Have you heard about SEO?

L&D Free Spirits member Stuart Birley – Pathfinder Digital Consultancy, outlines what it’s all about and debunks some of the common myths around SEO in his first guest blogpost.

Have you heard about SEO? Do you know how to make it work for you?

You know of it’s importance when it comes to Marketing, but aren’t sure where to start?

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, in the simplest of terms, is all about improving your website so it shows up more prominently in search engine results. Imagine you’re looking for a recipe online. You type ‘best chocolate cake recipe’ into a search engine. SEO is what helps certain recipes appear at the top of the list.

Your first question might be, how might one go about getting to the top of the list?

How does a search engine know which pages to display and in what priority?

Well, that is something called Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and uses all sorts of clever algorithms under the hood to create rankings. Search engines use sitemaps to crawl through your website periodically, to get all the juicy content it can find, and then indexes your website to relevant search keywords.

Nowadays, keywords that are overused, are penalised in lieu of quality, concise and consistent content that all paints the same picture. SEO at a top level involves several components:

Keywords & Metadata: Identifying and using the relevant search terms that your target audience is using to advertise your offering
On-page SEO: Optimising individual pages with keyword-rich content, meta descriptions, and title tags.
Technical SEO: Improving the site’s backend structure, like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and XML sitemaps.
Off-page SEO: Building high-quality backlinks from reputable sites to increase authority.
Content Quality: Creating original, valuable content that meets user needs.

SEO Debunking the myths

Currently online and social platforms are saturated with offers to solve your SEO problem, without the need to expend time, effort or money to achieve what you want. This is simply not true! When in life is anything that easy? If it all sounds too good to be true, then it most likely is!

Now let’s debunk some of the common myths currently surrounding SEO.

SEO ‘Out the box’ solutions

Many companies push the idea of a ‘magic’ SEO solution, promising quick fixes that rarely deliver long-term results. These quick fix promises often lead to disappointment, as genuine SEO growth requires time, consistency, and adaptability’. One example ‘Out the box’ solution would be the advice to load your website with keywords.

Keywords are the building blocks to Search engines. They are how it knows what to present back when someone searches using specific words. This often gets referred to as SEO Metadata and SEO Keywords. Keyword loading isn’t a golden ticket; it’s more likely to get you penalised by search engines for keyword overuse as mentioned prior.

Another example, buying backlinks off the shelf for instant SEO success is a myth; search engines value quality and relevance, not shortcuts. Backlinks are where external websites link back to your own, and relevance is where the context of the linking site matches that of your own site. Some companies may claim to offer relevant backlinks, but genuine, high-quality links take time and investment to build.

Are you SEO relevant?

While ranking high on search engines is important, it’s equally crucial to focus on the quality of your content, calls to action, reputable cross-links, referrals, and your overall reputation.

Ultimately, successful SEO relies on a holistic approach: focusing on quality content, ethical practices, and genuine user engagement. Being yourself and authentically representing your brand.

Just do you!

Where do you rank?

Let’s start with an example of what a good SEO strategy may look like: as described above with a chocolate cake recipe, the first page of results receives an estimated 95% of traffic. So, it is safe to say that trying to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) is important; however, it is so much more nuanced as I explain below.

What’s your plan?

A successful SEO strategy integrates all these elements, focusing on quality content, user experience, and ethical practices to boost visibility and engagement. Having a sound marketing strategy, knowing your audience, what you offer, and how your products or services bring value is the best place to start!

Once you have defined the above, your content strategy should revolve around telling your story:

Who you are
What you do
Why you do it
How it helps your customers

Your content then represents your brand and showcases the above points, throughout. Content and copy hosted on your website should be genuine, organic, and relatable to your brand. It should be purposeful and have an end goal, often referred to as Calls to Action, i.e. What do you want the customer to do next?

Supporting your SEO journey

In an overwhelming world of digital information, buzzwords, and sites, Pathfinder Digital Consultancy recommends the following:

Google – The Numero Uno in search engines

Have a go at googling yourself, your business and what you think your ideal audience may search for. Where do you sit? Are you showing?

What does Google recommend you search for instead? Those “Did you mean” suggestions? They’re based on clever tech that acts as a cheat sheet for common search terms.
Google Search Console and Google Analytics – Both are free
These tools link to your website and provide dashboards and loads of data about your traffic, patterns, geography, searches, and more.

SEO Audit tools such as SEOptimer or Ahrefs

Caveat! – they shouldn’t be taken too literally. Many sites that rank Number 1 often have warnings and issues reported by these tools.

Use them as guides to improve your website’s content and usability.

Accessibility – differentiates you from the competition:

Use image tags and ALT text, these are technical tags to help accessibility software read screens for the visually impaired

Add captions to video content, to be inclusive of the hearing impaired

A Trusted Marketing Partner – like Maisey Marketing, one of Free Spirits’ corporate partners – who can support your brand and marketing journey, so it nicely dovetails in with the technical side of SEO.

So, to summarise, it is easy to fall into traps with SEO, likewise, it is as easy to become overwhelmed and confused by the technical lingo surrounding it all. Get in touch today, should you wish to discuss through any of the topics covered above.