Learn the Basics of SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is key to most business websites, yet it can be a very confusing topic to understand. Taking some time to get a basic understanding of SEO will help you create short and long term goals for optimizing your site.

User Experience

A portion of SEO relates to User Experience (UX). If users do not have a positive experience on your website, it does not matter how well it ranks. Before starting any SEO campaign, it is important to take a hard look at your current site, or even get other’s opinions. Some questions to ask are:

• Is your site modern in its design?
• Is it responsive?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Does it load quickly?
• Does it use headers and images to break up content and make it easier to read?

If you answered yes to all of these, great! If you answered no to one or more, then it might be time to redesign and restructure your website.

Tip: Want more information about sitemaps, page structures, and navigation? We got you covered! Read our article about Site Structure for more details.

On-Site Optimizations

On-site optimizations refer to updates that can, and should be made to an existing site. These are sometimes called "On Page" optimizations as well. These include:

• Site Security
• Page Load Times
• Navigation and Site Structure
• User Experience
• Image Sizes and Descriptions
• Sitemaps

There are numerous free tools that Google offers that can provide information about your website, as well as your website visitors, including: Analytics, Page Speed Insights, and Mobile-Friendly Test. Analytics provides information about bounce rates, site exits, and traffic flow within your site. Page Speed Insights gives your site a desktop and mobile score, and even provides optimized images for you. Mobile-Friendly Test shows you if Google views your site compatibile with smart phones, which is important for mobile searches.

Using the above tools can help with the on-site optimizations and provide more immediate options to improve your rankings for SEO. These updates can be considered one of the easiest to understand and accomplish because of all the available online resources.

Tip: Did you know if your site takes 1 second longer to load than a competitor’s, you may be losing customers? Read more about site optimizations in Designing for Performance.

Keyword Research and Usage

With over 1 billion websites online, the internet has become saturated with general content which has changed how users search. Many years ago, searching only required one or two keywords; now it usually takes three or more keywords to specifically find what users are searching for. Finding key phrases of three to five words with lower competition will increase your rankings, especially if your business is in a saturated market. Google’s “related searches” can also provide valuable keywords.

If you have high competition for general phrases that relate to your business, try finding a niche that you can optimize. For example, searching “web design” returns millions of results. AVIBE could optimize for localized results for by adding “Web Design Oregon” or even smaller with “Web Design Portland.”  Even those keywords have really high competition. Using Google’s Related Search suggestions, we could get into more detail with “Portland Web Design Agency” or “Web Design Company in Portland.” Just make sure you don’t get too specific with your terms. Showing up in the first position in Google is great, but will not help your business if no one is searching for it. Google’s Key Planner can provide great insights to the amount of searches per month for specific keywords.

Mobile phones and auto assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa are also changing the way users search. With voice searching, users tend to use complete sentences, like normal conversations. Instead of typing in “Pizza”, users might say “Find a good pizza place that delivers.” This also leads to Keyword Interpretation, localized results, and reviews - our next topics.

Keyword Interpretation

If someone were to walk up to you on the street and ask you to recommend to them a “good place to eat”, you would probably give them one or two of your favorite restaurants in the area. Since a computer cannot recall personal experiences, it uses a combination of keyword interpretation, reviews, and localized results to provide you with recommendations. Google interprets “good” by checking on reviews and ratings posted by other users. Using GPS, Google provides results that are near to you - on your street or neighborhood.

Reviews, Business Pages, and Social Media

As mentioned above, Google takes into account many factors in order to display relevant information to you. The first of these are reviews and ratings left by other users. These can come from Google, or other sources like Yelp. If you are in a business that requires a lot of customer service, such as a restaurant or professional service, having customers give positive feedback can actually increase your rankings.

One easy way to accomplish this is to be sure to claim your Google Business Page. If you Google your business name, most likely you will see the business page to the right on desktop, or in the main view on mobile. Make sure to claim this page, update your information if needed, and add photos. This shows Google you are serious about your business, and increases your local search results by listing an address and contact information for your business.

The last factor is social media. If Google sees social media pages linked from your site, like Facebook and Twitter, it can see how often you are posting and the interactions you are having with your customers. While we would not recommend having social media if you will not be able to update and maintain it, setting aside some time once or twice a week (or more, depending on your business), can be a good marketing strategy in general, while also contributing to your SEO.

Blog Writing

While the term “Blog” may stir up some negative connotations, having a blog or something similar is great for SEO. By keeping it updated regularly, Google has fresh content to index all the time, which makes Google very happy. Blogs are also a great marketing tool, and when done correctly, it highlights your company as a leader in your industry. You should write for your audience and your field, including tips, tricks, and insights to educate your customers. Unless you are an animal adoption agency, don’t post cute cat videos if it has nothing to do with your field. Make sure to keep your blog updated often; having an out of date blog will give off a negative impression to prospective customers.

Create Your Own Plan

This is a basic guide to understanding some components of what is involved in SEO. Just like how every business is unique, creating a plan for SEO should also be tailored to a business’ website specific needs. Instead of asking, “How can I be number one in Google?” you should instead ask, “Am I providing a great experience for my customers on my website?” And remember to remain patient throughout the process of optimizing your site as it usually takes 8-12 weeks to see changes in your website’s rankings. While we recommend partnering with an SEO expert, creating short and long term goals for your website is a great first step in increasing your SEO.