What is SEO? - Just Startup

SEO = Search Engine Optimisation

This abbreviation, SEO, might sound technical and scary to some. It is basically the term to describe all tasks you can perform on your website, in order to make people find you when they are using search engines like Google. Some of these tasks are, yes, rather technical, and you might want to contact an expert for those. However, some tasks are simple tasks that anyone with writing rights on your website can perform.

What are we trying to obtain with SEO?

We want to rank as high as possible on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP – yeah, another abbreviation, sorry about that). People tend to click on the top 2 to 3 ranked results within a SERP. If our business is a perfect match to the search query, you would want to be among those top 2 to 3 companies there.

Below is an example of a SERP from Google when searching the key phrase “branding agency Singapore”. This result page shows the ones who paid for ads on the top, followed by a map holding a couple of companies with good reviews within that search, and finally, you will see the results of your query. We want to be ranked as high as possible here!

SEO is about showing the search engines that your business is alive and kicking – DIGITALLY!

Yes, you heard us. Companies that have an active DIGITAL presence will be considered as better matches than the companies that don’t. But does that mean? Simply put, it means that your SEO quality depends not only on what you do ON the website itself, but also what you do elsewhere online.

What defines a company with a strong digital presence?

Below, we are listing actions that digitally active companies do to show search engines that they exist.

A structured and well-coded website
A website that has traffic, that is regularly updated and has structured content that is well-understood by readers
Active use of one or several social media channels
Presence of reviews and testimonials, on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn or other channels
Content is being shared on social channels
The website has links to other websites (partners, articles, social media links)
Other websites are linking to the company’s website (We call these backlinks)

Some of the elements above is hard to do yourself. Especially the ones about building a website. Our advice: use experts for the things that you cannot do yourself. For the rest, try it yourself, with guide and advice from our learning resources.

Getting started with SEO?

First, make sure your website is well built

One of the first things to make sure is to have a website that is well built. Meaning, it has to be structured and organised. Did you make a website WITHOUT briefing the developer about SEO? Chances are that your website is not at all optimised. You might need to start over.

We would recommend to use an expert to help you with the basic setup of your website, if you want to make it as SEO optimised as possible.

Do it yourself, with our “Get started with WordPress” course.

Second, set up Google My Business and ask for testimonials/review

The very first step we recommend anyone is to set up Google My Business. Fill in your address, opening hours, your social media links and all available and vital information. Add images and maybe link to news articles on your website, if any.

Third, set up social media channels

Yes, social media channels actually help with SEO. We are trying to show the search engine that our business is a real one, with activity, also online.

However, choose wisely! Don’t set up all the channels right away. Choose one or two channels that are important to your business and where you would reach your target audience.

Not sure how to choose a social media channel? Take the “Get started with Social Media” – course.

Fourth, choose ONE key phrase for your home page

Define a KEY PHRASE that you want your HOME PAGE to rank for. IMPORTANT! We said “phrase”, not “word”! In the example above, the key phrase is “branding agency Singapore” – 3 words put together in a way that people might put it when they are searching for a branding agency in Singapore.

How did this agency come up with exactly this key phrase? Well, they went through a process of nailing down what made sense, what was logic! They are a branding agency, but also a design agency, and a creative agency. They went for “branding agency Singapore” even though any of these terms describe the company well. Why? The reason lies in a combination of the popularity of the search versus the competition present on the phrase.

Finding the key phrase sweet spot – popularity vs. competition

The agency above did a many tryouts, using the keyword search tool from Neil Patel. They offer a free service, but that is rarely enough when you have a lot of words you want to check out. For the 3 key phrases “branding agency Singapore”, “creative agency Singapore” and “design agency Singapore”, the agency found the following:

Branding agency Singapore – 590 Searches per month in Singapore, SEO Difficulty 32
Creative agency Singapore – 590 Searches per month in Singapore, SEO Difficulty 36
Design agency Singapore – 480 Searches per month in Singapore, SEO Difficulty 34

The agency decided to go for “branding agency Singapore” as key phrase for the home page.

REMEMBER! Only one single key phrase per page

You heard us. Only one, uno, un, en phrase per page to start with. In the example above, Lime Agency chose “branding agency Singapore” as their key phrase for their home page. However, other pages have other, unique key phrases.

Fifth, add content that will be read by humans and crawled by machines

Yes, we cannot just add random content. It needs to be readable and understandable for humans. After all, humans are the ones searching. On the other hand, machines will crawl the pages and machines decide which result will come first.

Wondering how to do that? We have saved you a template just for this purpose. You can download it here.

Sixth, make updates

Make sure your page is up to date! Update it regularly. Add new photos, new articles as you go. Remember! A sleeping page is not the image of a business that is alive and kicking! Make updates, at least every 3rd month

SEO is ever evolving

Unfortunately, search engines update their rules all the time. What was true yesterday, might not be true today. Consequently, it is important to stay updated on the latest news on SEO. At Just Startup, we can help you with this. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on whats new and important to notice in our ever changing beautiful digitally world!

Looking forward to search for you!