Basics of SEO for businesses and brands

Wed, 30/03/2016 - 00:00

Businesses and brands need to understand the basics of SEO - search engine optimisation - to ensure their clients, both new and existing, can find their websites.

Basically, SEO is the strategies and techniques used to obtain better placement on search engine results pages and increase the number of visitors to webpages through improved digital visibility. We’re very good at SEO here at Rogerwilco, having won numerous awards for our work at Bookmarks and Assegai.

But what does it all mean? And how do we explain SEO to our clients?

Brands and businesses are starting to realise the value of SEO as part of their digital marketing strategy as a concept, however most struggle to understand the mechanisms of the activities. That’s because SEO isn’t like building a website. It’s not a once-off project. There is a constant need for dynamic activities to improve brand exposure online and pivot to changes by competitors and search algorithms. Some companies still view SEO as a magic bullet versus a constant evolving campaign.

These are some of the mistakes which are often made when optimising websites

Incorrectly choosing and filtering keywords.

People often choose keywords that may be too vague or even incorrect for converting customers for the sake of traffic. This often happens with people using generalised keywords when they only offer specific services. For example, a doctor in Malmesbury focusing on the keyword "doctor". They need to be focusing on localised keyword terms, although they have smaller volumes.

Duplicating keyword optimisation across multiple pages.

Many people believe that if they have the same keyword phrase across multiple pages that their site will rank for that term. What they are actually doing is confusing search engines regarding which page on the site is most relevant for that keyword and potentially reducing the ranking potential of those pages. Use unique keywords for unique pages rather than the scattergun approach.

Forgetting to manage broken links.

Over time, changes are made to our websites and other people who have linked to us make changes to theirs. Links can fall away through other websites making changes to content, deleting pages that they feel no longer valuable or be intentionally removed. Monitoring your links can let you know when a valuable link has fallen away. You can then reach out and attempt to recover that link from a partner. When you need to clean up your own site, you must recover links lost during internal changes. This keeps you ahead of the pack and means you’re always building forward instead of merely playing catch-up.

By keeping these tips in mind, businesses and brands can begin to understand the basics of SEO.

*I originally compiled this information for an interview with Media Update. Their article,Don’t make these SEO mistakes, was published on March 3.

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