Read on to demystify SEO and get yourself on track to being optimised!
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving a website's visibility in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). It involves optimising your site’s content, structure and technical aspects to rank higher in search results for specific keywords relevant to your business.
The goal of SEO is to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic to your website by making it more appealing and relevant to both search engines and users. This includes strategies like keyword research and on-page optimisation (e.g. improving meta titles and descriptions).
Why is SEO important?
Effective SEO is crucial because it directly impacts your website’s visibility and traffic. Higher rankings in search results mean more people can find your site, which can lead to more conversions, whether that means sign-ups, customer orders or other desired actions. In a competitive online environment, effective SEO can be the difference between a successful website and one that struggles to attract visitors. It’s a long-term strategy that builds credibility, brand awareness and drives consistent organic traffic to your business.
SEO # 1: The META Title
The meta title, also known as the title tag is a headline that appears in search engine results, browser tabs and social media posts. It is one of the most important factors for SEO, as it helps search engines understand the content of the page and plays a significant role in determining how your page ranks in search results. Your customers will also use this to find you and know what your page is about before they click on it.
Best practices for crafting meta titles:
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Use relevant phrases that align with your business and clearly convey the main topic of the page.
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Include your brand name in the title to build brand recognition and credibility.
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Keep it concise—ideally no more than 61 characters—to avoid your title being cut off in search results.
As you can see from the above example, Cookaborough's SEO page in your Settings automatically calculates the optimal length for a title. In this case, you can see that the title has gone over the 61 character count, which you can see in the preview on the next page is therefore truncated by SEO.
So if we look at three important criteria we can assess the effectiveness of this SEO title:
❌ The SEO title has been cut off as it is too long
✅ The brand name is included which helps build brand recognition
✅ Keywords have been used such as “Best” and “Homemade” which makes the title more appealing
All that is required for an effective SEO title is to shorten it. Let's have a look at the adjusted, effective example:
SEO # 2: The META description
A meta description is a brief summary of a web page's content that appears in search engine results beneath the meta title and page URL. It's designed to give your potential customers a quick overview of what the page is about. While meta descriptions don’t directly impact search engine rankings, a well-written description can improve click-through rates by making the link more appealing, helping your page stand out from competitors.
Best practices for crafting meta DESCRIPTIONS:
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Include relevant keywords to align with users' search queries. Google may bold keywords in your meta description that match the search query, making your link more noticeable and encouraging potential customers to click on your page.
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Keep it concise, ideally between 107-142 characters.
The example below is an effective use of both the meta title and the meta description.
SEO # 3: The image
When it comes to optimising images for SEO, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind to ensure that images help improve your site's search engine ranking. Images are displayed when your business is listed for example in a social post.
Best practices for CHOOSING IMAGES:
Image Quality and Relevance
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High-Quality Images: Use clear, high-resolution images that are relevant to the content on your page. Poor quality images can negatively impact user experience and SEO.
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Relevance: Make sure the images are directly related to the content of the page. Irrelevant images can confuse search engines and users, which can impact your SEO negatively.
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File Name
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Descriptive Names: Use descriptive, keyword-rich file names for your images. Instead of “IMG1234.jpg,” use a name like “organic-vegetable-garden.jpg” if that describes the content of the image. This helps search engines understand what the image is about.
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Alt Text (Alternative Text)
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Descriptive Alt Text: Write clear, descriptive alt text for each image. This text helps search engines understand the image content and improves accessibility for users with visual impairments. For example, instead of "image1.jpg," use "Ally harvesting produce from her garden."
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File Size and Format
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Optimized File Size: Compress images to reduce file size without sacrificing quality. Large image files can slow down page load times, which can negatively affect SEO and user experience. Tools like TinyPNG or JPEG-Optimizer can help with this.
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Appropriate Formats: Use appropriate image formats (e.g., JPEG for photos, PNG for images with transparency, and WebP for a balance of quality and file size). Each format has its strengths, so choose the one that best suits the image and its purpose.
- Proper sizing: Ensure the images are appropriately sized for their display and avoid using larger images than necessary as they can increase load times – 1200 x 628 is great! Use responsive images - this means that they will resize automatically depending on the size of the screen.
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Captions and Context
- Use captions: Include captions that provide additional context to the image. Captions can enhance user engagement and provide more information about the image's context which can be beneficial for SEO.
By following these best practices, you can improve the SEO of your images, enhance user experience, and potentially boost your site's visibility in search engine results.
More questions? Fill in the form below, and our team will be in touch to help you.
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