When those new to SEO hear an SEO agency explain that there are hundreds of ranking factors that Google takes into account within its algorithm, it is understandable that they may think SEO is too complicated for them to have anything to do with it. While there is no denying that those who provide SEO services, such as an SEO agency, utilize the vast skills and experience of those who work within them, SEO may not be as complicated to understand as you might think.
Peter Brittain from SEO agency www.seoperthexperts.com.au emphasizes that to get SEO right and to take the actions needed to improve the rankings of a website, they do recommend that you approach a professional SEO agency with “great reviews and a strong track record of client case studies showing sustained success”. They should have all the knowledge and, more importantly, the tools, resources, and software needed to make your SEO campaign successful.
Nevertheless, the more you know about SEO, the more effective those conversations will be with your SEO agency. Being able to articulate what you would like your SEO campaign to achieve and to understand any feedback from the SEO experts you employ, will always be preferable to engaging with them, having no knowledge of SEO yourself.
For example, did you know that there are four basic pillars of SEO that almost all SEO campaigns focus upon? These four linchpins of SEO invariably have to be present; if any one of them is disregarded, the entire SEO campaign is compromised. Here are those four SEO linchpins:
On-Site SEO: This relates to all the optimisations that take place within your website and as you presumably have complete control of and access to your website, on-site SEO is usually regarded as the easiest of the four SEO linchpins to achieve. Specific examples of on-site SEO include keyword research, header tags, title tags, meta descriptions, URLs, and internal linking. Each page or post added to your website needs to be optimised as it is created.
Content SEO: Although most of the content you create will be published on your website, this is not classed as on-site SEO because you will be creating content to be published on other websites. Keyword research also forms part of content SEO, but it must be stressed this is not an exercise in cramming as many keywords as you can into each content piece. Instead, it should be written with the user in mind, it should be unique, and it should be high quality.
Technical SEO: We focus on your website once more, with technical SEO, and here we are specifically looking at some of the performance aspects of your website that Google measures and uses to determine rankings. Prime examples are the speed at which your website’s pages load, the navigation structure and its usefulness for users, and how well your website is optimised for display on mobile devices.
Off-Site SEO: Some aspects of off-site can require more time and effort, but they are worth it if you can achieve them. The most important of these is backlink generation which requires you to reach out to other website owners. Here, you want a mix of websites and keyword anchor text, and ideally some backlinks from high authority websites. You will also be optimising your Google My Business listing, making use of social media, and creating multiple citations.