We sat down with SEO queen, Khaleelah Jones, to reveal how to harness Search Engine Optimisation. |In fact, we wanted to understand the basics.
With over a decade of digital marketing expertise, Khaleelah knows her stuff. She is the owner and founder of Careful Feet Digital Agency. She is also the co-CEO at Ada’s List, a global community supporting women in tech.
So it is safe to say she knows her stuff.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can significantly impact your website and discoverability, and far too often, it may feel overwhelming.
Iit’s the process of optimising your content online. This ways, it makes search engines like Google show your site on top of search rankings for a particular keyword.
That said, Khaleelah reveals that SEO is far more than simply throwing in a few keywords to your posts. This idea is one major misconception about SEO today.
There is a lot of data and strategy that needs to be considered and not just the classic keywords. In fact, user experience and what happen off your website, also have a huge role in discussing SEO.
“Think of SEO as a more holistic practice and an overall experience on and off the website… it’s about making your website the best recommendation for others to use”
A website is a two-way relationship: it’s a place for users to find answers and the content they are looking for. It is also space for the creative to offer their service efficiently to their niche audience.
With this in mind, the user experience side of SEO is more important than ever. You need to understand how you guide users through your content. This is not just on your website itself but how it connects with your social media channels, for example.
Is SEO Still Relevant?
When the user experience appears more of a persuading factor than ever, is SEO still relevant?
“It comes down to what your strategy is, and it depends on why you have a website or create content? Why have a website if you don’t want people to find it? Or even social media?”
Khaleelah jones
While many of us understand the benefits of using Ads to drive traffic to our content, we are less likely to concern ourselves with SEO, which acts as a free traffic guide. So, while you may have to invest more time understanding SEO, you will experience the benefits in the long term.
For example, it’s a good idea to work out where the best places to put your keywords are. A meta description is not something that Google considers, whereas keywords can be found on the page itself, in the titles, in the URL and in the HTML. Check out the MAZE blog, which helps direct you to where you should put keywords to rank for those keywords.
Three Basic Implementations for Beginners
- Make sure your page is mobile optimised! Many people assume their page is mobile optimised, but a lot of them aren’t. Download plugins or check online to see how mobile-friendly your site is. Remember a large proportion of users consume content through mobile devices.
- Check your google analytics! You can see where most of your website hits come from, as in which pages are the most frequently visited and see how much traffic is coming from mobile vs desktop users.
- Think about the way Google understands what your page is about. Make sure you have relevant keywords! Be as specific as possible as Google also relies on semantically related keywords, and this will ensure users find you for precisely the right reasons.
We hope you have found these tips and tricks helpful to start thinking about your SEO practice and stay tuned for part 2 of this fantastic article! We will dive straight into the link between SEO and social media and how to maximise your user experience.
For more information and help with SEO take a look at Khaleelah’s social channels, her personal Instagram, Careful Feet Digital and Ada’s List, Twitter .
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