In an online world where brands and users are constantly battling to get their voices heard and content seen, the importance of SEO can often overlooked as a precursor to success.

SEO is defined by Google as:

“The process of maximising the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.”

In layman’s terms, SEO ensures your website is seen within the top results of a search engine like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

With pages and pages of results coming up for searches, you may be asking yourself why a position is important when people have such a wide ranging choice of what to click on. However, its usefulness comes from the fact that the majority of search engine users will be most likely to click on any of the first FIVE results that come up – so if your page isn’t there, neither is the custom.

For many people the concept of SEO may initially seem simple – you just chuck your keywords and a few hashtags on your site and wait to be noticed. But for businesses and individuals who are offering similar content, products or services as others around them, it requires a deeper understanding of the subject.

A simple guide to SEO
1) Ensure your website/blog is easy to navigate
It’s all well and good being in the top five search results, but if people are greeted with misaligned text, photos and un-clickable links, the likelihood of them staying is about as high as a week without rain in the UK – it’s just not happening.

Using simple sites which provide layout templates, or clearing up your social media so it’s not inundated with irrelevant posts from 2010 are both helpful and effective tips.

2) Use hashtags, key phrases and tags
This may seem like a simple concept to many but even the most obvious of phrases may raise your profile.
Using specific as well as non-specific words will be beneficial for people who are looking for what you’re offering but just don’t know it yet!

For example, take the scenario of trying to draw attention to a new rustic kitchen design your business may have to offer:

Specific: company name + kitchen name + new
Non-specific: homeware + home inspiration + home 2017 + decor + rustic

The latter is more likely to gain more site traffic and boost your page to the relevant searches because it targets a wider range of people.

3) Make your content easy to share on social media platforms
This is a really big deal. If someone wants to share your product/service/page, you need to ensure they can do so easy and effectively!

Links with other users are important and will help you to build your profile first online, and subsequently in the real world.

SEO is a massive contributor to raising the online presence of a business these days and once you’ve got the hang of it it will feel part of your daily internet routine.

BUT it does take work – keep it going, keep on top of the new trends, see who comes at the top of the search engine results and work towards their standards of content.

We here at Approach understand that it can be complicated – so why not let us help you take care of your online presence? Get in touch and find out how we can help your business get noticed both on and offline.

Image sourced from Pixabay.