SEO is a long-term investment which can potentially drive up your leads, conversions and also attract new customers to your website through content designed to either solve a problem, provide tips or even provide valuable content which can be accessed through your website. Before we jump into how and why, let’s start with the basics of SEO so that as a beginner, you can start implementing SEO or understand the principles of SEO.

What is SEO?

SEO is Search Engine Optimisation which is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct traffic or paid traffic. In other words, SEO is a technique which focuses on the quality and quantity of a website to a target page or the entire website from Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc, to name a few.

What are the types of SEO?

Essentially speaking, there are two types of SEO or two main components of SEO :

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO, also called on-site SEO, is a technique where you edit elements of the website, which you can control as a standard user to best rank your content without using any off-page SEO techniques or any black-hat SEO techniques. This usually involves five main core elements for any SEO who wants to start their journey into SEO which are:

• Create content suited to Search Engines – when creating content, always remember that if the content is not valuable to a web user or a search engine like Google, then it will not rank, so do your keyword research, especially when it comes to creating SEO content. A great tool for keyword research is Google itself, for example, we searched for “What is Bitcoin?” the search result also showed us an “Also asked” section which essentially is a hint of what people are searching for regarding Bitcoin, essentially these become your content pillars to include in your copy!
• Use a Keyword Research Tool – we highly recommend platforms such as SEMRush, Google Keyword Planner and MOZ to analyze traffic, keywords and the difficulty of ranking your content or start your Keyword research process. Try to narrow down on results which are not too difficult to rank and can be reasonably explored or optimised to rank on Google, or else focus Long-Tail Keywords to effectively rank in the same category or niche, for example, with the below example outranking the first 3 results may not be effective rather choose a different long-tail keyword or explore different categories

• Edit Meta Description, Page Title & URL – depending on your content, try to optimise your Page Title to contain the keyword and provide some description so it becomes attractive for a user on Google to click on your content rather than other search results. Sometimes the URL may contain numbers or dates please remove any such characters and try to work on the example from the top results above, we can see why neilpatel.com and robbierichards.com are ranking with respect to great Page titles as well as simple URL structures which make sense both technically and as a Google search result.
• Google Core Ranking Factors – there are more than 200+ ranking factors that could affect your web page’s rank on Google. Here are some key factors broken down into a pie chart

While these are not all the On-Page sectors, these generally form a great how-to guide for beginners in SEO or users who want to start their journey into implementing SEO for themselves or their company.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO or sometimes called Off-site SEO is a method/technique of taking action outside of on-page SEO or taking actions outside your own website to improve rankings within search engine results pages ( SERPS). There are many different techniques of off-page SEO some of the most important are:

• Link Building – Links are the most important element or ranking factor for Google; given the new algorithm changes, it’s paramount for any good SEO to focus on link building. Earning backlinks from high-authority websites helps position your site as an authority. These high authority links work like a “vote of trust” from one site to another. The #1 goal of link building should be to earn quality links from authority sites. You should always focus on quality over quantity. Part of your link-building strategy should include closing the link gap between your site and your competitors’ site. If they’re earning backlinks from high authority sites that aren’t linking to you, you could be missing out on some quality traffic.#
• Digital PR – digital PR has long been the go-to method for SEOs to acquire quality links from News-sites and high-ranking domains. In order to create an impactful Digital PR release, it is important to note that only “newsworthy” pieces of information have the highest chances for publications around the world. Usually, it takes anywhere from 1-3 days for publication once the Digital PR content is submitted and accepted.
• Local SEO – Local SEO is the process of optimizing a business, product, or service for a location-specific search query. Google (and other search engines) uses a user’s location based on IP address (for desktop) and geolocation (for mobile) to determine what results to show the user. So when someone performs a local search for a dentist, car wash, or locksmith, the search engine will display local businesses relevant to their location.

It’s important to note that there are two ways of optimising these results :

• Google My Business – Google My Business plays a vital role in the online presence of pretty much any local business. It’s easy to forget that optimizing your page and getting it to rank on the map pack is off-page SEO and depends on updates/information listed on your Google My Business Page. It is key to note that relevancy, trust (reviews) are important key factors to rank high on these listings in your local neighbourhood.
• Citations – A citation is a mention of your business online that typically references your business’ NAP (name, address, and phone number). Think of them as business listings. If you are a local business looking to rank for geographically targeted search terms on the SERPs or map pack, you cannot avoid the importance of citations. A great way to get local citations is your local LEO, Business Networking Groups or even directory websites with your business category. Beware, sometimes these are paid services, so essentially always do your due diligence before paying for any citation links.

Best SEO Service

If you are still looking for a company or more help with your SEO, or you are trying to rank for SEO in Ireland, feel free to book us for a free SEO consultation, or we can create a bespoke SEO plan to accomplish your goals.