Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about making sure that when people search Google for a business or organisation like yours, it’s your website that comes up first in the search results, rather than your competitors’. A key aspect of getting SEO right is choosing strong keywords. Keywords are the words or phrases that web users will use to try to find websites through Google. Including the keywords that people use to search for the service or product you offer will mean you’re likely to feature higher up in the search results.
So, whenever you are setting up or developing a website, you should choose a number of keywords and then ensure you use them throughout the content of your website. To work out the best keywords for SEO on your website, it’s worth spending some time thinking about the reasons why people might be searching the web for a company like yours. It’s likely that these reasons will form the basis of your keywords. For example, someone who’s trying buy a house or sell a flat in Guildford might use some or any of the following phrases:
“estate agent in Guildford”
“Guildford estate agent”
“buy a house Guildford”
“sell a flat Guildford”
“property for sale Guildford”
This list is by no means exhaustive but it’s a start. You can also get ideas for keywords from other people. Your customers, suppliers, partners, friends and so on may see your business differently to you and may associate different words and phrases with it and with what you do.
Longer keywords like the phrases above are more effective than shorter ones. That’s because they’re more relevant and specific – someone looking for a Guildford estate agent is unlikely to just Google “estate agent” but will probably Google “Guildford estate agent”. So think about keywords that are relevant and specific to what your business does, not just your field of work or expertise in general. Once you’ve chosen your keywords, it’s then up to you to make sure they feature throughout the content of your website: do this, and your Google rankings are likely to improve, meaning more people are more likely to find your website.
