Efrat’s guide to Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) has evolved rapidly since the early days of Google, Yahoo and AskJeeves. From the wild-west of niche websites built solely on a labour of love and HTML, to flashy, beautifully-designed pages perfectly built to capture your attention – and your dollars.
Luckily for us, our Digital Marketing Director Efrat has seen it all! With 15+ years of experience already under her belt, Efrat is our resident SEO expert, building robust strategies for our clients looking for long-term traffic and lead generation from organic search channels. We sat down with her to find out more about her unconventional start in the industry and what best practices businesses can utilise to take their search engine ranking to the next level.
SEO then & now: An unexpected journey
My SEO journey began before SEO was even a ‘thing’ – before websites were optimised for search. It all began when my website began drawing in a good number of email enquiries and phone calls from Google, further investigation revealing I was ranking #1 for many relevant keywords!
Back then, SEO was straightforward. By putting the right keywords in the right places, increasing traffic and gaining traction was easy for my niche website. As the space has become more and more competitive, finding an audience through organic search alone is a challenge, with many not seeing the results they want due to short-term strategies and ineffective techniques.
Black-hat SEO: How outdated techniques are harming your ranking
These techniques, known as ‘black-hat SEO’, may seem like a smart move on the surface. If the algorithm is looking for credible websites that match a user’s search query, focusing on building credibility and covering as many relevant keywords as possible would be a quick way to rise up amongst the search rankings, right?
But search engines can’t be “tricked” like this for long – your website’s ranking can be affected from even the first bot crawl.
Following multiple algorithm updates from Google across the 2010s, ‘black-hat’ techniques were penalised, ushering in a new age of intent-focused search. Now, poor quality content, keyword-stuffing and low-quality backlinks, for example, are far more likely to harm your website’s search ranking than benefit it.
It’s all about the user!
Today, user experience is key. Alongside prioritising mobile-friendly pages and broader keyword matching in recent years, Google is focused on decreasing low-quality search results, announcing new core-ranking and policy updates to reduce spam and unoriginal content. Now more than ever, it’s vital to consider how new users experience your website.
When I first review an SEO client’s website, I consider the following:
Are the website’s technical elements well-optimised?
Site readability and speed, for example, can have a significant impact on the user experience.
How easy is it to find information that I need?
This includes looking at the website structure, links within the site and outbound links leading to more relevant external information.
Are elements like the Page Title or Meta Description leading users to the right information?
These elements are shown in search results, so an inaccurate and difficult to understand description could be the difference between that user clicking through the page or not.
Is the website accessible for a variety of users?
For example, a low-contrast colour palette may impact colour-blind users, or inappropriate use of image alt-text to stuff keywords could turn away those using screen-reading software.
Keep it simple and searchable
With user experience in mind, it’s time to go back to basics. While further optimisation is important for the long-term, starting with a few key ‘white-hat’ techniques can make a big difference to your website’s ranking.
Focus on high-quality, relevant content for your target audience.
Take some time to research and come up with a list of core keywords that resonate with your ideal customer, check search trends and insights, then develop content that addresses terms by potential. You can monitor the success of these by reviewing your website analytics to see changes in the time spent on the page (e.g. increased average engagement time and a lower bounce rate).
Build strong backlinks – quality over quantity!
Rather than reaching out to directories or irrelevant websites for more inbound links, integrate your link-building efforts with PR and trade events your business is already involved in.
Optimise the technical elements of your website.
Making changes to improve your page load times or the quality of your Page Titles makes navigating your website much easier and enjoyable for users.
At its core, SEO is about growing website traffic in the long-term. By investing in building a high-quality website that is well-optimised for discoverability, you ensure your website receives more relevant clicks from search engine traffic, leading to sustainable sales growth over time.
With the right strategy, even the most niche website can find the right audience. That’s the power of great SEO.
Need an agency to build the perfect SEO strategy for your business? Let’s chat: get in touch or drop us a line on 1300 528 680.
