Quick SEO guide
SEO vs. SEM – What’s the difference?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the ongoing practice of building and improving your website to maximise the quantity and quality of traffic through organic search engine results.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) utilises paid ad campaigns based on keywords (e.g. Google Ads) to reach users searching specific keywords.
For great organic search results we build your your website with SEO best practice with every product, page, post and image optimised for Google search engines. In our experience, SEO best practice applied consistently and methodically over time yields the best results in organic search.
WordPress SEO best practice
Site speed comes first so we use fast content delivery network (CDN) hosting provided by Codelab Pty Ltd. We make sure WordPress themes and plugins are kept up to date with regular hands-on housekeeping. To learn more about site speed read this brilliant and informative article by Kinsta.
How we do SEO
| We make sure your website loads quickly by using fast, modern themes such as DIVI for WordPress and Dawn for Shopify 2.0. |
| We use high-performance WordPress plugins and Shopify apps, and as few as possible to get the job done. |
| We web optimise all images before uploading. Read more about image optimisation on Yoast. |
| We build pages for Google bots including short, search engine-friendly URLs relevant to the page content. |
| We add relevant internal and outbound links – two or three of each per page. |
| Our designs are simple and uncluttered with straightforward navigation. |
| We use keyword planning tools to help you with your content strategy. We also make sure your keywords appear in all the right places throughout your website but without keyword stuffing. |
| We use Yoast on every post and page. We use the plugin to analyse your content so we can tweak your copy and keywords to optimise for search. |
| We lay out your content in a structured and engaging way to increase page dwell time. We also make sure pages are easily shareable to increase the likelihood of backlinks. |
| Once live we check your site’s speed using Google’s page speed insights and make improvements if necessary. If this is a website relaunch we make sure that all changed or deleted URLs are properly redirected. |
What about SEM?
SEM should be part of your Digital Marketing plan. It can be a fantastic way to increase your website traffic – Google Ads are easy to set up and can fit with almost any advertising budget. However, you should also consider the activities below which are better for engaging with existing and potential clients. If you would like us to help you to create a Digital Marketing plan and/or help to implement your plan on an ongoing basis, please ask us for a quote. In the meantime, here are key activities that you should be undertaking as part of your digital marketing plan.
Your digital marketing action list
1. Google Business
Google’s goal is to help people find businesses close to where they are located so if this is important to your business, you must get yourself on Google My Business. It’s a free service and if done right can put you at the top of local searches. Make sure you use brilliant images and accurate business information including contact details.
Ask your customers to leave honest, positive Google reviews but don’t be tempted to ask a friend or business associate to leave a review for a favour. Reply to every Google review you receive, good or bad.
Post to your Google Business listing often, add products and events and make your business listing work for you.
2. Strategic keywords
Do some research to determine which keywords to target in your website’s content. We can use these keywords on your page URLs, SEO titles and meta descriptions.
Strategic keywords are closely related to and best describe your business and location. There are great keyword articles by MOZ. There are plenty of online tools to help you too for example Soovle and Google Keyword Planner.
Make sure your website copy contains your chosen keywords in a natural, relevant way and does not use too many. Keep it simple and to the point. Two to three well-researched keywords per page (10 to 12 per website) used properly in your website copy will suffice. If you can afford it use a web copywriter who will write in a way that gets you found by search engines.
3. Back links
Think carefully about your page linking strategy and build authority backlinks to your website. Think quality over quantity. The higher the referring authority, the more Google juice flows back down the chain to you. Read more about link building for SEO here.
4. Social media
Link your website and your social media channel(s). Get yourself on one (maximum two) social network(s) and do them well but don’t get carried away. Remember, it’s crucial to look after existing customers (to make them repeat customers). If you’re a local business dependent on customers in your area, harness your customer base with excellent customer service and encourage word-of-mouth advertising. Use social media wisely.
5. Fresh content
Continually add to your new website with engaging content such as portfolios, news articles, blogs, image galleries and new products or services.