How To Optimise A Website For SEO
SEO (search engine optimisation) is a vital part of getting your website to rank on Google. SEO is the implementation of the keywords, phrases or words your potential customer uses when they are searching for the types of products or services you offer.
When a person goes to Google they will often type phrases such as “How can I do X” or “What is the best X for Y” because they are looking for the answer to a particular problem they are having in their lives. The websites that appear on the very first page of Google are websites which have been search engine optimised to appear for that customers search query.
So this blog post is about “How to optimise a website for SEO” which means I am specifically targeting people who have searched Google looking to optimise their own website for SEO. If you are reading this then that person is probably you!
In the next few sections I am going to talk you through exactly how I optimised this blog post for SEO so you can do the same.
Understanding Your Target Audience
Before keyword research begins the first thing you need to understand is your target audience. Who is it that you are trying to bring to your business?
Everything that you write about on your blog or on your website should be done to try and attract your ideal customer or client.
For instance if you run a pet grooming parlour then all of the website pages you have on your website or all of the blogs that your write about should be written with your ideal customer in mind. Pet owners.
There would be no point in you writing a blog post about the best car engines of 2024 if your whole website has been set up to try and book more pet grooming clients.
I see a lot of business owners writing blog posts or creating website pages that have nothing to do with their actual business. They normally do this because they are trying to jump on the back of trends with the intention of getting more visitors to their website. They think more visitors will mean more sales. But they are wrong.
Having more visitors on your website is pointless if those visitors are not interested in buying or booking the services you are offering.
Therefore before you go any further in this article, do you know who your target audience is?
If not here is a article that will help you nail down your target audience.
Customer Intent
Once you have figured out who your target audience it is time to start thinking about their search intent.
When it comes to blog posts on your website people are normally looking for tips & tricks. When it comes to service or sales pages people are normally looking to book a service or buy a product.
Each page on your website needs to be set up for the correctly for your customers search intent.
So what this means is that your blog posts should provide friendly and useful information that would build trust between you and your potential customer. Your sales and service pages should be set up to try and promote or lead that customer into a sale. Each page would use a different set of keywords which I will speak about shortly.
People will also search in different ways when they are looking for information or to invest in a service or product.
When a customer is looking for information then will usually search “How Can I Do X” or “What Is The Best X for Y”. In these cases your need to set up blog posts or informational pages that would help with your potential customers current issue and answer their questions.
When a customer is looking to invest in a product or service they will usually search for “Where to buy X” or “X for sale” or “Hire a X”. In these cases you would need to have pages set up that are ready to lead your potential customer into a sale.
When you create a new page on your website then it is important to consider are the people coming to this page looking for information or are they looking to invest.
Keyword Research
There are going to be a few stages to keyword research as this the most important part of a SEO strategy. I will take you through how you can research keywords for sales and services pages and also how you can research keywords for informational pages or blog posts.
If you are serious about doing keyword research for your blog or business then you will need to invest in a keyword research tool.
What applications to use when doing keyword research
There are a lot of options when it comes to doing SEO keyword research.
If you are just starting out then my recommendations are Mangools or Ubersuggest. These are the cheapest and best value for money when it comes to keyword research.
If you have a larger budget and have advanced SEO skills then SEMrush or Ahrefs are the best SEO tools to use when it comes to doing keyword research. These are expensive but give in-depth insights into how your website is performing and accurate keyword data.
There are not many free options left when it comes to keyword research however I will show one way later in this blog on how how can use Google as a way of finding search terms or queries for your website.
Finding SEO keywords for sales or services pages
Now you have narrowed down your target audience and you have decided to create a sales page for your website you are now going to start doing keyword research with the intent of attracting people to your website who are looking to make a purchase.
People looking to make an investment or book a service will often search for phrases such as
Hire a X
Book a X
X for hire in my area
X services
X agency
X company
These are all examples of search terms people would use when they are looking to hire or invest in a business.
Therefore the keywords that you use on your sales or service page on your website should be set up to target these potential customers.
Step 1: Researching keywords related to your businesses offerings
I am using Ubersuggest to research keywords related to a business who offers pet grooming. In this case I am going to create a website services pages which is aiming to book more clients to this businesses pet grooming services.
First I have typed in the phrases that would suggest someone is looking to hire a pet groomer. When the results appear I make sure the results tab is set to “Suggestions”. I have looked for suggestions because I want to see all of the suggestions Ubersuggest has for me to make sure I am doing in depth keyword research and looking at all options.
I have typed in “pet groomer” “pet grooming services” & “pet groomers for hire” because this is what potential customers are most likely going to search for when looking to hire a pet groomer. I have also left the language at English and my chosen location is Ireland.
When it comes to your business you should choose the location that is most relevant to your business.
Step 2: Picking the right keywords
If you are a new business then it is vital that you pick keywords that have low competition (as seen in green) but high search volume. This will ensure you have a good chance of ranking on PG1 of Google.
So in this case I can see that people are searching for location specific queries like “pet grooming Galway” (Galway is a city in Ireland & so is Limerick). So if I was an Irish pet grooming salon then I could create a services page on my website that specifically targeted “Pet Grooming Galway” because I can see that people are searching for it.
The competition (SD - search difficulty) is also very low at 14/100. Which means as a new business if I was to create this page it would also mean I would be in with a great chance of ranking on PG1 of Google.
When you are looking for keywords for your business you want to try and find keywords where the volume is high but the SD or compeition level is low. By focusing on these keywords it will provide you with the best advantage for ranking on Google.
If you are reading this blog to find out how to create a SEO optimised sales or services page then you can skip ahead to “How to write SEO copy using the keywords you have found”
Finding SEO keywords for a Blog
When it comes to finding keywords for a blog or an informational page the process is similar however this time you are looking for questions that people are asking.
So in this case I have clicked “Questions” tab on Ubersuggest to find out what questions people are asking when it comes to pet groomers in Ireland
The questions people are asking about pet grooming Ireland can be seen above.
This now gives me a good indication of what I should write my blog or informational page about because these are the questions that people want answers for.
I should consider writing a blog post for all of these questions on my website if I was a pet groomer.
So I should consider writing a blog post on “what a dog grooming service does” and also writing a separate blog post or informational page on “the different price ranges of pet groomers in Ireland”.
How to write SEO copy using the keywords you have found
Now it is time to write the copy on your website with the keywords you have just found. Every page you write on your website should be at least 2000 words. The only exceptions can be pages like your contact page, privacy policy page, refunds page or any page which will not have a direct effect on your SEO ranking.
SEO has become competitive and it is important to create pages which are full of information.
It is also important to note that the latest SEO update is cracking down on AI generated content. While AI tools like Chat GPT can be used to assist you in writing copy you should not copy and paste what AI tools give you straight to your website.
Using SEO headings when writing copy
Headings are extremely important for SEO. You will see the options for heading in all website editors. They will be seen within the same panel that is available for editing text such as making something bold, italic or changing font size. This is an example of how it looks on Squarespace:
H1 Headings for SEO
Every page should have one Heading one H1 tag and this should be used for the main title of your page. So in the case of this blog post my H1 title is “How to optimise a website for SEO in 2024”
H2 & H3 Headings For SEO
A page can have multiple H2 tags. A H2 tag should be used when writing a new section. So again in the case of this blog post understanding your target audience & customer intent are both H2 tags as they are considered separate sections within this blog post because I moved onto another topic of conversation.
H3 tags can be used multiple times within a blog post. These should be used as separate talking points underneath the same section of your H2 tag.
Writing SEO for a sales page
When it comes to writing SEO content for a sales page you should focus on one main keyword, that you researched, and implement that keyword within the pages main copy and also in the headings of your page.
The keyword should be used naturally and you should not do what is considered keyword stuffing.
An example of this could be:
We are pet groomers based in Galway who can’t wait to give your pet a make over! With over 5 years experience grooming pets in Ireland you can find our salon in the centre of Galway city. We love to groom pets of all sizes and even take a reptile or two when needed! If you would like to book your pet in for a grooming session with us then use the contact form below
I have used the main keyword, “pet groomers Galway”, in the same sentence and I have used the keywords grooming, groom, groomer & Galway city naturally throughout the same paragraph. This allows Google to pick up on other keywords which relate back to your main keyword and this helps you rank on Google.
Writing SEO for a blog post
When it comes to writing SEO copy for a blog post the process is similar except this time you want to focus on the questions your research on your SEO tool.
In the above example I showed you that people were asking questions like “What is a dog grooming service”. So my entire blog post will be set up to answer that one main questions.
Therefore my H1 tag would be something like “What is a dog grooming service & why every pooch needs a dog groomer”
When it comes to your H2 & H3 tags within this blog post you can use Google to find other questions people are asking about dog groomers and answer those questions within the blog post.
However you need to remember to focus this blog on answering the main keyword. So in this case the blog post is talking about “What is a dog grooming service” you don’t want to suddenly jump to a section that talks about the benefits of grooming a giraffe or why you should bath your cat within the same blog post. You want to make sure you are staying focused on the topic at hand.
A great way to find questions people are asking which would relate to your main focus keyword is by going to Google and typing in your main keyword.
First I am going to go to Google search bar and type in my main keyword:
I am then going to scroll down to “People also ask”
Here you are going to see a list of questions that also relate to “what is a dog grooming service”. Such as what dog grooming includes, what does dog grooming mean etc.
The more you click on these drop downs the more questions will appear. Like this:
Soon you will have a list of 10+ questions people are also asking about “dog grooming services”. These questions can be used to create H2 & H3 tags within your blog.
This will allow you to break your blog out into different sections answering all of the above questions shown under “People Also Asked”. One section could answer the question “How often should a dog be groomed” and another section could answer “How long does a full groom take”.
This will allow you to create a highly detailed blog while also using search terms that are being asked on Google. Doing this will help your blog post rank higher on Google.
Conclusion
Whether you are writing a sales page or an informational page making sure you have the right keywords for your target audience is key.
With the right strategy in place and understanding your customers search intent you can optimise every page on your website to convert visitors into customers.
Remember to keep all pages on your website relevant to what your business does and by doing so you will develop a trusting and dedicated customer base. Which will allow you to grow a sustainable business.
If you want help optimising your website for SEO then reach out and let’s get on a free 30 minute call.
