SEO has a reputation for being complicated, technically challenging and something of a dark art. But the reality is that it doesn’t have to be. Getting a start on improving how your website shows up in search results can be quick, easy and even free.
How complicated SEO can be usually depends on how big and complicated your site is, how much competition you have and how ambitious you are.
The key takeout there is that the basics don’t have to be complicated!
This quick guide will take you through 13 things you can do reasonably quickly and easily to improve your SEO fundamentals without needing a master’s degree in marketing.
We’ll give you actionable tips across technical SEO, content and local SEO.
But what is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the technical, user experience and content of your website.
The goal is to make your website more visible in search engines for keywords that relate to your business goals.
SEO considers:
- How search engines work
- What people search for
- Why people search
- The actual terms or keywords typed in
- Which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience
Technical SEO tips
Technical SEO can refer to any aspects of SEO that happen “under the hood” of your website; but the most important aspects are making sure:
- Search engines can access your website
- Pages on your website load for users
- Pages that should be accessible don’t return errors like 404s
There’s not much point in doing any SEO if your site doesn’t get added to search engines and pages don’t load for users. Here are five things you can do to set the right technical foundation.
1. Set up Google Search Console
Google Search Console is one of the most useful tools for understanding how your website is appearing in search results and identifying and troubleshooting problems that can affect its search visibility.
Setting up Search Console is fairly simple, especially if you use one of the most popular website builders:
2. Create robots.txt and sitemap.xml
Make sure your website has robots.txt and sitemap.xml files. These are both valuable for making sure search engines can find and access your pages.
Robots.txt provides instructions and “rules” for how search engines should crawl and index your site.
You can use sitemaps to make sure search engines can easily find and access all the pages on your website.
Creating these key files is usually very easy with settings or plugins for most website builders, and instructions can be found online.
3. Submit your sitemap to Google
Before your website can be found on Google, it has to be found by Google. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit and wait for Google to find it.
Once Google Search Console is set up and you have a sitemap, all you need to do is click “Sitemaps” under the “Indexing” menu on the left and enter the URL for your sitemap where prompted.
For most websites, the sitemap URL is: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
4. Keep an eye out for indexing issues
If Google ever has any issues with pages on your website, it will let you know via Search Console.
The Pages report under the Indexing menu will list any pages on your website that can’t appear on Google for any reason.
Our best tip is to create a calendar reminder once a month to check this report for any URLs with issues.
You especially want to keep an eye on 404 errors through this report.
5. Test your page load speeds
Google dislikes pages that load slowly just as much as people do, and pages that load too slowly or that have other loading issues are likely to perform worse in search results.
Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is free to use and gives your pages detailed scores for loading performance as well as concrete recommendations on how to improve.
Content SEO tips
Content is essentially the information your website visitors see on your site. For that reason, it’s the most important signal to search engines about:
- What your website is about
- How expert and authoritative it is
- The quality and depth of your information
- How well you are matching search intent
Making sure you have good quality written content on each page that matches what people are searching for is key to successful SEO.
Here’s 4 things you should be doing to make sure each page on your website is a good match for what people are searching for
6. See what searches you’re appearing for
Google Search Console gives you a tremendous amount of information about how your website appears in search results.
For any URL and any time period in the last 16 months, the Search results report will tell you:
- What searches (Queries) you appear for
- How many times you appear (Impressions)
- How many times your website was clicked (Clicks)
- The click through rate (CTR)
- How high you rank in search results (Position)
This data is incredibly valuable for finding the keywords and searches you should be focusing on.
7. See what your audience is seeing on search results
SEO professionals often get caught up in numbers, data and spreadsheets but the best way to understand a keyword is to look at what the search results look like to the people searching them.
Even better, it’s free and easy! Just enter the keyword in Google and take note of what kind of results you see.
These are all clues to the intent behind the search and the type of content that tends to perform best. Maps, videos, products, featured answers, blog articles, review sites and Reddit threads can all be big clues.
8. Apply your learnings to your content
Compare your content to what you can see ranking in Google for the keywords you’re interested in:
- Does your content meet the needs of the searcher? (intent)
- Is there any information you should add to your content?
- Are you using the right format of content?
- Should you consider targeting a different keyword instead?
9. Don’t underestimate your metadata
Metadata refers to a special version of the title and short description (or summary) of your page that is written especially to appear in search results (or in social shares).
Because these versions are what searchers use to decide whether to click the search result and visit your page, they are incredibly important.
Check out our guide on metadata for information about what these are and how to optimise them for SEO.
Local SEO tips
Local SEO is the practice of search engine optimisation applied specifically to local, or location-based, search results.
The focus of local SEO is first and foremost on improving the visibility and traffic from search results for queries that are relevant to your business and to your location.
It also has a focus on improving your organic search performance for queries generally in the locations where you do business.
Here are 4 things you can do right now to improve your local SEO.
10. Think locally on your website
Make sure your website is clear about what your service is and where you operate.
You want to make it as clear and unambiguous as possible that [your business] is an expert in [service] in [area].
Behind Google search is a system that measures the strength of the association between each of these three things, so the stronger they are the more likely you are to rank well for your service in your area.
11. Claim and verify your Google Business Profile
Whenever you see a business location shown in Google search results – whether it’s a restaurant, store, auto electrician, cat cafe etc., Google is showing you a Google Business Profile.
These are listings for locations which allow the owners to add photos, videos, and key information along with the address and contact details – as long as you claim and verify it.
Here’s what to do:
- If a listing exists for your location, find a link on the listing to allow you to claim it.
- If a listing doesn’t exist, create an account and create your listing from scratch.
- If you already control your listing, you just need to log in.
- Follow the directions within the listing to verify your location – this usually involves receiving a postcard or a phone call with a unique code.
12. Complete your profile with all information
It may seem daunting, but to maximise your chances of appearing in local and map searches, aim to complete all of the available fields with accurate, high-quality information and media – and make sure that there’s a link to your website!
The key elements of listings are:
- Identifying/logistical details (including NAP – Name, Address, Phone Number).
- Descriptive and categorical information.
- Rich media(e.g. Images and videos.
- Posts from your business.
- Reviews and other user generated content.
13. Find additional listings online
Find other listings for your business online – and key directories/websites you should be listed on and make sure you have accurate profiles there too.
Steps to developing a list of target directories:
- Export the BrightLocal top 50 local citation sites for Australia list to use as a reference/template.
- Review all directories with a current or missing listing.
- Add any industry or niche-specific directories that you know of.
- Don’t forget about websites like comparison sites, review aggregators when putting this list together.
- You can also use tools like SEMRush to identify any directory sites linking to your competitors or other websites in your niche that aren’t linking to you.
Beware of any directories that ask for payment for listings. Unless they are a reputable organisation in your industry with genuine membership benefits, we recommend staying clear of them.
Follow these tips to get started with SEO
By following these 13 quick and free tips, you’ll be well on your way to boosting your site’s SEO without any hassle. From setting up Google Search Console to tweaking your content and local SEO, these steps make your site more attractive to search engines and users alike. Plus, they’ll help your site rank better and improve user experience.
Remember, SEO isn’t a one-time thing – it’s something you need to keep up with regularly. As you get the hang of these basics, you can dive into more advanced strategies and keep improving. Keep experimenting and learning to stay ahead in the SEO game!
