The 360 Company Blog

Simple SEO - 6 Quick & Easy Tips to Boost your Business Website

We all want our business to rank as highly as possible on Google searches, so getting the right information on your website is essential.

Even when you're using the services of a web designer, if you want to ensure a high performing site - and one which maintains its position - it can help enormously if you invest a little extra time and effort yourself.

A Brief Overview of SEO

A good place to start may be a simple explanation of what search engine optimisation (SEO) is. When someone enters a search question into Google, computer processes and formulas known as algorithms find answers for them. Google has developed 'spiders' which 'crawl' your website to determine if the information held there is valuable in search results.

SEO is the method of making sure the spiders find good content on your website, making it relevant to Google searches and therefore more likely to perform better in these.

If you're new to SEO, here are a few ways you can begin to give your website a boost:

1. Good Content

Along with great design, the content of your website will determine its success. Having relevant, clear text which delivers the right business message to your target audience is essential. Search engines are looking for sites with content which gives interest and value to visitors.

Don't forget to include text which mentions the products/services you are selling and your location, both of which are essential to help your site perform well in local searches.

For ideas of keywords and phrases to optimise your content for searches, see Google's Keyword Planner.

2. Build Inbound Links

An inbound link is a link to your website from a different site. Links from quality websites to yours tell site crawlers that your site must be an authority on a certain subject. As a result, your website is more likely to rank higher in searches.

An effective way to build inbound links is by including informative and helpful details in your web pages to encourage other site owners and bloggers to link to them. Publishing articles/blogs online, commenting on posts in public forums with links to your website, guest blogging, sharing links on social media and including your web address in good business directory listings can all help to grow inbound links.

3. Google My Business Listing

Google My Business holds information on your business which directly influences what customers see when searching for businesses like yours on Search, Maps or Google+. We set up your basic business information on Google My Business when we produce a virtual tour or you can do it yourself here. It's essential that you then verify ownership of this page with Google, giving you access to ensure all your details are completed - and kept up to date in the future.

Did you know you can help your search performance by assigning up to 10 different business categories to your listing? You should also include keywords/phrases in your business introduction that customers are likely to be using when searching online. Google prioritises businesses with the highest ratings from customers too, so it's a good idea to do all you can to encourage (and respond to) customer reviews.

4. Other Business Directory Listings

Business directory listings provide extra opportunities to boost your local search visibility. Make sure all entries are accurate and consistent, with your business details completed in full, including that all-important link to your website. Using relevant keywords will help, although be aware that overuse of these can negatively impact your results.

Completing local listings doesn't have to cost anything more than a little of your time either, with a number of good online free directories such as Yell.com and Thomson Local.

5. Keep Active

Fresh, high-quality content will help visitors stay longer on your site. The amount of new content, together with the level of traffic to your site and how long visitors stay engaged, show Google how popular your site is and, as a result, helps with SEO ranking.

Ideas for fresh content include: adding videos, regular blogging, special offers, setting up a 'Latest News' page (and frequently updating it).

6. Use Social Media

It is increasingly believed that search engine crawlers are monitoring and including social signals in how they decide on page rankings. Google will position your website higher if it sees that you are a credible source, and good social interaction helps to affirm this. OK, most of us don't have time to be active on all social channels but, depending on your business, it's a good idea to consider using 2 or 3 out of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest.

Plus, if you're regularly posting high-quality content on social media, you are likely to increase traffic to your website as a result.

Better Reach builds websites with search engines in mind using designs, keywords and descriptions which optimise the chances of performing well. We set up sitemaps, meta descriptions, page titles, header and image tags to help Google find your site, and we'll optimise the design for mobile searches. For more information call us on 0117 325 4325.

Date: 03 February 2016
Author: The 360 Company