Basics of Search Engine Optimization in London, Ontario.

Business owners and managers of companies should understand the basics of search engine optimization – including but not limited to – keywords, keyword research and analysis, onsite and offsite optimization, content marketing, link building, domain authority, page authority, website rank, traffic – and the big picture of the whole process. SEO should have immediate objectives, short term goals and a long term plan. It is better to focus on immediate objectives and short term goals – as companies have to change their strategies frequently in SEO – partly influenced by the actions of the competition and partly due to the dynamic nature of search engine optimization.

Step One | Keyword Research & Targeting.

The first lesson is about keywords. A keyword can be one word or a set of words. It is used by people to search for relevant information. A keyword could be a type of product or service. It could be the name of a business, a place, industry or category, subcategory or a niche – possibilities are endless. Any word can be a keyword, provided it is relevant for both the website and the target audience. Google and all other major search engines bridge the gap between internet users and websites by using keywords. The algorithm used by Google categorizes all websites as per the rules of indexing. These websites are then ranked on the basis of multiple parameters. When a user enters a keyword, Google finds the most relevant websites for the keyword and displays them on the result pages in their ranking order.

Step one of SEO is to identify the relevant keywords in your niche. This is ideally the first step, even before a website is designed. No content can be created without keywords. Every webpage on your website should have optimized content, based on the keywords being targeted. One webpage can target more than one keyword. But, the two or more keywords being targeted should be related. They cannot be completely disassociated, or else, the optimization will confuse the searchbots used by Google – and the webpage may not rank high enough for any of the targeted keywords. The obvious keywords your website must target are easy to choose – such as type of product or service, nature of business, location of a company or the areas served – the important terms used in the industry come up while interacting with customers (among other stakeholders in the niche). The second type of keyword that should be included on a webpage is mostly about what people use to search for the information that is being provided by a website. Such keywords are usually questions, problems and possible solutions to different concerns.

Due to the evolving nature of SEO in London, Ontario, no company can keep targeting the same keywords over a period of time. People start to use different keywords. Word plays are relevant too – because not everyone uses the same sequence of words or identical phrases when searching for products and services. It is necessary for a digital marketing agency in London, Ontario, to find the most relevant keywords. These should be presently in use by local searchers. These keywords should be worthwhile too. There should be a sufficient volume and number of people using them to search for relevant information. Targeting keywords no one is using is futile, even if they are relevant. Marketing companies in London, Ontario, have keyword research and keyword targeting tools. There are best practices pertaining to both. It is now fairly easy to find relevant keywords in your industry, and assess the level of competitiveness for every word or phrase. You can assess everything, including the variations in how specific keywords are used by searchers.

Keyword research is not limited to the research process used to identify relevant words being used by people on search engines. Keywords must be chosen on the basis of search volume, the degree of relevance, and competition. Keyword research enables companies to understand the types of things people are interested in, the kinds of problems the potential customers are encountering, the nature of the language they are using to describe what they are doing, the issues they are dealing with, and how they are approaching the problem towards a solution. Keyword research and targeting can not only help companies to identify the right words by preparing a seed list of keywords, but, they also provide insight into the minds of the customers. Understanding the searching and browsing behavior of the customers of a business (or a target group) is essential for effective digital marketing in London, Ontario.

Step Two | On-Page or Onsite Optimization.

On-page or onsite optimization begins after you have a keyword list. This step is also the beginning of content development. Website design is usually a simultaneous process, but, it is not uncommon for companies to already have a layout before content development. The content written for a site typically influences the layout, and hence, the design of a website. It also determines the depth in regards to the number of pages, categorical navigation, and sitemap. This is why designing a website should go hand in hand with onsite optimization and content development.

A website should have different sections. These are usually categories relevant to a business. Every category may (or may not) have a subsection. Each webpage, regardless of category or subcategory, should be optimized. The main content on the webpage should be optimized to target a set of chosen keywords. The design of every webpage should also be optimized. Many companies choose an optimized or keyword friendly domain name for more effective SEO in London, Ontario. This is an option you can explore if you haven’t purchased a domain already. Onsite optimization covers title tags, meta descriptions, body content, alt attributes, url structure and schema markup.

Title tags are what appear on the top of a browser (or a tab) when a webpage is loaded. The title tag is not the headline or a subheading. It is a short depiction of the kind of content on a specific webpage – a quick snippet that gets indexed by Google and other search engines. A webpage is classified as per this title tag, in addition to the keywords featured on the specific webpage, and the larger category in which the business website is indexed. Title tags should include keywords, but they must also make sense. They cannot have too many keywords as that leads to stuffing, and Google can penalize websites that practice this. Title tags are usually fifty to sixty characters long.

Meta descriptions are the virtual equivalent of a piece of ad copy. This is an additional description that does not show up on the main page (or the body content of a webpage). It is used by search engines to further filter their indexed pages into more specific sections. Body content is the main piece, mostly textual, on the webpage. It could be just general information, an article, a blog, a guide or a concoction of different types of website content. The body content must serve a purpose. The entire content should be optimized to target the keywords chosen for the webpage. The information presented should be relevant and must address what the target audience wants. Body content should be unique and reliable. Information should be factual. The writing should be engaging. The content should be shareable.

Every webpage needs more than just body content. There should be alt attributes such as images, embedded videos, snippets, and other features, depending on the nature of the business and the websites’ design. Companies that have tools for their customers to use can display them on relevant pages. Images, videos, info-graphics and other forms of contents can complement the text. A webpage should not have too many alt attributes that distract the audience. There should be just enough to make the webpage engaging while attending to the basics of onsite optimization. Images, videos, and other forms of contents must also be optimized.

URL structure is important. Short and descriptive URLs work better than long ones. Onsite optimization should include schema markup. This does not have a direct effect on ranking, but it does help a website to outscore its competitors. Schema markup enables Google to have a better understanding of a webpage and the entire website. It also allows webmasters to make maximum use of the available space on every webpage. Not every part of a webpage gets filled with content. Available real estate can always be used for further optimization (in a relevant way of course).

Step 3 | Architecture & Linking.

Architecture and the setup of a website is of two distinct organizational types. One is the design and the sitemap. This is the framework of the website, and its architecture is primarily determined by how the design has been conceived. The other type is of organizational type is “information architecture”. This is about organizing the various pages on a website as per the correlation of different information. This calls for linking. Related pages must be related to one another. There can be a unidirectional navigation from major pages to those that are of lesser importance. There can be multidirectional linking. Whatever works best for a particular website should be the choice of its webmaster, as long as it does not complicate the information architecture to an extent that the crawlers used by search engines get perplexed.

Marketing companies in London, Ontario, should pay attention to “information architecture” and linking as Google and other search engines study both, and assign a lot of significance to how well pages are interrelated or kept disassociated depending on the nature of content. Content pieces that are relevantly linked can pull one another up, thus, improving the page rank of all such webpages. Content pieces that are linked poorly will pull one another down as Google crawlers will fail to find the informational correlation to establish relevance. Links are a form of a vote in the world of SEO in London, a vote of confidence to be exact. Google relies on links to understand what a page is actually about, if it is important, and whether or not it is trustworthy. Information architecture, and hence, internal linking can be complex if a website has hundreds of pages. Only the finest experts of SEO in London, Ontario, can work on information architecture of large websites.

Step 4 | Link Building and Content Marketing.

The scope of SEO in London, Ontario, cannot be limited to the onsite content that is found on the target website. A company should have a content marketing strategy. Both the content pieces on the site and off the site (offsite) should be set up within a link wheel. Link building is a crucial component of SEO that a digital marketing agency in London, Ontario, should work on and continuously improve. Link building is basically a neural network. It connects all the online content offerings of a company, right from the landing page, the usual homepage, service or product page (all of them), and contact page, to the various informative content offerings on different pages of third party blogs, article websites, and even press release websites. This is among other pieces of content produced by a company that get floated across various platforms on the world wide web – in due course of time.

Link building is a complex process. Content marketing is also a daunting exercise. Both have to work in tandem for a website to gain a firm foothold in search engines – and to boost rankings. Google and other search engines study the links, both outgoing and incoming, for ranking purposes. That is why backlinks are special. Search engines study organic and inorganic links. They assess the quality of the content around a linked website. This is why the relevance of the websites that are being linked through the outgoing or incoming links is important. So is the relavance of the content around these links. References and the authority of all websites are factored into the assessment and subsequently influence the ranking of the target website.

The algorithm used by Google relies largely on links to influence the rank of a website. To leverage links and content offerings, a website owner should identify and truly understand how the target audience is going to share the information, if and how other websites or the general users will link to the content pieces on the website, and the types of contents that will get more traction and get shared by many. Both content marketing and link building are a part of the larger approach to digital marketing in London, Ontario. These two should factor in social media marketing, video marketing, blogging, and other avenues that create engagement, generate traffic, and influence the rank of a website.

Step 5 | Technical SEO.

Search engine optimization is a highly technical process. It is also a creative pursuit. There is ample room for smart and innovative professionals to use the core principles of SEO in London, Ontario, to their advantage – or for the betterment of a website they are working on. A digital marketing agency in London, Ontario, should be able to use all available tools to continuously improve the SEO of a website. There are many other aspects of technical SEO, including but not limited to page speed, mobile friendliness or responsiveness, header response, redirects, originality and uniqueness of content, authority or reliability of the content, and the website sitemap.

SEO in London, Ontario, should be assessed and reviewed from time to time. Marketing companies in London, Ontario, should constantly monitor the results of every SEO tactic and the larger strategy. Every tactic that is effective should be continued. Ineffective tactics should be reviewed, and changed as per the degree of their consequences. If necessary, they should be discarded. State of the art digital marketing in London, Ontario, demands frequent reviews of keyword rankings, organic traffic, leads, and sales resulting from search engine optimization and other deployed campaigns. Website statistics and analytics, local and international SEO stats, and conversion rates may also be relevant. Take immediate advantage of the free consultation call we offer and book a thirty minute session that can change your business.

Our website design and development services in London will help supercharge your SEO efforts. Check out the website design and development page for London, Ontario. Do it now.