Getting SEO Right for Your Website

By Andrew Oziemblo, Founder & CEO of Chicago SEO Geeks, the digital marketing & Chicago SEO agency helping businesses achieve long-term growth goals.

Writing good SEO copy is more than just a series of keywords packed into a piece of writing. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has changed over the years. 2019 has seen a major shift in the type of posts that are reaching the top spots in search results. Following old and outdated information can actually be harmful when it comes to creating content that is not only searchable but also, exactly what users are looking for.

It can be easy to lose sight of what you are writing when it comes to creating content. Focussing on SEO alone can lead you to create an article that, quite honestly, isn’t all that interesting to read and may not even get you that all elusive top spot in the search engines results page (SERP). After all, are you 100% sure exactly what users are looking for? Is it in-depth content or videos and images?

Photo by Merakist on Unsplash

What Are The Benefits of SEO for your company?

Getting SEO right for your company can give your digital marketing campaign that extra boost. Whether you choose to get some help from an SEO agency or SEO company or you choose to learn yourself.

But what exactly is SEO? Search Engine Optimization is when you are creating content in a way that tells search engines how authoritative you are on a subject. You are essentially emphasising how knowledgeable you are to encourage your way to the top of the listings.

SEO combines many different variables to decide how high up in the rankings you should feature.

Of course, you want to be as close to the top of the first page as possible.

Did you know that Google processes over 60,000 searches a second? If you can rank for even a fraction of search terms relating to your company or website, then you can create a steady flow of traffic to your site which in turn can help you convert clicks into customers.

Creating Engaging SEO Content.

Google has been showing a preference to more in-depth informative articles during recent updates and changes. Those who are writing content containing more information on the intended topic have been looked on favourably when it comes to featuring higher on search engine results pages.

Those creating copy for content marketing can not only benefit from creating SEO friendly content but also content that gives the reader all the information they want.

So, for example, say you are building a new website giving advice on a certain subject matter. Sure, optimized content is going to help push you up those rankings, but if you are skirting over the information in favour of SEO, then you will be harming your chances of hitting the top of the SERP.

How should you create the best SEO content you can?

• Keyword Research is a must! What people are looking for when searching and what topics are you looking to rank for? Once you know this, you can start to create your content.
• Research Your Topic. Even if you think you know all you need to know, it pays to do your research. You want to be able to provide the user with all the information they need even if they haven’t searched for it. The more informative you can make your content, the better it will perform in searches.
• Snippets are instantly more clickable. Research has found that search results with snippets garner more clicks on average than those without. You want to make sure your snippet includes the search terms. Snippets are created from your content to display the information in search results so the reader knows exactly what they will find on your site.
• Don’t over optimize. No matter how tempting it can be to stuff your copy full of keywords and search terms, stop! Aside from being hard to read for the user, doing this will actually harm your chances of hitting that elusive top spot.
• Break It Up. Let’s face it, most people don’t read all the content. They skim read to find the information they need. you want to keep eyes on the page and breaking down paragraphs and using headers is a great way to do this. As is using bullet points, shorter paragraphs and writing for your ideal reader.
• Alt Text. Name your images and describe what they are. If you can get your keywords in here too, that will boost your SEO. Adding a description to your images tells the search engine what it is and helps to rank your images in an image search.

Don’t forget, you actually want people to read your content and find value in it. If your goal is converting clicks into sales via people finding your content online, then make sure you are giving them exactly what they are looking for. Create content that speaks to them using video content, infographics and images to help you get your point across.

Making Sure Your Site is User-Friendly

Making the customer experience smooth on your website is a big factor when it comes to ranking higher in search engines results pages. Sure, you need to be implementing what we have discussed above, but you also need to make sure your site is easy to use. Look at the following to determine how good the user experience will be. This will give extra weight to your SEO and boost your chances of hitting that sweet first page or even the top spot for searches relating to you.

• Site Speed. You can have the best site in the world but if it is slow to load, people will click away.
• Can people easily find their way around your site? It might be easy for you but you need to make sure everything is categorised and these are easily accessible for people to search through the site.
• Short sentences. Keep it short and to the point
• Short Paragraphs. No one wants a huge piece of text to sift through so break it down
• Tell your readers exactly what they are about to read using headers. this easy breaks up a lot of information and makes it instantly easier to read.
• Your site needs to be relevant to what keywords people are finding you from in search engines.

Creating A Perfectly Optimized Website.

In short, getting the formula right when it comes to great SEO can take some time. You may want to look at hiring an SEO service or consultant who can give you the assistance you need and point you in the right direction. This can also work for those who need help with local SEO or general help from an SEO expert.

But making sure you get it right can be the biggest boost to your business and make sure your website and its content are reaching the right people when they need it.