No one knows SEO like a search engine optimisation company. Here at VerriBerri, we know that it may feel overwhelming. We are here to help ease your fears and guide you in the right direction. Over our 12 years of trading, we have picked up a trick or twelve along the way. We think we have the right bank of knowledge to share this guide to the top 5 SEO areas that need the most focus.
When SEO is concerned, there is a lot to take in. This type of digital marketing takes skill and years of experience; it can’t be learnt overnight. Due to this, there are often things people miss out on or don’t quite get right. To avoid this, here are VerriBerri’s tips!
1. Do not forget backlinks!
One thing that people forget when it comes to SEO is backlinks. Backlinks refer to links made to your site on other websites. These are usually obtained through PR. This can also be referred to as link building. In the past, any link was a good link, but now, this is not the case. You need to check that any backlinks that you obtain are from websites with a good domain authority. If the domain has an authority of below 40, then this will have an adverse effect on your SEO value. You should contact the website and ask to have your link removed if you run into this issue.
Any links obtained must also be relevant to you. If you are a gardening brand, there is no point in gaining a backlink on a website about sports as it has no relevance to your business or industry. The algorithm may get confused when following a link from an un-relevant website and this will negatively affect your SEO.
2. Create engaging content
This has always been a big part of SEO. As a search engine optimisation company, VerriBerri know all there is to know about creating the best content for your website. This area, like many others in SEO, is all about quality over quantity. There is no point in creating content for the sake of creating content. Everything that is written for our site must have purpose. If it doesn’t, it is not only boring for the reader, but will also not appeal to the algorithm.
When writing content, ensure you are including your keywords within the first 100 words, in the title, and evenly throughout the content. Avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. This is when your keyword is not spread evenly throughout your content and appears unnaturally within the sentences. This will not only make for an uncomfortable reading experience, but Google will also penalise you for this, lowering your ranking within the search engine results page.
3. Meta-data is key!
‘What is meta data?’ we hear you ask! Meta data refers to the invisible tags and other information that provides data to search engines and visitors about your page. They make it easier for the algorithm to determine what your content is about. Some platforms have ready-made boxes for inputting meta data. However, on others, you will need to input it into the HTML code. Meta data includes things like a meta title, a meta description (the small piece of text that appears under your link on Google), and meta tags.
A meta description is arguably one of the most important one as it can not only pin point to the algorithm what your website is about, but also to a user. They may make the decision to click on your website based on the meta description. Our search engine optimisation company recommends your meta description should be between 150-165 characters and must contain a keyword.
4. Loading speed makes a big difference
The internet is built for speed and if something doesn’t load quickly, people are likely to give up on it. Research has shown that if a page doesn’t load within 3 seconds of being launched, it is more likely a user will quickly off the site. You may miss out on potential traffic to your site. You should test your site speed regularly using Google’s page speed insights page. If it’s not up to scratch, you need to adapt if it is slower than it should be.
Things that may slow it down may include the number of elements (like ads) you have on your website and not having optimised images. Your images should be optimised as larger higher quality images take up more bandwidth and therefore take longer to load. You can scale them down using websites such as Tiny PNG that will compress the sizes of your image whilst still maintaining the quality.
5. Mobile optimisation is essential
87% of people in the UK own a mobile phone. This means that if your website is not optimised for mobile use, you will be missing out on a great chunk of potential traffic. In March 2020, Google made some changes to its SEO algorithm along with the announcement that is will now primarily use its mobile smartphone user-agent to crawl and categorise websites. This means that a mobile version of a website is usually the first to be crawled by the algorithm, followed by the desktop version, making it even more important.
The next step
This may sound a little confusing still if you are not well versed in SEO, but don’t panic – VerriBerri are here to help. We have a whole department dedicated to SEO. Our team are experts in the algorithm and have years of experience writing content and monitoring technical SEO elements. In the past, we have successfully assisted many of our clients and have helped their website to rise in the ranks, seeing an increase in their organic traffic.
If you think you need some more guidance from a search engine optimisation company, get in touch with our team. Call us on 01376 386 850.