SEO: a guide | ResDiary

On-page SEO

• HTTPS: Google is prioritising secure sites in it’s listings above non-secure sites on their search listings, so get secure.
• Optimise your site: Update the title tag, URL, and description tags with keywords.
• Keywords: These are phrases in the content of your website that help tell Google what each page is about

Off-page SEO

• Location: Make sure your page is appearing to potential customers in your local area.
• Use listings and reviews: Submit information to Yell, Zomato, and more.
• Set up a Google my Business page: a free service that Google uses to draw information about your business.
• Google image search: Updating your Google My Business page means you have more control over the images that appear in Google Searches

Common mistakes

• A poorly designed website: This will make it difficult for search engines to understand the structure of your site and where pages should be ranked.
• Ignoring the small stuff: It may not seem like tags are hugely important compared to the actual content of your site, but in reality this is the only thing customers will see on a search page.
• Not focusing on the right keyword or keywords: See above. Do your research.
• Duplicating content from other sites: Google doesn’t like copied-over content and will try their best to identify the original source and penalise the imposters by hiding them from the search results..
• Not having unique title and description tags: Google also sees identical tags as “duplicate content” and finds it difficult to prioritise which pages to show to people searching on Google.
• Broken links: Returning a 404 error (page not found) is a killer for user experience and search engines don’t like bad customer experiences. Our favourite, Moz.com Pro includes automatic weekly scans which provide any broken links.