobile-friendly to stop interested leads browsing away on their touch screens.

On-Page SEO

Any SEO marketing agency worth its salt will tell you that on-page SEO is one of the first things a healthy, growing site needs to really achieve its potential.

When on-page SEO is done well, it can really help businesses rise above their competitors and seriously make an impact for themselves in a SERP ranking.

Here are some recommended tactics you can use to really beef up your site.

Title or Headers

H1, H2, H3 and H4. If you’ve read about SEO, you may have heard this before. These refer to the titles on your page in varying degrees of importance. Your H1 is your main title and should almost always have your target keyword in it.

The following headings such as H2 and H3 benefit from having titles that align with your target keyword. Remember to utilise that keyword research we spoke about earlier.

Meta Description

This is your chance to provide potential customers with a summary of what your business is about.

Think of a meta description as an elevator pitch on a search results page.

Generate curiosity, and attract attention so that the user wants to continue knowing about you. Keep your meta description about your brand products or services short and sweet so potential clients will be hanging for more.

Keep meta descriptions to 160 characters otherwise your ranking might suffer.

Alt Text

Alt text is a handy bit of metadata tool you can easily do yourself.

Alt text is text added on the back end to an image detailing what it is.

It’s your chance that both boosts the structure of your website and adds some excellent keywords to your beautiful images.

Organic SEO Studio

Don’t settle for a lackluster organic SEO marketing strategy.

At AD Media, we customise every marketing campaign to make sure you achieve your goals, whatever they may be.

Give us a call on 0416 022 287 today. You’re in the right hands.