Put simply, SEO – search engine optimisation – is the process of using keywords to improve a website’s rankings in search engines.
How does it work?
Each search engine has its own algorithms for ranking results. The search engines scan for keywords, links, URLs, and titles to see where a post should be listed in the results. But this is, of course, done by a machine so you need to carefully consider your words to optimise how your website ranks. For example, searching for “Holden” brings up the Holden webpage first, but searching “cars” brings up carsales.com.au and information on Cars the movie. Specificity and a target audience is key.
What do I need to do?
Follow a few simple rules to improve your SEO:
- The post’s page filename and path should have keywords in it. For example if your post is about Apple product pros and cons, you would use something like www.website.com/apple-product-pros-cons.
- Title tags should also include the title and a brief description of the post using more keywords. E.g. < title > Apple product pros and cons – the benefits and drawbacks from Macbooks to iPhones to iPads.< /title >
- The keywords meta tag can be used, but it does not typically hold as much value as other factors.
- Use headings tags to tell the search engines what the post is about and where the headings are. Use < h1 > for the first, then < h2 > and < h3 > further down the page.
- Also use keywords in image URLS. Change the settings and names of each image to contain keywords from the title. E.g. Rather than screenshot-04-05.jpg turn it into apple-macbook.jpg.
- When using links, always choose to link keywords and phrases throughout the post. This will again help the search engines to find important factors of the post.
- Repeat keywords and keep it consistent, but don’t overdo it. Review keywords on WordPress using an SEO plugin.
For more information on WordPress and plugins, visit our WordPress as a CMS post.
Remember you can also sign up to Google Analytics to easily keep track of your page views and where traffic is coming from. This will help you evaluate your SEO and marketing tactics and keep improving.
Contact us at Studio Culture if you need some expert help with your social media, marketing, or SEO.
