Understanding Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media

SEO can be a hard concept to grasp, especially if you have little online marketing experience. Search engines have progressed at such a rapid rate over the years, as new technology is released and new algorithm updates are rolled out - at the heart of all this change sits the SEO world.

As a business owner or marketing executive, you are well aware of the importance of online visibility. You know that there is no point having an online presence if you have no one visiting your website and reading about what your business has to offer.

We see many businesses each year who want to get their brand out there but don't really grasp how they can do it - in this article, I will explain some key points on search engine optimisation (SEO) so that when you speak to someone about creating a new website for your business, these concepts are clear and understood.

A Beginners Guide To SEO

Let's start by defining what SEO actually is "Search Engine Optimisation" is a term used to describe the process of enhancing the visibility of a web page within search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

SEO is generally split into two areas - On Page SEO and Off Page SEO. On Page SEO focuses on 'on site' factors that can be modified by you to improve your website's rankings by changing HTML coding, adding inbound links from external websites and creating informative content for visitors and search engine bots (also known as 'Googlebots').

Off Page SEO relates to 'off site' factors such as formulating an online marketing strategy and building links from other websites with similar niche targeting into your own website - this can include things like getting guest blogging opportunities on other respected blogs, actively creating a social media presence and getting involved with online communities.

For the purpose of this article, I'm going to focus mainly on On Page SEO as this is something you can do yourself without needing a web designer or developer; however, it's important to understand that SEO is an ongoing process that requires work from other team members in order to give your business the best chances of ranking well.

The Importance Of Keywords & How To Choose Them

When someone searches for something on Google or another search engines, they are given back results based around their query. Google will then automatically rank these search results based on a number of different factors - one of them being the relevance between the keyword typed in by the user and the page title and content shown in the search engine.

The relevance between title and content is very important, not only for SEO purposes but also so that your page ranks well on Google for the right keywords; you wouldn't want to rank #1 for a keyword that isn't related to your business or product - it just makes sense!

Choosing which keywords you want to target is something I always recommend talking with an expert about (someone like myself!), however, there are some basic rules that you can follow:

Use long-tail keywords - these contain more than 2 words e.g. "women's leather boots". This will help you boost your brand visibility within long-tail searches, as many short term calls are commonplace (such as 'buy women's boots ' or 'buy leather boots') which will result in a lot of competition for these shorter phrases. However, if you focus on long-tail keywords, then you'll avoid this and find less competition which can help improve your rankings overall.

Keywords with less search volume are easier to rank for - Google generally publishes the average monthly searches per keyword in their AdWords planner (which we have a guide on) so look out for ones with few hundred searches per month rather than thousands. This is often referred to as 'low hanging fruit' and also means that it's easier to rank highly because of little/no competition.

On Page SEO Tips & Tricks

This section is probably the most important part of this article; here I will give you some actionable tips to help boost your rankings and improve the visibility of your website.

In previous years it was possible to increase your search engine ranking with spammy techniques like keyword stuffing, black hat SEO and doorway pages; however, Google has been actively trying to reduce the use of such practices since around 2012 so if you're using any of these you should now see a drop in rankings due to them being 'unnatural'.

However, there are still ways that you can do this by focusing on creating quality content for visitors and Googlebot - here's how:

Use words which people may misspell or mispronounce - For example, instead of saying 'Stud Earrings' try something like 'Studd Earrings' - this makes it more likely that a user may find your page when they're searching for something similar.

Use LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing) - 'what are stud earrings?' and 'how to wear stud earrings'? These are related searches using different words, which means that if you use them in your content then Google will know what the topic of your articles is about even without seeing the exact query terms.

Include site navigation within your content - If you have a menu section on your website or other links to other pages, include these within blog posts rather than linking out to separate pages; this gives Google extra metadata around the subject area of each post without having to rely on keyword stuffing or doorway pages (which are now seen as spammy, even if they used to work).

The 'Alt Text' attribute of images is very important - Google uses the text in this attribute when it needs information about an image but there isn't any text within the image itself. So instead of using a keyword here, you should just give a description of what's shown; for example, if you have a picture of a plant then write something like "Height: 1m" or "Blooms from April to September". Click here for more details on how to do this correctly!

Social Media & SEO

In today's world, people are constantly looking online for advice and tips before making purchases. This means that social media presences for your business are becoming increasingly important; not only that, but an increase in the use of these platforms is also positively impacting SEO.

This is because social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram allow you to tag any URL, which lets users click through directly to your website from their newsfeed this then sends a backlink (a link that points from one site to another) from theirs to yours which will help improve your overall ranking.

Create an Instagram Account!

Instagram has always been a popular photo-sharing app, however, it's recently gained even more fame due to its stories feature. These let anyone post pictures that disappear after 24 hours allowing users additional freedom! And with over 800 million active monthly users, it's certainly an app that you should be used if your business sells clothing or jewellery.

When getting started on this platform, the first thing to do is create a personal account and start posting some pictures of either yourself or any products that you make (you can also post other things, such as artwork etc); this will establish your presence so people can find you later!

Create an Engaging Presence on Twitter

Twitter has over 300 million active users and is still growing rapidly; it allows anyone to post updates of no more than 140 characters which can include links that let users click through directly to your website - the perfect way for increasing backlinks! You want to keep these posts fairly frequent but don't spam followers every day with the same thing.

The trick here is to write tweets with a high attention span, so for example don't just say "Today's Sale: 20% off!" - what if the user then looks away from their phone and comes back five minutes later? There's no point in tweeting them again! Instead, you could say something like "Brand new collection at our online shop, visit now for 20% off everything until 16:00 today (link included)". This way they will be more likely to read your message right through without missing any information that they may have missed!

You should also consider using Tweriod, which is a great tool for discovering when your followers are most active on Twitter and posting updates whilst these people are online; this will get your account noticed a lot more!

Create a Facebook Page for Your Business

Facebook is undoubtedly one of the most popular social networking websites with over 1.86 billion monthly active users (that's around 25% of people in the world!). It allows you to post updates, images and videos which can then be 'liked' by other followers. However, these updates are only seen by around 4-5% of this audience because Facebook uses an algorithm called EdgeRank that decides what posts individual people see based on their interaction with past posts and content; it also prioritises friends so only their updates appear first. This means that fans may never even see your posts! So how do you increase visibility?

You can boost the chances of your posts being seen by increasing engagement with them. This is when a user clicks on an image and it takes them to another page; this then sends an EdgeRank signal back to show Facebook that users are interested in what you're posting. The more of these signals sent, the higher your post will appear for everyone else so keep track of where they all go and make sure they link through to key pages (such as your sales page). Make sure not only do you include images but also a call-to-action (CTA) which prompts users to click - this is vital if you want any chance of success!

Consider Creating Twitter Ads

If you're already using Twitter and have developed a decent following, you might want to consider buying ads to promote your business. This can be done through Twitter's self-service ad platform which allows you to tailor where your ad appears and how much it costs - with the potential advantage of being seen by people who don't even follow your account!

You should try and target relevant keywords as this will ensure that any ads are shown only to users searching for content related to what you're selling so they'll be more likely to click on them! Although keep in mind that most businesses using this method tend not to see returns until at least a month after their first ad is released - so don't expect instant sales!

Try Advertising on Instagram

Another great use of Instagram is to promote your business through sponsored posts. This involves paying to put an image on someone's account who has a following of at least 10,000 users; if they then choose to like or comment on it, their followers will be able to see that it was sponsored and may click through directly to your website!

As with Twitter ads, you need to be targeting people searching for relevant terms in order for this method to work properly - so even though the paid for account is likely only appearing in searches made by close friends/followers of yours, when they click through the ad it should still appear appropriate and seem appealing

Overall these are just some examples of how different social media platforms can be used as advertising tools but there are plenty of other possibilities and methods out there. The trick is to spend some time studying the demographics of each social media platform so you can create a unique message that'll work best for everyone who sees it - then try and get your posts seen as much as possible! There are many ways to do this but after trying them all, I'd recommend giving Tweriod a chance; they allow you to find the best times to post on Twitter which is pretty essential if you want any success at all!

It's not very easy to run your own business on social media, but there are lots of ways that you can try to make it work. Remember that the most important thing is being creative and specific when you're posting updates to your networks. You should also have a goal in mind for what you want to accomplish from the posts - so take time out from fretting about Facebook's algorithm to think about how you can get people interacting with your content!

Home