Understanding Your SEO Analysis Report

Understanding Your SEO Analysis Report

by | 30 Jan 2023 | Digital Marketing

Reading Time: 5 minutes

SEO has almost become a buzzword acronym amongst some businesses, insisting that they’ve ‘done it’ and that because they can be relatively easily found online that their efforts have been fruitful. In truth, SEO is a constantly moving and shifting activity and one in which no business can not afford to stop investing time and effort into.

Without specific SEO expert support, the chances are high that a business’ online search ranking will suffer, and that competitors will benefit from this advantage.

Part of the service that the SEO agency or providers working with your business should be providing, is a regular SEO analysis report highlighting the work carried out, the changes and gains achieved by the consistent SEO work, and any issues to be addressed.

What SEO Is, and What Value Working with SEO Experts Brings

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation: the practice of ensuring the content an organisation produces online can be easily read, understood and ‘filed’ by the search engines who crawl their website. The desired result is for a business to achieve the top listing on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) related to queries made relevant to their products and/or services. Being ranked higher than competitors in search results gives distinct advantage as consumers are proven to click the top links first.

For many years, SEO efforts were focused around the basic usage of relevant keywords or terms in text content. This allowed search engine crawlers to easily and rapidly determine the topic of a site and organise its results rankings accordingly. However, as search engines have developed and grown, their algorithms are now considerably more intelligent and thorough – which has resulted in a wide range of factors contributing toward rankings. Indeed this is an ever-changing picture; with it now being estimated that Google makes at least minor changes to its algorithm twice a week.

It is clear, therefore, that businesses cannot afford to stagnate or stand still when it comes to their SEO work. This is why many find it beneficial to work with SEO specialists. SEO specialists not only keep abreast of all of the latest developments in search engine algorithm updates and best practice solutions, but also are able to provide detailed information on areas for improvement.

Why is a Regular SEO Analysis Report Important?

An SEO analysis report is a detailed document that should be issued on a regular basis in order to provide businesses with a snapshot of their current SEO position as well as any threats to this and any potential areas for improvement.

This report works to keep businesses informed on:

    • Their current rankings and any growth or decline in this position
    • The value and ROI of their SEO investment
    • Details of the SEO work or changes implemented since the last SEO Analysis Report was issued
    • The results of any such SEO work provided
    • The growth or benefit to the business receiving increased web traffic as a result of SEO

It is critical that in order to track and analyse ongoing SEO efforts, an SEO Analysis Report must be compiled and issued on a regular basis.

SEO Analysis Report Metrics

A decent SEO Analysis Report should include lots of helpful information for businesses to comprehend their position amongst competitors in search results and on areas in which their efforts could be improved.

Key areas in an SEO analysisrReport include:

Keyword Rankings

Keyword rankings refer to the position in which the business’ website or one of its online presences holds when a search engine user makes an enquiry including a keyword or phrase related to its products and/or services.

The keyword ranking portion of an SEO analysis report will include the keywords and current positioning alongside any growth/improvements and/or any drops in position.

SEO Visibility

SEO visibility demonstrates the level of a business’ online presence when related terms are searched. This will usually include details on organic traffic (non-paid traffic), the keywords most commonly being used to access the domain/s, the conversions being made once on the site, the amount of traffic to the site coming from social media channels (and any other related channels) and the CTR; Click-Through Rate.

SEO visibility gives a great overview of current user behaviour in both reaching the domain and activity once on it.

Traffic

Traffic information delves slightly deeper into the ways in which users access the website. This will usually include organic traffic, paid-for traffic (if appropriate), direct traffic (where a user types the URL directly into their browser search bar), social media referrals and traffic as a result of email contacts; as well as anything else that drives users to the site.

This can be broken down into an overview of current activity, as well as comparisons to year-on-year or relevant period-on-period activity.

Competitors

SEO efforts are made to gain competitive advantage above others. SEO specialists will analyse the top competitors in relation to the business’ website: which may include those the organisation already understands to be their competitors and others they hadn’t considered.

An SEO analysis report will detail the SEO visibility of these main competitors, their keyword ranking, the DA (Domain Authority) of their website and the prevalence/importance of any external links linking back to them.

Bounce Rate and Time On Site

On-site behavioural measurements such as bounce rates are important for not just SEO purposes but also the delivery of a good UX (User Experience). The time users spend on a site is indicative to search engines of the quality of the site’s content, with those who engage consumers for longer likely to rank higher than those who don’t: so businesses must aim to increase this time wherever possible.

The bounce rate of a site is given in percentage format and refers to the amount of users who leave (‘bounce’) from the site. Pages with high bounce rates are unlikely to be providing the perceived value that users are seeking.

Conversions and Conversion Rates

Once on a website, organisations must encourage users to take an action they want them to; such as making an online purchase, supplying their contact details, or registering their interest in a product/service.

These actions are known as ‘conversions’ and are the ultimate goal in having a user visit the domain. A conversion rate is the percentage of users to the site who then take that desired action – and the higher, the better. Businesses should always be looking to improve their conversion rate.

Domain Authority Ranking

The DA (Domain Authority) of a website is a score awarded that ranks how likely that site is to rank successfully on SERPs. Developed initially by marketing company Moz, these scores range from 0-100, with higher scores corresponding the greater likelihood of ranking well.

A DA score is based on a variety of data including the age of the domain, the accessibility of the site, the authority built from other sources mentioning/linking to it and the quality and variety of the content on it. While DA is by no means a prescriptive score, it is now a mainstream measurement that can be considered a good indicator of valid SEO efforts.

Digital PR

One factor often underestimated in its SEO impact is digital PR. This may refer to specifically orchestrated and enacted PR campaigns online that link to the business’ domain/s or the publication of guest posts/features elsewhere online to generate backlinks.

Where this activity has been carried out, details of it will be included in an SEO analysis report.

Do You Receive a Regular SEO Analysis Report from Your SEO Agency?

It is critical when working with SEO specialists that they are able to provide not just regular SEO Analysis Reports but also updates and open communication channels on shifting and changing best practices and algorithm standards.

Woya Digital employ a full-time team of SEO experts who are consistently at the forefront of developments in order to offer a seamless and unbeatable service to gain their clients constant competitive advantage. We create monthly SEO Analysis Reports for each client as standard, to keep them updated, nurturing and coaching them through the process rather than just publishing and presenting a report and not explaining it thoroughly. Get in touch today to understand more on what we can create for you!

What Is The Google Algorithm, and How Does It Work?

What Is The Google Algorithm, and How Does It Work?

by | 12 Dec 2022 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Businesses worldwide are competing to rank highly on Google search and other search engines, and the internet is full of tips for ranking number one on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), SEO tips and tricks and ways to influence the Google search algorithm behind-the-scenes to do better without having to pay for traditional web advertising.

Indeed, much is said about the Google algorithm and how it works, but here we present the facts: in order to best help you strategise your SEO and plan it to benefit your digital presence.

What is the Google Search Algorithm?

The Google search algorithm is a complex system of programming and coding used to retrieve data from its search index which can then present the most appropriate search results for the search queries made by the search engine user.

Google’s ‘crawler’ bots index the internet and store the data on what it thinks each web page is about, what purpose it serves and who the appropriate audience for its content are. The Google algorithm then works through the index it has created to deliver web pages ranked by relevance on its SERPs. Google’s search algorithm prioritises and marks out relevant results it believes best suited to the user’s search intent to give them the answer, information or data they’re trying to find.

What is an Algorithm?

Algorithms are now referred to often as consumers better understand the internet and the presence they hold on it, and in many circles are seen as a mythical beast to be defeated in order to get more likes, gain more exposure, get more traffic, or be ranked above competitors in search query rankings.

While indeed it is true that only a very few senior coders at any tech company will know the exact details of a website’s algorithm and its calculations, much of what an algorithm follows can be worked on through common sense.

In general terms, an algorithm is a set of rules to be followed in calculations by a computer program. For example, the Google’s search algorithm is the program that calculates which webpages rank where for a specific user search query made. In the case of Instagram, the algorithm is the program that calculates which users are presented with which content. In the case of TikTok, the algorithm is the program that calculates what the user is interested in, and features videos related to this in their feed.

Every website or program that has a bespoke user ‘feed’ will have an algorithm operating behind it.

How Does Google’s Algorithm Work?

Google search algorithm works by referencing its search index and analyses the factors upon each page to determine its relevance for ranking. While we don’t know the exact weight that Google puts behind each of the many factors of a webpage, we do know what constitutes a priority for SEO purposes. This includes:

    • The exact search terms of the query made on the search engine
    • The domain age, authenticity and domain authority (DA)
    • The usability of the website including its loading speed, accessibility functions and security
    • The mobile responsiveness of the site’s performance and its ability to switch format to one appropriate to the device on which its being viewed
    • The keywords and topics used throughout the content on the site, and if there is relevant content
    • Other websites that link to the site and how trustworthy they are.

Considering all of these factors, the Google algorithm judges which website pages are most appropriate to be featured and in what order.

This means that the more concise, clear and usable a site is, the higher it will rank when a relevant search query is made.

Google Algorithm

What are Algorithm Updates?

Of course, as with all tech, the Google algorithm is constantly changing to improve the service it delivers. While there are a couple of major updates made every year which cause a considerable shift to the algorithm and its programming priorities, its estimated that smaller algorithm updates are made around once a week!

Where a major update does occur (referred to as a broad core algorithm update), Google announces this ahead of time and provides some basic details on it so that businesses are able to prepare and shift their online practices to meet the new ranking factor requirements.

Top Factors of the Google Algorithm

No one knows exactly what the exact formula is for Google top ranking factors, as this information remains confidential to all but a few senior execs within the company. However, we do know that the following ranking factors are amongst the most important:

    • High-quality content
    • A mobile-first experience
    • Page experience
    • Page loading speed
    • On-page optimisation
    • Internal links between pages
    • External links to and from other relevant sites.

Historically focus has been laid just on the usage of keywords and search query phrases but since Google’s technology has developed and improved, many more factors are now included and considered. While there are businesses who do continue just to rely on the same keywords and keyword repetition throughout their content, this can no longer form a comprehensive and strategic SEO approach.

Realistically, it doesn’t matter exactly which ranking factor is the most important, as all should be focused on with equal priority in order to develop a well-rounded user experience (UX).

What is the Latest of the Google Algorithm Updates?

The most recent minor Google updates were both in September 2022. One was a core algorithm update and the other focused on new product reviews. The latter didn’t offer any particular advice for site owners but the former was covered in an entry on the Google Search Central Blog. This advised that the update wasn’t anything for webmasters to worry about or that they should need to take direct action, but that high quality content was being uprated in its priority rating.

The most recent major Google broad core algorithm update was in August 2022 and was known as the Google Helpful Content Update. This focused on the concept of ‘people first content’. This update advised businesses to strive toward content creation for a target audience with their search intent and needs in mind, rather than the common approach of creating content simply for SEO purposes and because the business assumed that their website’s ranking would benefit from the repeated use of keywords and phrases.

While other small algorithm updates take place in Google weekly (if not daily), these do not require any specific action and businesses can consider their existing SEO efforts sufficient to weather such changes.

How Does the Google Algorithm Affect SEO?

The Google search algorithm is what businesses are speaking to when they enact their SEO strategies, and must ensure that relevant, accurate and clear information is conveyed throughout their site in order for the algorithm’s programming to best understand it.

This means that continuous improvement of all the website’s page factors must be made a digital marketing business priority, in order to rank as high as possible and ideally do so above competitors. While it may not prove productive for businesses to focus too much on the search algorithm and what it demands, it can make for a great foundation from which companies can understand what smart content creation and a positive UX means.

Get Support to Manage Your Business Google Ranking

Of course, not all businesses can hire a full-time SEO lead to work in-house. That’s why businesses choose to work with Woya Digital.

Our team of SEO specialists stay at the forefront of Google’s updates and best practices in order to ensure our clients gain competitive advantage and receive great exposure to both new and existing customers. Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can support you and to best understand what impact this could have on your bottom line.

What is Google Indexing in SEO?

What is Google Indexing in SEO?

by | 21 Nov 2022 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Businesses simply can’t afford for their website to not be listed on Google. With the Google search giant processing over 99,000 searches every single second, the potential is extremely important.

But for Google search results to list a website or page, it must first know it exists and match it up to relevant search terms ‘behind-the-scenes’ using its algorithm programming. This is called Google indexing.

But how does this happen and what is its relevancy to an overall SEO strategy?

What is Google Indexing?

Search engine indexing (or Google indexing in the case of Google), is the automated process of a system collecting, parsing and storing data it finds online. This data is then stored in the Google search index database so that when a search engines user carries out a search, Google can reference this index for the appropriate information and indexed pages, rather than scouring the entirety of the internet every time.

Google indexing is a highly complex process and incorporates interdisciplinary concepts from computer science, cognitive psychology, mathematics and probabilities, informatics and even neuro-linguistic programming.

Why is Google Indexing Important?

Google is the world’s biggest search engine, with a market share of over 90% worldwide. This means that even if it isn’t the most popular search engine in a business’ target location, it is still simply too large to ignore when it comes to strategizing for digital marketing.

If Google doesn’t undertake crawling and indexing on your website, it won’t just not rank well on Google – it won’t rank at all on Google.

If businesses don’t ensure that their digital presence is listed on Google in some way, shape or form they will lose competitive advantage to brands who are listed, who will benefit from the massive traffic that ranking well on the Google search engine can bring.

While not all other sites rely on Google’s search index in particular for their search results, several other systems do, and so it should not be discounted even if it isn’t the primary target system.

How Does Google Indexing Work?

Google indexing takes place when Google’s ‘crawlers’ (that is, automated software programs) visit publicly accessible website’s pages and follow their links.

This helps them travel from page to page and store information on what the pages on your site are about, who they’re for and what they’re aiming to do. The Google algorithm also judges the the site/all of your pages on their User Experience (UX), performance, accessibility and content quality to ascertain how and for what the site should rank when users completes a relevant search.

Google indexing can only happen if a website is publicly available. If it requires a log-in, is in a test environment or is ‘hidden’ from public consumption, this will prevent Google’s ability to read the site and it will remain un-ranked. This allows businesses to present exclusive content to subscribers or members but does mean that anything they wish to include on search engine rankings must be prioritised for public pages.

How Do Search Engines Work

How to Tell Google to Index Your Site

If a website or page has yet to be indexed by Google, the webmaster can request that the crawlers navigate it on the next occasion they’re able to. To do this, a webmaster tells Google through the Google Search Console tool and the crawlers will index the page/s whenever possible.

Where webmasters or digital marketers wish to rank, they should prioritise Google indexing as once a site has been crawled it will be periodically re-visited, so can be ranked on search engine results pages even before the full site content has been populated.

How Long Does Google Indexing Take?

There’s no one-size-fits-all timeframe for Google to index a website, although generally it takes longer for larger sites with more content than it does individual pages with little or short-form content.

The amount of time it takes to get a site indexed is influenced by Google’s current workload (ie it will take longer during periods where a major update or change is being rolled out), but also how many websites are being submitted for indexing at any one time.

Anecdotally, webmasters and digital marketers state that it has taken anywhere from 4 days to 6 months to get their site indexed for the first time. However, this is almost always expedited by requesting indexing through the Google Search Console (as mentioned above), so this is recommended.

Duplicate content will harm the quality of your site and Google will penalise you for this.

How Does the Process of Google Indexing Relate to an Overall SEO Strategy?

Any digital marketer embarking on enacting an SEO strategy should prioritise Google ranking as an effective way to gain targeted organic traffic. In order to best ensure adequate and appropriate ranking for relevant searches, all websites should be subject to timely, consistent and pertinent new content upload as well as hosting a clear sitemap, offering mobile responsiveness and ensuring fast load times.

Google indexing can be considered the foundation for an SEO strategy. Once the site and all the pages have been indexed, a more thorough online presence can be built using target keywords and advertising, further new content creation and an increased focus on the overall User Experience.

How To Fix Indexing Issues

It is not enough for webmasters to create web pages and just expect them to be crawled and indexed by Google, instead there are a variety of best practices they should look to meet. If any of the following issues are experienced, they can be easily rectified by doing the below:

Site is not indexed because it’s too new – you can still request indexing through Google Search Console, but a newer domain is unlikely to get higher rankings than an older one as its authenticity and trustworthiness can’t yet be fully verified. As more website content is added and the site ages, it will be re-indexed and re-prioritised.

A recent redesign should have improved SEO, but hasn’t – it may simply be that Google hasn’t re-indexed the site since it has been improved. A request for re-indexing can be submitted through Google Search Console.

A sitemap wasn’t in place when the site was indexed – all websites should have a sitemap somewhere in order for Google to easily crawl its pages. If, for whatever reason, this wasn’t the case when the indexing happened, the site map can be submitted directly to Google through the Google Search Console tool and then it’ll be re-read the next time the site is crawled.

Site isn’t mobile responsive – Google prioritises websites that provide a good User Experience over those that don’t, and so if a site isn’t mobile responsive, Google is very unlikely to favourably rank it. In this instance, the webmaster should seek out a redesign of the site to ensure better accessibility.

Where to Get More Help with Google Ranking

At Woya Digital we have a whole team of SEO specialists who work around-the-clock on keeping up with Google’s latest updates and developments.

We work not just for but also with our customers to ensure their SEO goals are met and that their online presence works perfectly to fit their needs and wants, as well as the idiosyncrasies of their business and target audience.

How Do Search Engines Work?

How Do Search Engines Work?

by | 7 Nov 2022 | Digital Marketing

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Just about the whole world now relies on online search engines to look up information, compare products and services, and search for … anything really!

To ‘Google’ has become a verb, the behaviour of looking something up online has become the norm for many in the quest for data and some 8.5 billion queries are made to Google every day.

But how do search engines work and how is best to take advantage of them to benefit your business?

What is a Search Engine?

When asked what a search engine actually is, many would simply respond with the name ‘Google’, but in fact there are many search engines and while all do slightly vary, their premise is the same.

A search engine is a software system designed to allow users to search the internet for specific information. This is usually done via a textual web search query, in which the user types keywords into the search engine and is presented with a line of results on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). The results are usually provided ranked with the most likely to be accurate and useful for the user’s search queries.

While what we think of as search engines are often websites such as Google and Yahoo, such software also exists to search through the content of individual websites and databases.

How Do Search Engines Work

What Happens when a Search is Performed?

When a search is performed, the system reviews its index of web pages to find those it believes are relevant to the search. This judgment is carried out by a program known as a search engine algorithm, which identifies the most relevant results to the search query and then presents these search results on a SERP.

In most cases, the search engine will review its index of web pages regularly in order to ensure it is always presenting the most up-to-date content possible. It will also update its algorithm often in order to maintain current technology and continuously improve the results presented.

The time between the search query being input and the web page index being scoured for relevant results usually takes just seconds; and often just a fraction of a second.

What is a Search Engine Algorithm and What is its Purpose?

Lots is spoken about the algorithms used across search engines and social media but it seems that genuine understanding of them is very low.

A search engine algorithm is a computer program that runs on a collection of formulas to determine the quality and relevancy of a particular web page or advert to a keyword or phrase that may form part of a user’s search query.

The purpose of an algorithm is to provide the most appropriate search results possible for the user, which in turn result in the users being more likely to return to the search engine again and it being able to gain competitive advantage above others. For this reason, search engine algorithms are frequently updated and improved: with Google updating theirs an estimated twice a week minimum!

What are the Most Popular Search Engines?

Google holds over 92% of the world’s search engine market share, but there are other search engines that hold significant share in particular geographic locations. Bing, owned and operated by Microsoft, is considered the nearest competition to Google and holds around an 8% market share. Baidu is the third largest globally, but this is largely due to its dominance in China, where it holds around 73% of the total market. Generally speaking, any business looking to market in China or the surrounding territories needs to ensure they have tailored their search marketing practices to Baidu rather than Google.

Other major search engines include Yahoo, Yandex, Ask, DuckDuckGo, Naver, AOL and Seznam.

As a result of Google’s market dominance, most business’ search marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts focus toward it and it’s considered the status quo in the western world to tailor search strategies exclusively for this, with other search engines not considered a priority.

How Do Search Engines Differ?

While all search engines do run on the same basic premise of indexing websites and then carrying out the analysis of these websites using an algorithm to present appropriate results, they do vary in the way in which they carry out this analysis.

Google’s algorithm has developed hugely over the last ten or so years and now lands its focus on matching up the intent behind the search being made and the results, whereas Bing continues to spotlight on the keywords being used as a baseline.

Yahoo has been powered by Bing since 2011 and so displays search results using much of the same criteria as it. Yahoo places more importance on domain age than Bing, but similarly focuses on keywords and meta data.

In China, Google and all Google products are banned; leaving Baidu as the most important search engine in the country. While Baidu’s algorithms can be considered not entirely dissimilar to Google’s (there is a large amount of AI and intent-based calculations utilised), the system behind Baidu actually analyses web content to a higher degree than Google and so can take a little longer to update initially. Baidu really only works well in simplified Chinese and prioritises those domains registered in China above anything not local to the country or its borders; and is very heavy on censorship.

How Do Search Engines Provide Search Results So Fast?

Search engines are able to scour millions of sources for analysis and ranking in a fraction of a second in order to present adequate and appropriate search results, and the key to this speed is all based around its ability to index.

When a search engine crawlers ‘crawl’ and index the web, they essentially create a database for that search engine to use. This negates the need for them to search the entire internet every time a query is made and instead provides their own resource to search through.

Consider being asked for a chow mein recipe, rather than go and take out every book in the library on Asian cuisine and leaf through them, you can grab the most appropriate title, skip to the index and look up ‘chow mein’ under C. With everything already well categorised, it’s considerably easier and quicker for the search algorithms behind-the-scenes to categorise and analyse the information at hand.

Google won’t comment on the exact size of its indexed internet records but has admitted that it’s over 100 million gigabytes in size, and realistically, it’s probably several times that. To give you an idea of how big that is, it’s 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes! However, it’s worth noting that only a handful of people employed by Google have a true idea of the exact technology behind the Google index, and many of those working on search algorithms aren’t informed on how all areas of the business work together to produce the results they do.

How to Tell Search Engines to Crawl your Website

For a website to appear on a search engine, it must be included in the system’s ongoing list of indexed pages; or it is not able to analyse it for relevant content when a search query is made.

Firstly, any ‘noindex’ tags from the coding and programming of the website must be removed. These tags direct search engines to bypass the domain’s content and so don’t allow search engine bots to ‘crawl’ the pages and add it to their index. Businesses may wish to keep these tags in place until their website content is complete, but at this point should remove them entirely.

In order to optimise the way search engine algorithms are able to crawl a site, it should have a site map and a full robot.txt file.

For Google indexing, websites can be submitted directly to the search engine using the Google Search Console. Domain ownership will need to be verified.

For Bing indexing, websites can also be submitted directly through their Bing Webmaster Tools: and if a Google Search Console entry already exists, this can be copied straight across. Submissions to Bing automatically index to Yahoo, too.

DuckDuckGo automatically indexes the internet and so doesn’t require any formal submission, although it prioritises those results on Bing, and so if a Bing submission has been made, it will be picked up quicker than those not listed on that system.

To index a site to Baidu, a localised site in simplified Chinese with either a .com or .cn domain will need to be created. This can then be submitted directly through Baidu Webmaster Tools.

Where to Get Help with Search Engine Optimization

If you’re not sure which search engine is best to target your SEO and search marketing practices toward, or think that you may need to branch out a little with your efforts, get in touch with Woya Digital. Our in-house team of SEO experts can help advise, guide and draw up a strategy to maximise exposure and success online.

 

How to Create a Simple SEO Content Strategy

How to Create a Simple SEO Content Strategy

by | 10 Oct 2022 | Digital Marketing

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an ever-changing discipline that requires continued activity and effort in order for businesses to remain at its forefront. With over 3.8 million searches happening on Google per minute worldwide, businesses who need to gain and maintain competitive advantage above others need to ensure that SEO remains a digital marketing priority.

To centre SEO appropriately, it is critical that an SEO content strategy is put together and followed.

Why is SEO Important for Businesses Online?

Whether or not a business sells its products or services digitally is no longer a consideration when it comes to having an online presence – because no matter how an organisation operates, consumers will expect to be able to find information about them on the internet.

This means that even if a business’ web presence is minimal, it needs to have one, and such presence needs to include relevant details for their customer base. Never have marketplaces worldwide been so crowded, so in order to maintain (if not grow) an audience, all businesses must ensure they appear in the appropriate place digitally.

‘Googling’ is now a colloquial verb and consumers of all ages defer to looking for information they need online rather than through manual means. With some 5.6 billion searches happening every day on Google alone, search engines are now very much the data source of choice – and if businesses aren’t there, they will surely lose out to their competitors who are.

What is an SEO Content Strategy?

A key part of SEO is to produce and publish content online that is relevant to a brand’s products and services, appropriate and helpful for their audience and shareable for onward promotion. This usually includes the creation of blogs, press releases, infographics, data sheets, videos and other content for user consumption.

An SEO content strategy provides a coherent plan for businesses to follow with their content creation. This action plan can be used to ensure content is appropriate, regular and of a quality high enough for onward sharing and publication as an organic marketing tool.

Why an SEO Content Strategy is So Important

Working to a thorough SEO content strategy holds many benefits:

Free Search Rankings
Organic search, search result placements that have not been paid for, is heavily influenced by a website’s content and so a comprehensive SEO content strategy helps promote ranking success. While businesses can choose to pay for placements, organic search results are considered more powerful and are more likely to receive click-throughs and genuine conversions.

Guaranteed Quality Content
A proper SEO content strategy will allow a business to ensure that they are producing relevant, regular, high-quality content that is appropriate for their audience. Continued monitoring of content performance will allow for further content production two-fold: where there is a gap or shortfall in information available, and the re-purpose of content where it is already found to be useful and successful for its audience.

Maintained Relevancy
It is, unfortunately, quite common for businesses to begin to focus on SEO and get swept away in content creation that is only broadly related to their brand and not niched enough to be considered helpful by the target audience or segment, therefore resulting in a waste of time and resource for little tangible result. Following a comprehensive SEO content strategy helps ensure that all SEO activity is directly targeted and ‘on-message’ for the optimum chance of success.

The Main Elements of an SEO Content Strategy

A thorough SEO Content Strategy will comprise of several elements. These include:

Relevant Keywords
It is important for businesses to properly research which search terms their potential and existing customers are using in order to look up relevant products, services and brands. Once completed, keyword research will provide a list of targeted terms for each pillar of the business, and content can be crafted around these, giving users a higher chance of arriving on the business’s webpage for the term.

Matching Search Intent
It’s important to create content that matches the intent of the search being placed. For example, content to match a search query beginning ‘what is’ should be definitive and informational, content to match a search query ending ‘buy now’ should deliver basic purchase decisions and on-page transaction functionality, and content to match a search query including ‘inspiration’ should deliver ideas and musings.

On-page SEO Activity Enacted
While content may be king, it isn’t the only aspect of SEO that needs to be considered. On-page SEO elements such as meta tags, accessibility tools, URLs and descriptions, all need to be optimised to further reinforce the website’s relevancy and authority to the search engine algorithms that will judge its ranking.

Varied Content Production
Many businesses choose to add a blog section to their website, write up some articles based around key search terms, and never take any further action. However, in order to remain current in search engine rankings throughout an ever-changing digital landscape, content should be produced in different ways (for example; blogs, infographics, videos, audio files) and should be re-purposed, re-jigged and re-used for evergreen topics and the optimisation on onward sharing.

Get Support with Your SEO Content Strategy

Woya Digital are experts in crafting SEO Content Strategies, action plans and detailed analyses for businesses of all types and sizes. Get in touch today and let’s collaborate on researching into the best and most appropriate course of action to meet and exceed the needs of your target audience; boosting your competitive advantage, conversion rates and bottom line.

Business Growth Marketing Tips for 2023

Business Growth Marketing Tips for 2023

by | 1 Oct 2022 | Digital Marketing, General

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There are lots of things that you can do on the marketing front to tackle the last few months of 2022 and the new year ahead with the best possible chances of optimising business growth.

The team at Woya suggest you follow these top business growth marketing tips and grab the opportunities that 2023 has to offer.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #1 – Have a Mobile Responsive Web Presence

Over 60% of all web traffic is now made through a mobile device and so if a business’ website isn’t formatted to respond to the device on which its being displayed appropriately, those visiting will be forced to go elsewhere – and elsewhere may just be the website of your competitor.

Mobile responsiveness is now part of the standard offering of just about every web development business and if your business’ website isn’t set up for it, get to refreshing the whole thing to fit it.

Mobile responsiveness is often just considered to be images formatting down in a line for smaller screens but in reality, there’s a lot more to it. You may need to edit your website’s structure for mobile devices in order to more easily display and show calls to action and conversion opportunities, and it might be that an online purchase process can be streamlined to suit.

Security certification ‘behind the scenes’ on websites also needs to vary for mobile devices, so it’s definitely worth investing in a web designer who’s able to best advise and guide you through the options.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #2 – Visually Optimise Your Website

A website that offers a good user experience (UX) is not only more likely to drive conversions and positive action from those who visit it, it’s also more likely to be ranked higher on search engine results.

The usability and security of websites is now just as important for SEO as the usage of keywords and so is not to be underestimated in its power.

It is estimated that Google makes at least two changes a week to its algorithm in order to better present search results to users, and all of the recent updates have included a focus on UX over just language usage. This means that the SEO tactics of days gone by are fast becoming irrelevant, and in some cases could even harm your website’s performance.

It’s imperative that you focus on the up-to-date and ever changing methods of SEO practice and that your site is audited to highlight areas of opportunity.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #3 – Invest In SEO

Organic search is often thought of as ‘free’ in comparison to paid-for advertising, but it does require the investment of time and resource in order to manage it properly and make it happen. Now is the time to make a move, up your game and get ahead of the competition.

Work on SEO should be a continual process and so there’s no one project that you can complete and see the job done. Instead, businesses should invest time in the creation of appropriate, helpful and shareable content, ensuring the usability of their site is top notch and that they build up backlinks from high-authority sources.

We don’t recommend hiring an internal SEO consultant to work directly for your business. It is definitely more cost effective with the services of a specialist SEO consultant or SEO agency to drive results. With Woya SEO packages starting at £750 per month, this will certainly deliver more bang for your buck than managing an internal team.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #4 – Optimise for Local Search

Businesses that operate in or serve a particular geographical area can find vast benefit in the use of Google local SEO services. Taking the time to claim and optimise your Google Business Profile will elevate your organic exposure on search engines, with specific targeting toward your demographic audience.

Local search results really stand out from others on Google Maps, SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) with photos, contact information and highlights. It may seem counterintuitive to ‘think local’ on a search engine so global, but Google has invested heavily in its local SEO and reports that users find it extremely helpful.

Woya’s Local SEO packages include both on- and off-site optimisation as well as full management of a Google Business Profile account.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #5 – Take A Smart Approach to Social Media

A common pitfall is that businesses put time and effort into social media marketing, just because they feel they should, so it takes up time and resource without any real ROI.

You don’t need to be on every social media channel, but you should be present on whichever channels your target demographic are. The creation of content for social media that is engaging and invites interaction can help build a strategic relationship with your customer base rather than just a transactional one, and will allow for a more positive personal connection to be made.

Social media trends move fast, and something can blow up in minutes. It’s important for businesses not just to focus on ‘going viral’ but instead to understand what they want to achieve from their social media presence. Keep it relevant and appropriate for your audience and don’t diversify further than you need to.

Broadening your niche will only result in an audience who won’t engage and/or convert, and that’s not a good use of internal resources.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #6 – Up Your Content Marketing Game

Marketplaces are more crowded than ever and competition is fierce. The creation of unique, helpful and relevant content for customers is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ marketing tool, but an essential one.

Content is often thought of as just blogging, but can be just about anything to position you as a thought-leading expert in your industry. Think videos, podcasts, e-books, printables, and instruction guides, just as a start.

All too often businesses get hung up on producing thousands of pieces of content just for the sake of having them. Instead, repurpose a single piece of content into other forms, use a freebie as a ‘lipstick offer’ to draw in an audience and try to balance out your content portfolio between current and evergreen in order for it to sustain itself long-term.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #7 – Add Digital PR to Your Marketing Strategy Mix

PR has traditionally entailed maintaining a decent relationship with your local newspaper, but in the age of the internet, the whole concept of PR has been transformed.

Digital PR involves the use of online systems to send business press releases to a myriad of relevant media worldwide. This increases your business’ brand exposure further than just local titles and helps increase coverage levels. In turn, this enhanced coverage can have a further positive impact on your SEO – as band mentions and links back to your website from high authority sites will boost your SEO ranking.

Positioning your brand as an expert in its field has a myriad of long-term benefits and will lead to further growth opportunities in the future. Be bold, be brave, and get out there – nail your colours to the mast and put your name to your brand values.

Business Growth Tip #8 – Strategise!

Most businesses now understand that a digital presence is critical to marketing, but without steering your efforts in the right direction, the optimisation and success will be limited.

It’s important that a thorough digital marketing strategy is created and managed in order to ensure that all work has an impact and is converting as expected. Without a proper plan, all too often digital marketing efforts become ad hoc and lack the clarity of direction required for real success.

A comprehensive digital marketing strategy will steer online activity across a variety of appropriate channels and keep messaging consistent throughout; so no matter how or where consumers come across your brand, they’re able to identify it. It will also speak to two audiences: existing customers, and potential customers, and maximise the opportunities to interact with both.

Business Growth Marketing Tip #9 – Work With Experts

Woya Digital are SEO experts and specialise in increasing the visibility and customer base of organisations online.

No matter how niche or specialised your organisation, we can help boost your exposure and increase your bottom line. Our team of experts work on a basis of continuous learning and improvement to ensure that we’re always at the forefront of SEO and digital marketing developments – so you can be, too.

All of our packages are constructed for stretched budgets, and everything is paid monthly with no upfront investment. Why hire your own marketing resource when you can use ours? Get in touch to discuss your organisation’s 2023 goals, and let’s chat about how we can help you in achieving them.

 

 

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