FAQ's

Helping you learn SEO
What is SEO and why is it important?

If you are reading this, then you may have already heard the term SEO or SEM, possibly because you have had many emails from people since you registered your website or possibly because you have looked into how you can get more customers to your website and improve your search results ranking on Google. Either way, you want to know what SEO is, so let's begin.

First things first - SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is split into two distinct principles called 'on-page SEO' and 'off-page SEO'. Being good at one doesn't mean you are good at both, and companies offering SEO may only be offering one part.

Those two parts of SEO work very well together, and it is always advisable to do both, not just one.

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page is all about making your website or page the best it can be. The internet has rules, and It's a good idea to abide by them, much like a car has to be safe to drive, so you need an MOT; a website has rules it should follow too - usually, so Google and other search engines know how to categorise it.

There are things in an HTML document that make up your web page called Meta-data; this metadata, along with HTML headings and other informational tags, helps Google get an idea of your page.

Every page and every HTML element plays a part, and they all need to be used in the best way to get a competitive advantage over your competitors. But that's not all!

This is important, so pay attention to this next bit.

Though metadata and headings, headers, and the rest is essential, their importance has been reduced due to misuse. So you must have good content. You may have heard the phrase "content is king", well that is an easy way of saying that the most important thing is content. Good content means people will come specifically for it. Informative, helpful, and great descriptions. It is, of course, different for every business, but your content should be top-notch. Some people hire a copywriter or a specific SEO copywriter. Some people try to go it alone and struggle - it is hard to see yourself from the point of view of a customer.

We will be adding some tips for those who want to DIY the process and even have copywriters and editors offer to check and advise you on your copy without writing it. If that's something you are interested in, get in touch. But really, the content has to be good!

What about Off-page? On to the next box!

What is Off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO is the yang to on-page's yin. Where on-page has to do with everything you have direct control of on your website, off-page is about your website as seen by the rest of the internet.

Even creating and submitting a sitemap to google is off-page SEO and building importance for your website is the main goal. Google has an SEO guide, and it even suggests things like printed communication as a way of increasing your presence, and this can work.

Imagine a scenario where two children have an amazing toy in the school playground - news spreads about the awesome secret toy and some kids go to have a look. Slowly two groups of kids start to gather around the children with the toy - one at one end of the play ground and one at the other. Eventually, the bigger crowd will indicate which one has the more amazing toy, or which one spread the word better.

Many people make the mistake that simply having a website means people will come to it - but think about how many websites exist that you have never looked for. You need to tell people and Google that your website exists and that it is awesome. Then gradually you can start getting customers to it. until the SEO takes hold, we can get people there with ads if it is required. We like to tailor it to your exact needs.

What is Search Engine Visibility?

Well, besides a product that GoDaddy offers, it is simply a term for how visible you are in and to search engines.

Page one position one of Google gives you almost 100% search engine visibility whereas page 10 gives you very little. Everyone with a website wants to improve their search engine visibility because increased visibility will attract more people.

You either sell products or services, and customers generate sales, or you run a blog and visits create ad views/clicks - but either way, more customers/visitors is usually a good thing, and an improved search engine visibility or rank is the way to do it.

How do I rank higher in Google?

"How do I rank higher in Google?" is a common question. To rank higher in Google search results, you need to tell Google you have the most relevant website for your specific search term or keyword.

Google is the world's number one Search engine, but what is a search engine? A search engine is computer code, an algorithm, and pretty much AI or will be soon. It is a relevancy engine. You enter a search phrase, and Google decides, out of the millions of websites, which would be relevant to your search. The more relevant the result, the happier you are! If it's not what you were looking for, go back to Google to try another link or refine your search.

Imagine you and your competitors are the best life-size Lego builders in England (Imagine this is your chosen keyword), but no one can find your site. You've just finished building it, and it doesn't even appear on the first ten pages of Google search results. You are ready to give up already and turn to drink. Don't give up.

It would help if you had a way, a magical way, of telling google that your page deserves - not only to be ranked in the first ten pages - but maybe even page one, position one. But how? SEO, of course!

Optimise the content, the user experience, the images, the page speed, and the content! Make sure your content is the best! If that sounds hard, then hire SEO experts to help 🙂

What is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO refers to all aspects of on-page SEO besides the written content (SEO copywriting) and doesn't usually include off-page SEO. It is the foundation for the rest of your website to be built upon. Technical SEO is about the core setup of the website and includes a set of well-documented best-practices for websites and includes:

  • HTML, CSS, PHP and all aspects of the site's code
  • Site structure and URLs
  • Page load speed
  • Security
  • Mobile compatibility
  • Analytical tagging

 

Why is technical SEO important?

The technical aspects of SEO are like the foundations of a house or an MOT for a car. They are the foundations for which the rest of the website is built, that gives your website the best possible chance to rank highly in Google and other search engines. They are similar to an MOT because it doesn't matter how expensive of flashy your car is, it will still have to pass the safety checks and 'rules' of an MOT.

The rules of technical SEO as set out by Google and other search engines specifies a set of best practices to follow in order for Google to easily read, understand, and index your website. If your website can't be read properly then it will be unable to rank highly.

Whether you have a static HTML website or a dynamic CMS based website such as Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal etc., we can help.

Do We Offer SEO Training?

We can help guide your in-house marketing team with their SEO, as it is a great idea to constantly think with an SEO mindset. We can also train you or your team so you know what to look out for and best practices with SEO.

What is SEO Repair?

Sometimes things go wrong, and If they do, you may need some help to get this back on track. The most common reason for SEO repair is when you get a shiny new website but haven't adequately planned the migration from the old site to the new one. A slip in Google rank and a slowdown in sales or leads is usually an indicator, so you check your ranking and disaster! You have fallen from page one! This drop in ranking is due to many reasons.

If you have had search engine optimisation on your old site, but the site that replaces it breaks some rules, it can send you back a few steps. It would be best if you fixed your previous SEO efforts to work with the new website. That is SEO repair!

A better way of doing it is website migration! (We do that too)

What is Website Migration?

Website migration is as the name suggest, migrating a website and its content from an old website to a new one. This can be moving from old hosting to new hosting, or something more demanding. It is vital to consider SEO during the planning stages of the new website, so you can migrate without seeing a decline in your SERP's (Search Engine Results Page)  position.

What is Keyword Research?

To understand keyword research, you need to know what a keyword is. Wikipedia states that a keyword, AKA index term (also known as subject term, subject heading, descriptor, or keyword), is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document. Index terms make up a controlled vocabulary for use in bibliographic records. They are an integral part of bibliographic control, which is the function by which libraries collect, organize and disseminate documents. They are used as keywords to retrieve documents in an information system, for instance, a catalogue or a search engine. Finding the right keywords is vital to your bsuiness.

So the next time you use a search engine to look up 'dog treats' or 'the best cat tree for under £100', know that you have used a keyword or keyphrase to search for a web page among millions to find what you are after. And the search engine will find the most relevant page to show you.

Now imagine you have a product, and you want to know what people are searching for in order to find your product or your competitor's product. That information is valuable because you know where to spend your marketing or advertising budget.

Imagine when you started your business if you could find the best keyword for your business to rank for, find out how much money it generates, and how hard it is to rank for. How valuable would that be? That is keyword research.

However, just because we say 'keyword' doesn't mean it has to be one word. This of the way we write versus the way a computer might see it.

'The best dog bed I can buy for my dog' becomes best + dog + bed + buy.

It's about a balance of words and how you can link meaning between them. So if you just search for 'best beds', you would have very different results compared to 'best dog beds'.

Our keyword research involves looking at current searches and your competitor's keywords to figure out the best strategy to get quick results and also build up momentum over time to gain more over time. So we will help you at every stage of your SEO journey.