Whether you’re a small business just starting out, or a more established business in a competitive field, it can be difficult to get near the top of a Google search.
Why do we focus on Google and the first page? It’s simple. Google holds 90.1% of the search market share, and 75% of people never scroll past the first page. Once you get this nailed you can move on to other search engines, but the numbers speak for themselves, and you need to prioritise Google.
By applying some basic SEO best practices to your website and blogging, you can get a head start over your competitors no matter how big or established they are. So we’ve pulled together 7 simple steps that you can do to start your journey onto that hallowed first page of Google. You can also contact us at any time if you’d like some more help or advice with SEO services.
Post Regularly
Having a regular posting schedule is very important. The best way to keep a post schedule is by having, and sticking to, a content calendar. You can create your own, but there are also tools to help you online.
Keep your content fresh, and post occasionally to keep your customers interested in what you do.
Keywords
You’ll need to use relevant keywords in your content otherwise you won’t make it into the first page of Google searches. You’ll want to use your identified keywords around once or twice per every 100 words (also known as a 1-2% keyword density).
Your URL
When writing new posts, set the URL to contain the main keywords for the article (as we have done here). Also, try to keep the URL as short as possible.
It’s all about the image…
Having images in your blog’s post has a few benefits; it makes your text easier to read, your image could be another tool to make people visit your site, and adding an image to your post really brings it to life.
Perhaps most importantly of all, it can also help your to highlight your listing in searches. To make sure your image appears in searches, make sure you add an alt tag to your image including your chosen keyword wherever possible. To do this, save your image as a relevant name and add your keyword.
Include your Keyword in title tags
If you can, try putting your keyword at the beginning of your title. Google likes that.
Link to other sites
Linking to other relevant sites offering advice and tips can help your content show up higher in the rankings. Linking to other blogs that provide useful information on the topic is useful too.
Social Media
Using social media can help proactively advertise your blog, and also to boost your rankings in searches. Yes, really.
Adding the right mix of quality content to social media platforms on a regular basis is good for many reasons. From an SEO perspective, it means that your social media posts get crawled by search engine spiders and get indexed by Google. Not that this means every post you make will be indexed, but posts most relevant to a specific search query will be.
If you’ve not already begun with your firm’s social media and don’t know where to start, platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube are a great place to start. Soon we’ll be publishing a blog that demystifies social media platforms so you can choose the right ones for your business and your target customers.
How can we help?
Willow Consultants provide a range of search engine optimisation services and social media management services designed to generate fast, ongoing results for your business. Give us a call today or emails us for an informal chat to get started.
