A Guide to: SEO The Basics

SEO:
The Basics
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE
BASICS OF SEO IN A FREE HOW-TO GUIDE

What is SEO and why does my website need it?
SEO:
The Basics
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
is the process of getting traffic from
search results on search engines.
Google and other search engines
rank and display pages it considers
relevant and authoritative. SEO
combines both technical and
creative elements to improve your
rankings in search results and drive
traffic to your site.
Having said this, SEO isn’t solely
about driving search engine traffic;
it’s also about optimising your site
for the user. This guide offers a
breakdown of the basic elements of
SEO and why each are important for
your site.

Starting point:
Keyword Research
The first thing to consider when thinking about SEO is the words or
phrases people will likely search for that relate to your business, product
or services. Ranking well for relevant keywords can make or break your
website.
It is important to attract the right kind of visitors to your site, as visitors
interested in your site are likely to result in financial rewards or other
organisational goals. However, until you know what words and phrases
are relevant to your website, you cannot properly optimise your page
and the content within it to draw in traffic.

Keyword
Research
When thinking about keywords, you
need to consider how well it will convert
to actual rewards. Consider whether
searchers will find what they are looking
for when they come to your site using this
keyword – are they likely to spend time
on your site once they arrive?
Next, look into what other websites
already rank for the keywords you have
in mind. If many search ads appear in the
search results of your chosen keyword,
then it typically means a high- value
keyword. There is a range of tools to help
with your keyword research; see our
favourite resources listed at the end of
this chapter.

Long Tail Keywords
The best keywords are the ones that
have the most searches… Not quite. The
most popular keywords tend to be broad,
generic terms such as ‘dresses’. However, in
reality, these terms make up less than 30%
of searches performed on the web. The
remaining 70% is made up from what is
termed ‘Long Tail’ searches.
These are unique searches made up of
specific words and phrases, such as ‘Blue
Maxi Dress size 10’. Long Tail keywords
convert much better than generic
keywords. For example, the person
searching for ‘blue maxi dress size 10’
has a specific item in mind and is much
closer to purchase than someone simply
browsing for ‘dresses’.

Long Tail Keywords -
Continued
It’s not just important to understand
how popular a phrase is with
searchers, but also how hard it is to
rank highly with that certain search. If
big brands in your niche take the top
ten results in that search and you’re a
relatively small company, it could take
more effort than it would be worth to
rank well for that search. This is where
long tail keywords are your friend.
The more specific the words and
phrase are, you’re less likely to be
targeted by a bigger competitor,
and so your page has a better
chance of being ranked highly for
it. Finding appropriate keywords
for your site; which you also have
a good chance of ranking well
with, should be the foundation of
your SEO strategy.

Now that you know what keywords you
want to incorporate, you need to optimise
your web page, so search engines deem it
worthy of a good rank.
However, this is not simply a case of sticking
keywords all over a web page’s HTML
so that a search engine picks up on it!
Search engines use complex algorithms
which analyse user experience (their inclination
to stay on the site, link to it and
share its content).
Most SEO’s now opt for a rounded
approach and are willing to sacrifice
perfect keyword placement in favour
of better user experience. That said,
wherever possible, keywords should be
optimised throughout a page.
ON PAGE
SEO
Here are the six crucial ways you should
be optimising your keywords:

Optimise your keywords
1.
’Title tags’ (page title):
Usually, it should be an accurate and concise description of a page’s content.
Title tags are used on search engine results pages (SERPs) to display
previews of a page. They are key to how a search engine determines the
relevance of a page and also dramatically increases the searcher’s inclination
to click. Optimising Keyword for search engines and user visibility
should, therefore, be the prime goal.

Optimise your
keywords - Continued
2. Headings:
Generally, you should only have one H1
heading per page and then a few subsequent
H2 subheadings. These headings
should contain keywords while being relevant
to the content on the page.
3. Body Text:
Using your keywords within the content
of your page is vital, though it should not
just be placed randomly or be overly used.
Search engines assess the relevance and
quality of keyword placement within the
body of the text.

Optimise your keywords - Continued
4. URL:
The URL should describe a page to visitors and search engines. Keywords
that appear in a URL help search engines determine relevancy directly.
5. Meta Description:
Meta descriptions are not used
directly in search engine rankings,
but they are still important. If the
Meta description incorporates
a keyword query, it will usually
show up in the search results and
can play a big part in whether
users decide to click through.

6. Images and Image
alt attributes:
For search engines to be able
to properly index an image, ‘alt
tags’ need to be added to the
image. It can help the image
show up in an image result
of a search and, indirectly,
it is useful to have a visual
representation associated with
a brand name or site.
There are some fantastic resources to help
you with keyword placement and on page
SEO in general.
While optimised Keywords within the
features of a page produce reasonable
correlations in search engine rankings,
other on page elements often have an
even greater impact. The most significant
of these elements is the actual content on
the page. Content is the reason people click
and stay on a website; keyword placement
should never compromise what you are
writing about. The content on a page
should be unique; it should offer specific
information on that topic and provide the
user with valuable insight.

Site Structure
Your site structure is also crucial. The way the
pages on your link together has a big impact on
rankings. A good site structure provides your site
with site links, which increase the navigability
of your site and point users to the most relevant
information. Sitelinks improve the user’s trust in
your site and will ultimately boost your rankings.
Your site structure should be logical, there
shouldn’t be too many main categories, and you
should balance the amount of subcategories
within each category.

Site structure - Continued
If you don’t get this basic element right, it
will be very hard to develop a successful
SEO strategy. A strong site structure
should allow both users and search
engines to navigate your website. An SEO
friendly site structure gives your site a
solid foundation from which you build up
your SEO strategy throughout the rest of
your site and beyond.

Off Page SEO
Unfortunately, having a beautiful site with
great content, and keywords optimised
to the max, sometimes isn’t enough to
rank well in search engines. Activities that
exist outside of the boundaries of the web
page can have a huge impact on search
engine rankings; we call this ‘Off Page
SEO.’
Link building is perhaps the most
important aspect of Off Page SEO. Search
engines attribute a lot of value to who
and how many people are linking to a site.
A website that has lots of links from other
websites is considered by search engines
to be an authority within that particular
topic.
Similarly, trustworthy sites tend to link
to other trustworthy sites which search
engines also deem to be an indication of
an important site. There are three basic
types of links:
Outreach, natural and self
created

Off Page SEO
Types of links
Outreach
Outreach link building makes up a crucial part of link building. It
requires manually contacting bloggers and creating a proposition
whereby you explain why a link to your site would be in their interest,
usually as a valuable source of information within that niche.
Natural
Natural or Editorial Links are links given naturally by sites that want to
link to your content. These links require no specific action from the SEO
other than that great content is likely to generate links like of this nature.

Types of links - Continued
Self-Created,
Self-Created, non-editorial are links that are created through guest book
signings, forum signatures, blog comments, or user profiles. These links
are relatively low value in terms of search engine rankings, but when
taken as an aggregate they can still have an impact. In general, search
engines continue to devalue these types of links which it increasingly
views as spammy. They have been known to penalise sites that pursue
this type of link aggressively.

Link Building
Link building has become one of the most critical tasks required in
SEO. We will go into much more detail about effective link building
in later chapters. Nevertheless, here are some of the basics of link
building that are important to understanding:
- Avoid links from spammy or irrelevant sites.
- Links within content are more effective than links in a sidebar or footer.
- Anchor text plays the most important role in link building.
- However, if all your links are too rich in anchor text, it can have a
negative effect as Google will become suspicious.
- Reciprocal links (I link to you, and you link to me) are not too effective
and will be picked up by Google.

Link Building - Continued
While link building is crucial; there is more to Off Page SEO. Although
there is no evidence that social shares on the likes of Twitter and
Facebook have an affect on rankings, Google has begun to incorporate
a huge number of social signals into its search results. Someone with a
large social circle, who shares a lot of material, is more likely to see their
material promoted in search results. For publishers, it’s beneficial to
have your content shared influential users with large social followings.

Conclusion
Link building is perhaps the most important aspect of Off Page SEO.
There are three basic types of links for link building:
Outreach link building - It requires manually contacting bloggers and
creating a proposition whereby you explain why a link to your site
would be in their interest, usually as a valuable source of information
within that niche.
Natural or Editorial Links - links given naturally by sites that want to
link to your content. These links require no specific action from the
SEO other than that great content is likely to generate links like of this
nature.
Self-Created, Non-Editorial are links that are created through guest
book signings, forum signatures, blog comments, or user profiles. These
links are relatively low value in terms of search engine rankings. In
general, search engines continue to devalue these types of links which
it increasingly views as spammy.

Link building has become one of the most critical tasks required in SEO.
Avoid links from spammy or irrelevant sites.
Links within content are more effective than links in a sidebar or footer.
Anchor text plays the most important role in link building.
However, if all your links are too rich in anchor text, it can have a negative
effect as Google will become suspicious.
Reciprocal links (I link to you, and you link to me) are not too effective and
will be picked up by Google.
While link building is crucial; there is more to Off Page SEO.
social shares on the likes of Twitter and Facebook have an affect on rankings,
and Google has begun to incorporate a huge number of social signals
into its search results. For publishers, it’s beneficial to have your content
shared influential users with large social followings.

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