SEO Optimisation: Increase traffic to your website

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of increasing the traffic to your website by increasing the visibility of your website to users of a web search engine like Google. SEO refers to the improvement of unpaid results (known as “natural” or “organic” results) and excludes direct traffic/visitors and the purchase of paid ads.

Basic SEO built-in

Out of the box, your site built on WordPress is already technically quite a good platform for SEO.

I give you a head start with search engines before you even add content. I use:

• Lightweight theme that create valid HTML markup and includes built in schema.org structured data. Being just 30kb, it loads very quickly.
• Yoast SEO / Rank Math – My web design packages come with the #1 WordPress SEO plugin installed and configured to your needs.
• Use Structured Data (FAQs, How-to) so that search engines can read the code and use it to display search results in a much richer way.

Your sites rank well in google – just add good content!

On-page vs Off-page SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) includes on-page and off-page SEO. Both are crucial to running a successful SEO campaign.

• On-page SEO is what you can implement on your website to make it more visible in Google
• Off-page SEO includes everything you do outside your site to drive traffic to your site

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO includes your content and your website structure (technical). Take care of the both!

Content

Most critical and often forgotten or neglected aspect of SEO. There is no point in creating social media and ad campaigns only for your visitors to hit the back button within a few seconds of seeing your site content. Ensure that your content is:

• engaging – no one wants to read a ton of text; keep it short and sharp, include images and videos
• easy to read – simply large chunks of text into easy to read lists
• easy to understand – write in plain English, avoid Jargon and making assumptions
• relevant and helpful – write content that is relevant to your industry
• conversion focussed – write content that will engage your visitors and turn them into customers and
• original – don’t get penalised by Google for plagiarism; it is a quick way to lose all your rankings

Watch this video on How to Write a Blog Post That Actually Gets Traffic

Website Structure

The way your website is built and what you add to your pages and posts has an influence on on-page SEO. Your site needs to convey the right signals to Google and other search engines. I give you a leg up by installing Yoast SEO, the #1 SEO plugin or Rank Math and showing you how to configure it the right way. Also, have a look at my posts below for SEO tips and tricks.

Basic on-page optimisation steps

Optimise your pages and posts for people and your content will rank better.

To ensure that your pages and posts rank well in Google and end up driving loads of organic to your site, you need to take care of a few things when writing your posts or pages.

Read my post: How to Write a Page or Post That Gets Lots of Traffic in 2021.

Off-page SEO Services

Off-page SEO is all the actions taken outside your website that impact the rankings of your website in search engines. Off-page SEO can be time-consuming and challenging.

Off-page SEO includes things like:

• Backlinks – when some other website creates a link to a page or a post on your website your site receives a rankings boost (tiny). You can create backlinks manually by writing guest posts on other blogging platforms, helping people in forums and commenting on blogs.
  To improve your Local SEO, get your business listed on top online directories for your business – simply submit your NAP (name, address and phone number). Learn more about Citations for Local SEO.
  The best way to grow your backlinks and traffic is to create content that other people find invaluable, link to you and share.
  
• Social Sharing – Whilst Google has confirmed that social signals are not a direct ranking factor, your presence in social sites can help you build an audience. This is critical for new business. A must for any new business is Google My Business – enable reviews and comments.
  If you have an eCommerce store, displaying your products on Facebook or Instagram shop would open your business to an untapped audience. Get in touch if you want me to set this up for you.
  
• and a lot more…

If you are willing to create content – my affordable SEO packages should take care of most of your on-page SEO needs. Get in touch today!

Advanced SEO

If you are after results-focused off-page SEO and other advanced SEO tactics to take your business to next level, I can recommend an agency purely focussed on SEO.

Tips for hiring an SEO specialist

Some recent posts on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

• SEO without plugins
• Prevent website content theft – a simple method
• Koko Analytics – privacy friendly WordPress analytics 
• Create a How-to guide in an SEO-friendly way (using Yoast How-to Block)
• How to Write a Page or Post That Gets Lots of Traffic in 2022
• How to create a Table Of Contents (TOC) in WordPress with/without plugin
• Canonical URLs – What are they? How to add using WordPress Yoast SEO
• SEO Content Silos to Rank Competitive Keywords & Improve Site Usability
• How to add FAQ page in WordPress
• Yoast – SEO for everyone

My affordable SEO packages take care of your on-page SEO needs – you just need to write good content. Get in touch today for simple SEO that works!