Search engine optimization is the process of improving your website’s visibility on search engines. Businesses today leverage digital channels to connect with potential customers and one of such channels is the search engine.
A search engine is a web tool that crawls the internet, archives information from different websites, and serves that information to users that are relevant to their search query. Examples of search engines include Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
Search Engine Optimization: Why Your Business Should Be on Search Engines.
When we mention search engines in this article, we will be referring to Google— it dominates the market share in this part of the world. Having your website content served to search engine users when they search for certain keywords that relate to your business can prove to be a game-changer for your business in many ways.
Search engine optimization is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies because it helps you connect with potential customers at the point when they’re looking for a service similar to the one you offer.
Think of it this way, imagine a field marketer or sales agent trying to sell an orange to someone who’s in the market looking to buy an orange, their job becomes very easy because there’s an underlying interest already. This is simply the case with search engines, people who search for something related to your business already either need the service or product or are looking for more information. Either way, there’s already an underlying interest, or you wouldn’t need to do too much to convince them to do business with you.
Underlying interest and being able to predict a user’s search intent are two major advantages of search engine optimization.
Now that we have understood how search engine optimization can help our business, let’s look at how to implement this very effective strategy.
The How of Search Engine Optimization:
To have a very effective search engine optimization campaign, be sure not to miss any of the following steps.
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Carry out an In-depth Keyword Research:
This is the very first step in any search engine optimization campaign and a very important one too. Keyword research will form the basis of your SEO strategy. It gives you an insight into what your potential customers are searching for, how many people are searching for it, and the level of competition for that keyword.
It also gives you an insight into what your audience is looking for and what you should try to write about to improve the lives of your audience, gain their trust, and ultimately get them to do business with you.
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Optimize Your Website’s Structure and Architecture:
This is also called technical SEO. There are certain requirements your website must meet to rank high on the Google search results page and increase visibility. Some of these include website speed and ease of navigation on your website.
Below are the technical parts of SEO your website must comply with to increase its chances of ranking high on Google search results pages:
- Verify the website on Google Search Console
- Create and submit a sitemap
- Robot.txt
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Verify Your Website on Google Search Console:
Verifying your website on the google search console step is a very key step to optimizing your website for SEO. Without this, all your efforts will yield no results as Google would have no idea your website existed.
Verifying your website on Google is telling Google that you have just finished your website and you want them to index it and add it to their archive of information this is so that whenever there is any search for such information they can access your website and serve it as a resource to the user.
Steps to verifying your website on google.
- Search for google search console online.
- Type in your domain name as shown in the picture below.
- You will be given a verification code to copy and paste into your DNS Zone editor.
If you are feeling discouraged because you’re not tech-savvy. That’s not a problem, we’ve got you covered, just contact us and we will take over your SEO strategy from the scratch and see your organic traffic soar.
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Search Engine Optimization: Optimize Website Speed –
How fast a webpage load is a very important factor to Google when deciding which page to serve to users when they search online. A slow webpage gives an overall poor experience to users and they usually tend to bounce from such websites.
Google wants to give its users the best experience and hence, will only serve content from pages with a high load speed on their search results page.
You might be worried about how you can get to analyze your website page speed, this is no issue at all. You can know how fast your website loads using the free Google tool page speed insights. This tool will tell you how fast your website loads and what you need to do to improve its speed.
Doesn’t that sound like what you would like to bother yourself with? Click here to get help from professionals on our team.
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Optimize Your Images
The images on your web pages also have a role to play in your SEO strategy. Factors such as file size, file name, and alt text contribute to your overall SEO health.
For instance, heavier images contribute to the resulting weight of your website which in turn reduces the speed of the website. Remember what we earlier discussed about the speed of your website? Ensure you reduce your image file size to as low as possible while still retaining the image quality.
The file name also plays an important role in SEO. Your file name should reflect the keyword you’re targeting for the webpage on which it is to be deployed. For instance, if the keyword you’re targeting for the page is “dog kennels”, your image name should be “dog kennels” and not “IMG40409305042021”.
This also applies to the alt text for your image.
You might be wondering, “how can I change the file name on a website that has been launched?” Don’t worry, it’s possible—you would have to scan through the website and change the file names one after the other.
Although these steps are clearly outlined, it can be a very tedious endeavor that requires expertise. To access details on our SEO solutions, click here and book a free consultation.
Let’s take your business to the next level through properly optimized SEO.
