As an SEO company in Essex, VerriBerri know how many SEO tips get thrown around. Sometimes it’s hard to sift through the noise and find advice that will actually benefit you. We have over 12 years of experience working with the algorithm. It’s safe to say we know our way around SEO. We thought we would give you a run-down of the best SEO tips we know.
What is SEO?
First of all, let’s start with a little introduction. If you don’t know what SEO is, don’t worry, this is where experts like VerriBerri come in! SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It refers to the changes that can be made on your website to increase your Google SERP ranking. This in turn will boost the organic traffic to your website.
Now you know what it means, let’s look at the best tips on how to improve it!
Website speed
How often have you stayed on a website that doesn’t load? You don’t, right? As an expert SEO company in Essex, we know that slow loading speeds can be the death of your website. Research suggests that if your pages take more than one second to load, people are more likely to click away from your page and find another site. A slow loading page is frustrating and with phones being able to do things at incredible speeds, anything less than a second feels slow to a user. It is one of the most important Google ranking factors for SEO, yet somehow it gets overlooked. This should be one of the first things you fix on your page, because no matter how good your website content, you will struggle to rank high without good loading speeds. To check your site speed, you need to perform a site audit. This will show you how fast your website loads, and you can see which elements are slowing it down. Removing and replacing these elements should help to speed up your site.
Make the most of meta descriptions
A meta description is the small paragraph below your URL on the SERP. This will explain the page content and purpose. Sometimes, a meta description is the deciding factor between someone clicking your website and someone else’s. Our SEO company in Essex recommends having a maximum of 150 characters in your meta descriptions. They must include one keyword or phrase but must also be readable and grab the user’s attention. Be sure to explain in simple terms what a user will find on the page if they click on it.
Create quality content
Producing engaging and unique content is one of the keys to ranking higher. Whatever you write must be relevant to your business and be of use to a user. Google is a place where people go to ask questions and get answers. When ranking your website, Google will decide if it thinks you can help the user or not and will then decide where to rank you. One way to ensure you are ranking highly is to answer questions on topics to do with your industry. When you come up with initial blog title ideas, look on Google and see what people are typing into the search bar. These questions may include a keyword.
Keywords are words and phrases that people will also be typing into Google. You will need identify these as they are what you will be measuring your ranking with. As an SEO company in Essex, VerriBerri can help identify these for you! These keywords should be included throughout your content naturally. Do not fall victim to keyword stuffing. This is when a word or phrase is placed throughout a blog so frequently, the content doesn’t read well. Google can pick up on this and will penalise any website it suspects of keyword stuffing by reducing your ranking on the SERP.
Add internal links
We all know that backlinks (links to your website on other sites) can improve your SEO, but did you know internal links can do that too? Backlinks can be difficult to have control over – you have to hope they come your way or secure them using PR – however, internal links are something you can have full control over.
Internal links are links within your content to other pages within your own website. This could be past blog posts, or information and services pages. When including internal links, you need to ensure you are attaching them onto anchor text. Anchor text is when a URL is attached to a word or phrase rather than just being pasted into the body of the text. This is also important when you are analysing your backlinks; the links must be attached to anchor text and must be somewhere within the main body of the text instead of the very end.
Utilise social media
All elements of digital marketing link up, including SEO and social media. Social media is a highly valuable marketing tool and can not only improve your SEO but can also aid with brand exposure and reputability. It also allows you to build a bridge between your customer base and you, making your brand more personable and less corporate. If you have consistently posted on social media accounts, you are likely to improve your SEO value. Any content you create should be able to be shared across any of your social platforms. You can gain engagement on your socials whilst also driving traffic to your website by providing links.
Need SEO help?
VerriBerri, an SEO company in Essex, have experts on hand to boost your websites SEO value. We know that SEO is a difficult beast to tame, and it can’t be done overnight. Luckily, we have a wealth of experience working with Google’s algorithm, so let us help you improve your SEO!
If you think you need SEO services, get in touch with our team today or call us on 01376 386 850 to start discussing your strategy today!