Posted on: 19th Apr, 2021 10 SEO Tips for Beginners Search Engine Optimisation can seem confusing at first so we’ve compiled the 10 best SEO practices for beginners to help you get started on the right foot. Have any questions? Call 0121 66 66 534 or email us sales@e4k.co Organic SEO Best Practices Below are 10 tips on how organic SEO can work for you. Tip 1: On-page SEO & Keywords Research We might think we know what people search for but there is a lot of information out there to help us hone in on the best keywords for your business. You can use the Ubersuggest tool as it’s free (Other tools are available) Use Google keyword tool – if you enter a keyword in suggestions, they will list bulk keyword options Type your main keyword in the Google search and check suggestions offered by Google in the pop-up box below your typing If you scroll to the bottom of a Google search results page, you can see search-related queries Where possible choose high search volume terms with low competition Select long-tail keywords (phrases that have a higher number of words and are more likely to be looking for your products/services ) to yield you more traffic and conversion Tip 2: High-Quality Content This is considered by many to be the holy grail of SEO. It is often said content is king. Your users and Google need to know what it is you are selling, that you are an expert in your field and why they should buy off you. Write for the user, not for Google Don’t oversell Provide actionable guidance Longer articles rank higher in Google Find the top 10 sites for your keywords, analyse those sites’ content and make your content better Tip 3: Unique Titles and Description Each page should have a unique title and description Ensure you don’t have any duplicate content Tip 4: Proper Sitemap A crucial factor in SEO. Helps Google to crawl pages and index your website If your website is developed in WordPress, you can generate a sitemap using the Yoast plugin Once you have created it, you need to submit your sitemap in the Google Console Tip 5: Website Speed This is a major ranking signal. Research shows that if a website loads in more than 3 seconds you will lose visitors Every second of delay, the chances of the user clicking the back button is increasing Using the Google page speed test, it guides you on how to sort out issues – https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ Tip 6: Consistently Add Fresh Content Google loves fresh content. Add unique fresh content on a regular basis (blog) because this gives more authority and a higher ranking in search results Refresh page content and add to it on a regular basis Add blogs to answer questions from clients and potential clients Blogs allow you to show your expertise in your field If you’re passionate about what you do, it should be easy to write a blog about it Share your blogs to your social media platforms to increase traffic and spread the word New content and blogs inform Google that you are maintaining your website Tip 7: Optimise Images for SEO Images must have alt tags that relate to the keyword Descriptions and captions are also important Search engines and users will know when an image doesn’t load Images should be optimised using a tool such as RIOT. Large images are one of the biggest culprits for slow loading speeds. Tip 8: Use What Works for your Competitors Spy on your competitors on their website, on social media and everywhere else Make sure your content is better than theirs but never copy as you will get demoted for duplicate content You can learn a lot of new techniques If you grab all the top backlinks of your competitors, then you can beat them Try to replicate their backlink profile and better it Use trusted tools like Ahrefs and Majestic Tip 9: Highlight Data on the Google Search Console By highlighting, you help Google to understand the website better It also helps to display prices, reviews, ratings along with your rich snippet This also increases the chances of getting a Google knowledge card featuring the website You will find this option in Google Console, on the highlighter page Do the same thing for author, date, image, ratings, etc. Tip 10: Don’t Try to Game the Algorithm – Focus on User Experience It may be tempting to try and trick Google’s algorithm into achieving success quickly but SEO is about a long term strategy and getting penalised by Google will be the easiest way to ensure your failure. In the early days of Google, it was possible but now all of those sites performing those techniques have either changed their ways or dropped off the face of Google. Your main focus should be on making your site serve its visitors as well as it can because you will get a higher number of visitors converting into customers and user signals are extremely important to Google as it shows that you are relevant to whatever that visitor searched to get through to your site. Conclusion Organic SEO doesn’t give results overnight, it’s a long term strategy. If you do it right, then you will get to see the benefits in the long run. We ask for at least 3 months to get a website any ranking and in some case a 6 month period to get it higher up the ranking. We always give preference to website traffic and conversion more than targeting keywords. We “SEO” the whole website and not just the pages that have your main products. If you think you’d prefer to have someone else do your SEO for you and would prefer to spend your time & effort on other things. e4k is an award-winning digital agency that provides SEO services along with other digital marketing services. Read below for more information or get in touch. We’d be happy to answer any questions and offer a free consultation: Call 0121 66 66 534 or email: sales@e4k.co SEO by e4k Digital Agency e4k focuses on learning about our clients, their services, who their target audience is and more. We always start with the foundations of good on-page optimisation and link building. But we believe that the best SEO services are ones that are personalised for each and every client, taking into account all the small nuances of your business. SEO isn’t about ticking boxes and there really is no ‘one size fits all’ method. So we always make sure to have an initial consultation with our clients before we work on anything because it is important to understand what your goals are, what you believe you are offering customers that competition isn’t etc. We also provide monthly reports with statistics, what we’ve done, what we are planning and if we’ve had any special ideas that could help. Get in touch today for more information or to book your free consultation. Call: 0121 66 66 534 or email: sales@e4k.co