Five handy tips for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

1. Search engine optimisation and keywords/phrases

   Ensure that target keywords are in the website addresses you use (URLs) and that titles and meta tags (descriptions) are checked for relevance and popularity with searchers. Audit which pages rank for which keywords. Then make sure you use the right keywords to improve content on these pages.

2. Build quality inbound links

   This is all about the relevance and credibility of the inbound link to your website. The link must be of high quality in terms of content and source credibility. By providing fresh and relevant content via blogs, other websites or newsletters, you can create or gain quality links back to your website. Others may want to bookmark or link to it too.

3. Authority

   Score well for Google PageRank (via links) and become a social media authority. Generate well-reviewed content and connect with experts, thought leaders and gurus as they will provide valuable authenticity and implicit endorsement for your website or blog.

4. Experience

   Foster good user experience on your website. This means having low bounce rates, so people don’t leave immediately as it is not the content they wanted or expected. Ensure fast page load speeds by keeping it simple and avoid having too many images. Provide easy navigation so they can find their way around your site. It goes without saying that you should have a well-designed website too (aesthetics).

5. Content

   Create new content and keep the site fresh by regularly updating existing content. An editorial content calendar may be useful here (of course containing the right keywords/phrases). You should submit a sitemap to Google and this should contain internal links to indexed pages. Atomise content across social media, this means identifying places where your content could be included.

Source: adapted from Barack (2011) and Jackson (2007) seachenginewatch.com