Search engine optimisation for beginners: updated for 2023
If you have a website, chances are you’d love to know how to reach position #1 of Google search results.
You know the old joke:
Question: Where’s the best place to hide something?
Answer: Page 2 of Google search results.
In all seriousness, not many of us scroll beyond the first page of results. If the answer isn’t right there, we’re more likely to change our search rather than click to the next page.
To make things more difficult, there’s less space these days for organic (unpaid) results.
When I searched for ‘search engine optimisation’ the first 4 results were paid adverts. Then one organic result. Followed by Google suggests (people also ask) before the main results appeared. Other types of search may have a featured snippet, video, or local map to content with too.
How can SEO help with organic search results?
Most of us have heard about SEO (search engine optimisation). But we commonly think it’s way to techie for us mere mortals to understand, and costs big bucks to hire an expert.
It’s true, there are technical elements to SEO, and you are likely to need an expert for those. But there are also lots of simple things you can do to improve the chances of your website ranking higher in search results.
First things first, what is SEO?
SEO is the process of making your website better for search engines. The aim is to increase its visibility in search results, meaning more people are likely to click and view.
SEO is a combination of activities to improve your ranking organically (ie. unpaid). Advertising to reach the #1 spot via PPC (pay per click) is a whole other topic.
The vast majority of people in the UK use Google as their search engine. In the year December 2021-December 2022, Google had nearly 93% of the search engine market share. So when improving your website for search results, it makes sense to look at what Google have to say.
And Google has over 200 different ranking factors to consider when choosing which websites to show at the top of search results. Google also regularly update their search algorithm to reflect changes in technology and behaviour over the years.
In 2022, we saw Google’s Helpful Content Update to the algorithm. It signifies that Google are looking for websites to publish helpful, reliable, people-first content.
And, while we’re here, what is Google’s stance on AI (artificial intelligence) created content? The answer straight from Google goes right back to the helpful content update: Google are looking for content to be written by people, for people. They want to show content which is “helpful, reliable and people-first in nature”. So it’s not that AI content specifically is bad, just that any content written purely for search engine results will not rank well.
If you write online content, it’s crucial to have at least a basic understanding of these principles.
Some simple SEO techniques
Ok, down to the nitty gritty!
Or, to jump right into a summary ⬇️
Grab the free checklist here for 40 simple things you can do to begin working on your search engine optimisation.
1. Create frequently changing content
Search engines look for up to date websites.
Notice how I put a 2023 update at the top of this blog post? That’s because Google et al know the original post was written a few years ago. And in search engine terms, that’s ancient!
So, by updating the content and adding a date to say when, I’m letting search engines know that it includes up to date stats and information.
The job of a search engine is to provide answers to search questions, so:
Cover topics in depth,
Publish original content, and
Write helpful information for people
Publishing regular content such as blog posts also lets search engines know that your website is up to date. And, if you’re providing lots of new content for visitors, chances are they’ll keep coming back to look.
My blog post ‘Is blogging dead?’ has a whole load more information.
2. Work on getting backlinks
Backlinks are inbound links to your website from other websites.
They’re important because they signal to search engines that you have something helpful, interesting, and informative on your website. It’s kind of like a vote for your web page. And, websites with a high number of backlinks tend to get ranked higher in the search results.
BUT, be wary.
There are good and bad backlinks!
Good backlinks
These give a good customer experience.
They provide value, directing people to trustworthy websites which show the results they’re looking for. The best backlinks happen organically (meaning you’re not paying for them) and are from websites linked to your industry.Bad backlinks
These tend to be spammy.
They’re often sites you don’t want associated with your brand. Or they’ve been bought from paid link schemes and are low quality links. Quantity is not always the best thing and bad backlinks can do more harm than good.
3. Research (and use) keywords
Keywords help search engines understand what kind of information is on your web page. They’re the words people use when searching for information related to your product or service (eg. running shoes for women).
Once you’ve identified the keywords, there are specific places to put them on your web page to help search engines find the content.
There are tons of keyword analysis tools available online to help you determine how popular and how competitive a specific keyword is.
Some of these are paid for, and some are free:
Google Ads
Ahrefs keyword generator
Semrush keyword research
Moz keyword explorer
Long-tail keywords are usually less competitive
If you’re just starting out, you may find it helpful choosing long-tail keywords <= click the link to see what these are.
Long-tail keywords are usually less competitive so you stand a better chance of your website being shown higher up in the search results.
You could also check the keywords your competitors use to come up with your own list.
When using keywords, remember that your content should still read well.
An old technique used to be repeating the same word over and over. But search engines are much more sophisticated now and using that technique will damage your ranking.
If in doubt, write for humans first.
Sign up for the checklist here to see where to put your keywords.
4. Make things easy to read
Search engines look at how long someone stays on your web pages. If they read, scroll down, and click on other links, it’s a fair bet the information was helpful.
But, if someone leaves immediately and returns to their search results, it tells search engines it was a poor result for that question. Meaning your web page is less likely to be shown to someone else asking the same question.
The reasons for people clicking off your website straight away could related to the content not giving the right answer. But there are tons of other reasons it could happen. For example:
Slow loading speed
An old fashioned looking website
Big blocks of text making it difficult to read
Difficulty finding the information needed
Poor mobile design
It’s important to create a design and layout which is easy for people to read and navigate. That means using:
White space
Short paragraphs
Headers
Bullet points.
It also means writing content and blog posts in a user-friendly way which engages and captures people’s attention.
Read ‘How to create search engine friendly blog posts’.
5. Check your site is user-friendly
Building on the previous point, a user-friendly website can mean huge improvements in your search results.
Here’s where we get a little more techie, but stay with me!
Google now ranks websites via mobile first.
That means everything has to look as good (if not better) and work as well on mobile devices. Choosing a mobile responsive web design is vital as it means your website will automatically resize for different devices. If you have a recent web design, it’s likely that mobile responsiveness will have been built in. But older websites may need updating.
Broken links can stop search engines from crawling your website.
In simple terms, crawling is when search engine software finds and read your web pages. Broken links often show as 404-error pages. So, if a search engine comes across a 404-error page with no links to help it move on, it will get stuck and leave. The best way to stop this happening is to run your website through a broken link checker every so often, then go and fix the links which have stopped working.
Grab the SEO checklist here for more tips on making your website user-friendly.
6. Maximise your local advantage
The internet is a hugely competitive place. But you can reduce the competition by using your local advantage.
For example, it’s easy for your website to get lost in a generic search for a ‘Graphic designer’. But, by adding your local town, say ‘Graphic designer Sheffield’ there will be less businesses are vying for the top spot.
It also means that anyone wanting to work with a local business is more likely to find your website.
Another great way to maximise local searches is by having a free Google Business Profile. This means your business will appear in local Google searches and maps. To add even more credibility to your profile, ask customers to post a review on your Google Business Profile.
Joining local online business directories will also boost your local profile.
In summary
Most of us do online research before choosing who to buy from. So it’s important to have a search engine friendly website which people find easy to use.
Trying to work on all of Google’s 200 ranking factors would be an overwhelming task. So I recommend picking a few from my checklist to make a start. You can add to that over time to build your SEO.
But, if you’re expecting to see an immediate increase in clicks on your website, you’ll be disappointed.
Search engine optimisation is an organic process, meaning it will take time to see results.
Google Ads
If you’re looking for immediate results, it may be worth considering paid advertising using PPC (pay per click) via Google Ads. If you pick the right keywords, it will usually be a much faster way to get to the #1 spot in Google search results. But the results tend to drop off once you stop paying to advertise.
Organic search engine optimisation
Whilst organic search engine optimisation can take months for you to see a return, the results tend to stay with you longer. For example, a handful of evergreen posts written a few years ago on my outdoor blog are still bringing large numbers of people to my website every month.
There’s often a place for both paid advertising and organic SEO in your strategy.
To grab a summary of this post, along with a tick list of things you can do under each section, sign up to download my free SEO checklist here.
A few useful links
Checking the speed of your website:
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Google Analytics to track your website traffic:
https://google.com/analytics/
Google Search Console to help measure your site’s search traffic and performance:
https://search.google.com/search-console/about
Google Insights to help understand current trends:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/