In recent years, Google has updated its search algorithm several times to provide users with better quality responses to their search enquiries, whether you are searching from Nigeria or any other part of the world. Updates with cute names like Penguin and Panda have made it increasingly difficult for marketers to pinpoint a firm and successful SEO strategy.
However, the updates actually make it easier for many businesses in Nigeria to get to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) by adopting very straightforward SEO practices and avoiding those deemed by the mighty Google as ‘black hat’.
There’s no secret to good SEO, although it does require some de-mystifying and mastering. Here we give you some top SEO tips that actually ranks your business higher in Nigeria. These tips will further help to maximise your chances of hitting the top spot when potential customers and clients are making searches relating to your business. Here are the tips:
Don’t Overthink your SEO
Google wants its users to have a better search experience, and for that reason, it matches search enquiries to web pages that provide the most recent information with the most relevance to the searches being made. So if you avoid thinking about the complexities of SEO and focus your own effort on providing a good experience for visitors to your website, you’re more likely to be successful. Once you know your business, and you have identified the keywords that describes your business, which are the same or similar keywords your visitors will be searching for online, the rest becomes easier.
Keep Content Fresh, Compelling and Relevant
When people are searching online for goods or services or just information on a field of interest, they want to get the most accurate, relevant and up-to-date results. If you regularly update and refresh your web content, your results will be favoured by the search engine. Your prospects don’t want to have their time wasted by reading something that is not specific to their enquiry. So once you have engaged interest, you want to stimulate it further. Find out more about how to keep your contents fresh and well-linked for maximum SEO impact – click here.
Make Sure your Website is Mobile-Friendly
Most people use their mobile devices to make their online searches and so you have to make sure you deliver a good user experience no matter what device your visitor is using. It is important to optimise your website so it displays neatly on a small screen as well as a large screen, and it’s easy to navigate and packed with functionality. Having a quick website load time is the key, if you don’t want visitors to lose interest while trying to access information. You can use software like Website Auditor to crawl your site regularly and identify any technical flaws. Please note that search engines like Google favours businesses using responsive website design with higher search engine result page ranking over their competitors using non-responsive website design.
Building Relationships are more important than Links
Link-building has always been considered an essential part of good SEO, but not any more however. Now it’s more important to build your credibility within your sphere of enterprise by creating relationships with non-competing concerns. Credibility is built when others perceive your brand as an authority or influencer and as a consequence, they link to your website. For example, if you have a gym you can create a relationship with a health supplement provider and develop two-way SEO advantages that way. Build connections that add value to your client or customer base and you will naturally attract more traffic to your online content.
Pay Close Attention to your Keyword Use
Don’t stuff your website with too many relative keywords and expect to see your business ranking anywhere on the first page of SERPs. This is now broadly considered the ultimate act in black hat SEO and can result in penalties which would definitely damage your online visibility.
The importance of keyword research cannot be overemphasized – be specific and moderate in the use of keywords. You’ll know that there are endless variants on the words relating to your products, goods or services and so you can still get away with a liberal smattering but the important thing is to keep them in context.
In other words, your content has to make sense and should be well written to attract positive attention from Google searches. Mentioning where your workshop or offices are based too often is known as ‘Location stuffing’, which is also a cardinal sin in SEO. However, you can still mention your location and any other localities near you as long as you do it so that it reads well and makes grammatical sense.
Research your Customers and Create Keywords that Relate
The most important aspect of SEO is to know what questions your target market is going to be asking the oracle, that is Google. You want to get into the demographic of your audience and relate to them in the terminology they’re familiar with so that it engenders good communication and increase sales.
Consider the fact that they will be typing questions in the search engine box and if your website contains the answer to those specific questions, it will naturally rank higher in the results. Remember that you’re an expert in your field and your customers and potential customers want to pick your brains. If you become a trusted source of information, your name will be foremost in the minds of your audience when it comes to buying.
Use Meta Descriptions to attract more Traffic
This is an area that’s often neglected by marketers when it comes to SEO. Each page on your website can be described very succinctly in a short sentence which is then ‘tagged’ to the page to encourage click-through to your website on SERPs.
You can see when you search with Google yourself that some of the results have your search terms highlighted in the heading, and some have a short but sweet description. That is how using Meta data displays if you use them correctly.
Conclusion
There is no secret to achieving SEO success if you are passionate about your business and just want to tell the world about it. If you’re just trying to get as much online attention as you can have without having anything to deliver to the user, you’ll be cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The current Google search algorithm has zero-tolerance for spammy SEO and is determined to stamp it out in favour of websites that represent value to those using its search engine.
By following the above tip, and keeping your website specific and of great use to interested visitors, you really can’t go wrong.