SEO explained: how can you utilise SEO to boost your online visibility?

From keywords and metadata on webpages to optimised blogs, articles and insights pieces, cost-effective strategies like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help drive traffic to your website by boosting your site’s visibility.

Without proper SEO, your insightful blog posts and website content can go unnoticed and, in some instances, might miss their relevant audiences altogether because of the way search engines interpret the content.

Here we explore the best SEO practices, detailing their benefits and how organisations can boost visibility, generate positive Search Engine Results Page (SERP) results, and utilise specific keywords effectively.

Conduct thorough keyword research

Keywords are the bedrock to how your content can get noticed. Try to imagine Google scanning your blog for specific words that are highly searched terms – this is how keywords work. Identifying the right keywords attracts users and drives the audience to your website, increasing the chances of conversion.

Effective keywords should relate to the topic of your blog and the search entries of your audience. Don’t focus on more than three primary keywords per blog and dedicate time into ensuring these keywords are situated generously throughout.

Optimise on-page SEO

Most content marketers consider on-page SEO as the administration or the ‘under the hood’ workings for your blog or article. On-page optimisation ensures your content is easy to navigate and readable. If search engines can understand your content, you can improve your ranking potential.

On-page SEO involves utilising your chosen keywords throughout the page title, meta description and URL – all of which need to fit strict numerical parameters to maximise SERP authority. Don’t forget to also ensure images have alt text to ensure images are recognised by Google. However, accessibility should remain the priority when adding alt text.

Create high-quality, engaging content

All content needs to provide a benefit to the reader and serve that purpose. Your content needs to address the user intent – ask yourself what your audience is searching for and debate whether your content addresses it. High-quality content keeps readers on your page longer, reducing bounce rates and establishing your site as a trusted source of information.

Make your content concise and address the main point of the content right away. Structuring blogs with H1, H2 and H3 headings can help order your content and make it accessible by providing a natural, organic journey for the audience.

Build backlinks

Building a bank of content is vital to build authority on search engines and retain the attention of your audience. A way to achieve this is by creating content clusters, which can be three or four blogs that relate to a topic or a series of keywords, and link back to each of them in all three or four blogs.

Each backlink assures Google your content holds weight and can be trusted. Backlinks from reputable sites signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy and can significantly improve your rankings.

Optimise for mobile

This is often the most overlooked piece of advice; ensuring your content is made and designed for mobile.

There is a huge argument to suggest that all online content should be made for mobile first, as data strongly points to audiences consuming the majority of their content on mobile devices instead of laptops or desktop computers. Mobile friendly sites are favoured by search engines and improve rankings.

If you don’t consider mobile optimisation, audiences can find content extremely hard to read or even generate on their browser. Don’t forget to ensure your Content Management System (CMS) that your website is hosted on is fully mobile optimised.

Utilise social media

Content can’t be found if it isn’t promoted. Social media can drive significant traffic to your website so it’s crucial to ensure all content is shared and promoted across as many platforms as possible – with each post optimised to each platform.

Focus on how to appeal to your audience, whilst ensuring your tone of voice is consistent with the values of your brand.

Monitor and analyse performance

Your content is written and published, now comes the most rewarding part: understanding what went right and what could have been better. Most CMS platforms can provide basic analytics such as reach and the average time spent on pages. However, it’s also useful to monitor the success of the keywords used and whether they are right for your content cluster or other topics moving forward.

Implementing the best SEO practices is crucial for boosting visibility, driving targeted traffic, and improving overall engagement.

Investing in SEO not only helps in attracting more visitors but also in establishing your website, and its blog content, as an authoritative and reliable source of information in your niche.

At Effective Communication, we take pride in working closely with our client to maximise their SEO success, from blog conception to promotion across social media. Talk to us today about your goals