Search engine optimisation or SEO may seem like a complicated thing. SEO companies are offering their services at high monthly costs, but do you really need them? In most cases, the answer is no. The following are some of the basics for improving the ranking of your website in the main search engines.

1. Understand how people search

Once you start understanding how your audience is using search engines, then you will be able to optimise your website more successfully. There may not be one keyword or key phrase that people always use to search for a particular topic, so it is important to cover a number of different ways that people may search for your content.

2. Write content that is interesting

Sounds obvious! The aim is to pick the right keywords and key phrases that your audience would use, but in a way that the content remains useful and interesting. So, you start by writing content that actual people would find interesting. Only afterwards do you go about tweaking it to improve the search engine optimisation. Just chucking in lots of keywords will be spotted by Google and other search engines! There is a balance between good content and good optimisation.

3. Analyse how people searched for your website

By discovering which are your most popular posts and pages, you should be able to understand what is popular about them, that you can then repeat elsewhere. Also, by seeing what are the keywords and key phrases that are most commonly used to reach your site, you can see what works, but also get a picture of where you may be missing out.

4. Optimise for mobile devices

People are spending more time on their smartphones every year, which means that you cannot ignore mobile optimisation. You need to ensure that all versions of your website are fast to load, but you also need to understand how people search differently when out and about.

5. Improving user experience

You need the right balance between great content and great user experience. By analysing your current bounce rate and the time spent on site, you can see how engaged visitors to your site actually are. Writing regular content is great, but only if people actually stay on your website long enough to read it!

6. Don’t forget social media

Searching habits are changing and it is important to understand the different ways that people can find your content. This is where social media can be so useful.

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