Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an essential digital marketing strategy that helps businesses improve their visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). For Australian businesses understanding the fundamentals of SEO and applying them effectively can be the key to standing out in a competitive online market. In this blog we will walk you through the basics of SEO and provide actionable tips on how to improve your websites ranking on search engines such as Google and Bing.
Introduction to SEO
SEO is the process of optimising your website to rank higher in search engine results increasing the organic traffic to your site. When potential customers search for keywords related to your business you want your website to appear at the top of the search results. The higher your website ranks the more likely customers are to click on your website, driving more traffic and customers to your business. Almost 70% of all clicks from Google search results are on the top three results. If your business isn’t ranking in the top three for relevant keywords you’re missing out on 70% of the potential customers.
96% of Australians are internet users and the majority of them heavily rely on search engines to find products, services, and connect to businesses. Having a solid SEO strategy is crucial for success in Australia.
Understanding the Australian Market
Before we dive into specific SEO strategies it’s important to understand Australia’s digital landscape.
- Search Behaviour: Australians often include location-based keywords in their searches, such as “best cafes in Adelaide” or “electrician near me”. Australians often want to support local businesses even if they could get the same products from an online store. This means that local SEO should be a critical aspect of your strategy.
- Mobile phones: Approximately 90% of Australians own and use a smartphone. With this high rate of smartphone usage, optimising your website for mobile devices is critical. Google prioritises mobile friendly websites, so ensuring your site is mobile responsive can significantly impact your ranking.
- Competition: Australian businesses across all industries are increasingly focusing on digital marketing. But your business may not be competing with just local businesses. Depending on your industry you could be in competition online with national or international companies. To stand out your SEO efforts need to be well targeted and consistent.
Key SEO Focuses
Keyword Optimisation
Keywords are the foundation of SEO. They are the terms and phrases that users type into search engines to find the products or services they are looking for. So how do you ensure you’re ranking for the relevant keywords?
- Identify Keywords: Using tools like Google Keyword Planner you can find keywords that your target audience is searching for. While Google Keyword Planner is meant for finding keywords for Google Ads, those keywords are still relevant to your business and should be used in your SEO strategy too. You will want to focus on a mix of short tail keywords (digital marketing) and long tail keywords (affordable digital marketing services in Adelaide). Long tail keywords will include one or more short tail keywords, helping you rank for both the long tail and short tail keywords at the same time.
- Content is King: Content on your website is incredibly important for your SEO strategy. You need to integrate your target keywords naturally into your website’s content, including titles, meta descriptions, headers, and body text. However this does need to be done naturally. Keyword stuffing can get you penalised on Google, don’t just include dot points of all the keywords you want to rank for. Informative and educational content, such as blog posts and service pages, are the most effective way to introduce targeted keywords to your website.
On-Site SEO
On-site SEO involves optimising the individual pages of your website to rank higher, gaining you more relevant traffic and potential customers. What are some of the key aspects of on-site SEO?
- Titles and Meta Descriptions: Create informative and keyword rich title tags and meta descriptions. The title tag and meta description are what a potential customer will see on the search results when your page comes up. It’s important that this first impression converts that view into a click on your page.
- Header Tags (H1, H2, H3): Proper use of header tags help search engines understand the structure of your content, making it easier for them to rank your page for relevant search queries. The general rule of thumb is that each individual page should always have a single H1 tag, no more, no less. Then the H2 tags are the sub-headings for the rest of your page, and H3 tags are any sub-headings that come under the H2 sections.
- Internal Linking: It’s important that your website presents a good user experience for the customers. Having clear links to other important relevant pages, easy ways to navigate your website, and a clear site structure, all contribute to users staying engaged on your website longer. A clear site layout also makes it easier for search engines to crawl your website, finding the relevant keywords and leading your site to rank better.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to backend optimisations that help search engines crawl and index your site more efficiently, while also improving the user experience. What should your focus be for technical SEO?
- Website Speed: You want to ensure that your website loads quickly. Google has indicated that site speed is a factor they take into account for search result rankings. It’s also important from a user experience perspective that your site loads well and is responsive.
- Mobiles: With the large number of smartphones in use in Australia having a mobile responsive website is crucial. Google provides a Mobile Friendly Test tool that you should utilise to optimise your site for mobile devices.
- Sitemap: Creating and submitting a sitemap for your website helps search engines understand your website’s structure. This enables them to find all of your content and rank your site for your target keywords you’ve included in the content.
Quality Content
High quality content is the heart of effective SEO strategies. Your website’s content is how you tell the search engines what results are relevant to your website. When creating content what should you consider?
- Value: Your content needs to provide value. Ensure that your content addresses the needs and questions of your customers. You’re not going to rank for a relevant keyword if you’re not providing valuable information that is relevant to that keyword. Additionally, high quality informative content is more likely to be shared and linked to, which will then boost your SEO.
- Images: Incorporating images, infographics, and videos to your content will make it more engaging. Visual content is not only more attractive to customers but also helps with SEO if you optimise it with alternative text and tags.
- Consistent Updates: Keeping your content fresh and up to date ensures the information is still accurate and your customers can rely on it. Regularly creating new content such as blog posts keeps your site relevant and active in the eyes of search engines, making them more likely to rank your site higher. New content is also a great way to add new keywords to your site if you release a new product or you’re offering a new service.
Analytics
It’s important to regularly monitor your website’s performance to ensure that the action you’re taking is having a positive impact on your website’s rankings. Thankfully Google offers two free tools that you can use to monitor your website’s performance.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics allows you to track your website’s traffic, user behaviour, and conversions. The data that Google Analytics provides can help you to understand what is working and where you need to improve from a user experience perspective.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console provides insights into your site’s performance on Google. It can give you information on your average ranking, what keywords you’re ranking best for, and your click through rate for those keywords. Google Search Console also provides alerts for any issues that may affect your ranking, such as crawl errors or mobile responsiveness.
Improving your website’s ranking in Australia requires a comprehensive and well implemented SEO strategy. If you just focus on improving in one area your results will be disappointing. Your SEO strategy must be well rounded and include all SEO factors if you want to see good results.
It’s important to remember that SEO is not a short-term effort, but an ongoing process. You need to ensure that every new page added to your website is optimised and also keep adapting to changes to the search engine algorithms. Search engines regularly update their algorithms, and the updates can have a major impact on your rankings if you don’t adapt to the changes.
SEO can be a large and confusing beast to tackle, but luckily you don’t have to do it alone. Anomaly has local SEO specialists on staff ready to take on the SEO for your website and help you start hitting the front page of search results. Contact Anomaly today to find out how we can help your business.