things you didn’t know about SEO

(but should)

If your business is online (which it should be in this digital age), the chances are, you’ll have heard of SEO. SEO – or Search Engine Optimisation – is key to the success of your website. In short, SEO involves improving the quality of your website to increase the quantity of traffic to your site via search engines like Google. And, unlike paid advertising, SEO targets raw, unpaid traffic by working to get your website ranked higher on Google. It can be a difficult world to navigate, especially because there are more than 200 factors that can influence where your website ranks. 

Here, we discuss five surprising things you might not know about SEO – but probably should.

1. You need to give the users what they want

While focussing on relevant keywords is at the foundation of a strong SEO strategy, to get one step ahead of your competition, it’s vital that you take a user-first approach. Having this approach means that the content of your website will be shaped around what your users need – remember, not all those visiting your website will be at the same time of their purchase cycle.

In general, there are two main types of user: 

• Those who are ready to buy: The person who’s done their research, so knows exactly what they’re looking for and now they just need the solution (the solution ideally being your business). Consider these visitors as those who are ready to buy, they just need a brand to buy from.
• Newcomers to your brand: The visitor who is new to your brand, and so needs to be fed as much information as possible about your products and services. Your content will trigger the beginning of your relationship with these visitors.

With that in mind, you need to ensure your content speaks to both potential audiences. So for those who are ready to buy, your first 50 words of content are essential in getting them to purchase from you. Whereas, for newcomers, you need to have at least 500 words of relevant, informative and relatable content. Ideally, once they finish reading, they will either buy from you, or you’ll be the first website they visit when they are looking for your product or service. 

2. ‘Page stickiness’ is a ranking factor

How long a user stays on a page still has a major influence on where your website ranks. With that in mind, it’s essential that your content is engaging enough to encourage users to stay on your page – or better still, click on internal links and explore your website.

3. Don’t underestimate the importance of keeping your content ‘above-the-fold’

You’d be forgiven if you thought the phrase ‘above-the-fold’ (content written in the top half of the newspaper) is a term only used in the print industry. However, give ‘above-the-fold’ a digital twist, and it refers to the visible part of your website before the user needs to scroll down. And, making sure the key takeaways and the most important content are included ‘above-the-fold’ is fundamental to capturing the attention of your audience early on, which in turn, will have an undeniable impact on your business’s SEO.

4. Inbound links (backlinks) still matter

Backlinks have been considered crucial when it comes to a website’s ranking for years – and nothing has changed. It is still equally important to build high-quality backlinks to help generate a strong online presence. 

What are backlinks? Inbound links or backlinks are links from other websites that will take users to your website. It’s important to note that for Google to rank you higher, the backlinks need to be relevant and high-quality. The reason is, that the more high-quality backlinks from relevant websites, the more authority Google feels your brand has – thus, a big boost for you in rankings.

How do you get high-quality backlinks? It’s not as easy as it might sound. Our advice would be to work with an experienced SEO expert, like ours at Oxygen Graphics. We will weave backlinking into your SEO strategy, by:

• Ensuring your content is of such high quality that relevant websites and influencers in your industry are encouraged to link to your brand
• Reaching out to other websites and offering the likes of guest posts and collaboration projects etc.

5. Don’t be tempted to use your own jargon – know the customer

Remember we mentioned understanding your customer’s needs and speaking to them – that includes using industry-relevant terminology. As tempting as it might be to attempt to fill your content with fancy words and jargon, please don’t. Know the industry, know the business, know your audience – and use phrases and language that apply. 

If you’re working with our SEO experts at Oxygen Graphics, then rest assured we have access to licenced tools that can see what terms your audience is searching for. By doing this, we can maximise your SEO strategy and ensure the content on your website is engaging, relevant, informative and full of all the right keywords. 

Do you want to climb the ranks on Google? Book your meeting with Oxygen Graphics

Don’t be fooled – ensuring you have a strong SEO strategy takes more than simply adding the odd keyword. It takes time, effort and most importantly expertise and knowledge. Our SEO specialist will get to know your business, your goals, vision and ambition, before creating a bespoke strategy shaped around you. We dive deeper into the world of SEO and look at all factors that could influence where your business ranks on Google.

Book your meeting with Oxygen Graphics today. We will work towards getting your brand climbing up the ranks on Google, increase your online visibility and better still, help turn those visitors into paying customers.