The SEO process is a customer journey that starts with a simple search and ultimately achieves some sort of outcome, usually a sale.
People use search engines to find answers, or to look for products and services online.
However, there are so many websites that search engines don’t always know which one to suggest.
SEO optimizes your website, which makes it more likely for search engines to recommend it.
The following are all steps in the SEO process:
Each step in the process can take some time to do properly, but it is something all website owners can work towards.
Optimizing your website for SEO can often require a large skillset, but when stuck, remember that it’s always possible to outsource any part of the SEO process.
A technical audit of the current state of the website should always be done first. This often reveals all the hidden technical errors a website is experiencing.
Technical errors directly affect how high your business ranks in the search results in relation to your online competitors.
When we hear the word “technical” we often think about programmers and coding.
However, “Technical SEO” is more about things that affect User Experience (UX).
When someone searches online, Google wants to direct them to the most relevant website.
If that website has poor UX, the visitor will “Bounce” and go to a different website.
This indicates to Google that maybe it shouldn’t suggest your website to others.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure (Peter Drucker).
SEO is a long-term strategy, and an audit gives you a starting point from which you can measure all your improvements.
While fixing all the technical errors will definitely improve your rank and attract more visitors, the next step in the SEO process aims to bring more website visitors through the proper use of “keywords”.
Google refers to website visitors as traffic. There are many ways to bring traffic to your website, but the two main types are: PAID traffic and ORGANIC traffic.
When someone searches on Google for a specific term, a list of results will be displayed in a particular order.
Usually, the first few results are PAID adverts, and below those are the ORGANIC results.
This is extremely important because the top 3 search results get around 75% of clicks.
SEO matches the words on your website with the words people type into search engines.
For Example:
A website has a page about “garden equipment”, however they don’t get much traffic.
By using some SEO techniques, it’s possible to identify alternative words to use which may attract more traffic.
Next is to identify & select the keyword with the highest search volume
SEO research shows that garden TOOLS get 10 times more monthly searches. Obviously it’s a better choice, and the change can be made.
The content on your website should provide solutions to visitors’ questions.
Once the visitors are on your website, you can link to a page with your products or services.
Through keyword research you can create content that is optimized for search engines, and that has a high chance of ranking well against competitor sites.
Let’s look at an Example:
A website provides lawn-mowing services, and they want to create content that will attract more visitors. But as a website owner you don’t always know what questions are being searched.
1. An SEO specialist or consultant identifies that a popular search query is, “How to mow a lawn effectively.”
2. Next, the consultant works together with the client to create content that is relevant to the search query.
3. Somewhere in your content, you can then direct the visitors to a product or service page.
4. It can take some time for an article to rank in Google, but if done properly, organic website traffic will increase.
Convincing people to buy your product or service online can be challenging.
How effective your website is at converting visitors into customers is called the Conversion Rate (CR), and it is an important metric understand.
SEO aims to improve the CR through optimization strategies. This process is called Conversion Rate Optimization (or CRO)
First define what counts as a conversion for you.
Example: Visitors complete a CONTACT FORM:
In this example,
by optimizing and getting 30 more conversions,
(from 2% to 4%), you can double your online revenue.
Now that you have learned the basics of the SEO process, you are ready to develop your own SEO strategy for your website.
An SEO strategy is a plan that works through the SEO process to really boost your organic website traffic. It’s a long-term plan for success.
But don’t worry! These days there are plenty of resources and videos online that can help explain each step and SEO concept in greater detail.
Wishing you an amazing journey through the world of SEO 🙂