As a new business owner, it can be overwhelming to start your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) journey. Getting a well-designed website is one thing, optimising it for Google is another game. In order to build your online presence, obtain leads and establish a loyal customer base, you will need to be fully visible on search engines.
What is website visibility and why is it important for search results?
To establish a strong foundation for your new business, it’s crucial to develop an online presence. Website visibility refers to how easily your website can be found and accessed by users through search engines like Google or social media platforms. A high visibility is super important for your business to reach your target audience, gain leads and increase brand awareness.
Website visibility, also known as search engine visibility, forms the basis for you to implement SEO techniques like incorporating the right keywords into content so your website ranks well for them. When a user searches for “hair salon in London” and that applies to your business, you’ll want to be in the top search results.
Websites that hold the top 3 positions on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) have the maximum visibility and get noticed the most. Research by HubSpot shows that 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results so your SEO goal needs to be a high Google ranking.
What is on-page SEO?
The process of making optimisations directly to your website to increase search visibility is known as on-page SEO. Search engines like Google have bots that they send to crawl different websites and gather information about the content on these sites. These bots work with the Google algorithm to decide whether the website’s content is valuable and create a ranking for your site which is visible to people searching.
On-page SEO is essential for every business and their online visibility. Implementing on-page SEO techniques can lead to a better user experience (UX) for your website visitors, increased website traffic and improved search engine ranking. Ultimately, on-page SEO can help your website reach its full potential.
On-page SEO tips for ranking on Google search
So, after your professional website is up and running, how do you go about optimising it for search engines? At Cariad Web Design we build websites with optimisation in mind, so you’ll be in the best possible position to start with SEO. Our friends at Cariad Marketing can really take your SEO game to the next level, but for now, here are our top tips to get started with on-page techniques:
- Conduct keyword research
By including the relevant keywords in your website copy, your site will be better optimised for Google. A keyword is considered relevant if it targets specific search queries and appears when users ask for related information on search engines. Conducting keyword research involves creating a list of topics related to your business, visiting free SEO tools like Google Trends or Surfer’s keyword research tool to discover keyword volume and competition and creating a list of relevant keywords to use in content.
- Prioritise content creation
When starting out in your industry, it’s important to portray your business as a thought leader. This means conveying authority through high quality content on your website. We set up your blog page for you so it’s ready to fill with great insights. Be sure to use the same keywords you identified previously and incorporate these into your blogs.
Ensure that you write well-researched, comprehensive posts and establish a specific tone of voice to stand out from the crowd. This can be tough due to the consumption crisis, but if your blogs are both informative and engaging, you’ll be able to break through the clutter. The key is consistency – so stick with it!
- Optimise title tags, meta descriptions and headings
Optimising your title tags and headlines means including relevant keywords in them. A meta description is the bit of information that Google pulls for SERPs to give users a brief overview of what your website page is about. The better optimised this is, the more likely it is that your site ranks higher. Plus, a well-crafted description can attract a user’s attention and improve your click-through rate (CTR). Think of it like this – optimised meta tags can be the reason a user chooses your site over a competitor’s.
- Set up Google Search Console
When it comes to SEO, Google Search Console is your best friend. It’s a free tool that provides insights into your website performance including clicks, CTR and impressions so you know what’s working and where to improve. The Search Console will also notify you of any penalties or errors that need your attention. Through this tool, monitoring your website is a whole lot simpler and you’ll be able to see data that can possibly impact business decisions to maximise success.
Get optimised web pages for your site
To kickstart your SEO journey, you first need an ultra fast, ready-to-optimise website – and we can help you out with that. Get in touch with the team to chat more about SEO add-ons for your new website and check out our portfolio to see the beautiful designs we can create.