Guide to Search Engine Optimisation: Simple Tips to Boost Your Website

For beginners, SEO can seem overwhelming, but with a few straightforward strategies, you can start driving more traffic to your site. This guide, shares easy-to-follow tips to help you get started with SEO and make your website more visible.

1. Understand What Your Audience is Searching For

The first step in SEO is knowing what words or phrases (keywords) your audience uses when searching online.

Start with Keyword Research: Use free tools like Google Keyword Planner to find popular keywords related to your website’s topic. For example, if you run a baking blog, look for terms like “easy cupcake recipes” or “homemade bread tips.”

Focus on Simple Keywords: As a beginner, target specific, less competitive phrases (called long-tail keywords), such as “how to bake a cake for beginners” instead of just “cake.”

Think Like Your Audience: Ask yourself what problems your visitors want to solve and what they might type into Google to find your content.

Pro Tip: Make a list of 5–10 keywords that describe your website’s purpose and content to use across your pages.

2. Write Clear and Helpful Content

Great content is at the heart of SEO. Search engines reward websites that provide useful, easy-to-read information.

Create Content for Humans: Write blog posts, guides, or pages that answer questions or solve problems for your audience. For example, a post like “Top 5 Tips for Beginner Gardeners” is clear and helpful.

Use Keywords Naturally: Include your chosen keywords in your content, but don’t overdo it. Aim for a natural flow, like mentioning “easy yoga poses” in a post about yoga for beginners.

Keep It Simple: Use short sentences, paragraphs, and bullet points to make your content easy to read, especially on mobile devices.

Pro Tip: Aim to write at least one new blog post or page each month to keep your site fresh and engaging.

3. Optimise Your Page Titles and Descriptions

Every page on your website needs a title and description that tell search engines and users what it’s about.

Craft a Catchy Title Tag: This is the clickable headline that appears in search results. Keep it under 60 characters and include your main keyword. For example, “Easy SEO Tips for Beginners” works well.

Write a Meta Description: This is the short summary (under 160 characters) below the title in search results. Make it engaging and include a keyword, like “Learn simple SEO tips to boost your website’s ranking fast.”

Make Every Page Unique: Avoid using the same title or description on multiple pages, as this can confuse search engines.

Pro Tip: Use your websites CMS to set up title tags and meta keywords and descriptions.

4. Make Your Website Easy to Navigate

A well-organised website keeps visitors happy and helps search engines understand your content.

Use Clear Menus: Create a simple navigation bar (e.g., Home, About, Blog, Contact) so users can find what they need quickly.

Link Related Pages: Add links within your content to other pages on your site. For example, in a blog post about healthy snacks, link to a recipe page on your site.

Keep URLs Simple: Use short, descriptive URLs like yourwebsite.com/healthy-snacks instead of something vague like yourwebsite.com/page1.

Pro Tip: Check your site’s navigation by asking a friend to browse it and see if they can find information easily.

5. Ensure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly

Many people browse the web on their phones, so your website must work well on mobile devices. Google also prioritises mobile-friendly sites for rankings.

Choose a Responsive Design: All of our websites offer templates that automatically adjust to different screen sizes.

Test on Your Phone: Visit your site on your mobile device to ensure text is readable, buttons are clickable, and images load properly.

Avoid Clutter: Keep your mobile layout clean, with easy-to-tap buttons and no intrusive pop-ups.

Pro Tip: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test (search for it online) to check if your site meets mobile standards.

6. Speed Up Your Website

A slow website can frustrate visitors and lower your search rankings. Simple tweaks can make your site load faster.

Compress Images: Large images slow down your site. Use freely available tools reduce image file sizes without losing quality.

Choose Reliable Hosting: Pick a trusted web hosting provider to ensure your site runs smoothly.

Avoid Too Many Plugins: Limit the number of plugins, as they can slow your site.

Pro Tip: Test your site’s speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights and follow its suggestions to improve performance.

7. Share Your Content on Social Media

While social media doesn’t directly affect SEO rankings, it can drive traffic to your site, which signals to search engines that your content is popular.

Post on Relevant Platforms: Share your blog posts or pages on platforms like X, Instagram, or Facebook, depending on where your audience is active.

Include a Call-to-Action: Encourage followers to visit your site with phrases like “Read the full guide on our blog!” and include a link.

Engage with Your Audience: Respond to comments or questions to build a community and encourage more visits to your site.

Pro Tip: Create a free account on various social media platforms to share your content and connect with others in your niche.

8. Track Your Progress

SEO takes time, but monitoring your efforts helps you see what’s working and what needs improvement.

Set Up Google Analytics: This free tool shows how many people visit your site, which pages they view, and where they come from.

Use Google Search Console: This free tool helps you see which keywords bring traffic and identifies any issues with your site.

Be Patient: SEO results can take weeks or months, so keep tweaking your strategy based on what the data shows.

Pro Tip: Check Google Analytics once a month to see if your traffic is growing and which pages are performing best.

Conclusion

Search engine optimisation doesn’t have to be complicated for beginners. By focusing on understanding your audience, creating helpful content, optimising page titles, and ensuring your site is fast and mobile-friendly, you can start improving your website’s visibility. Begin with these simple steps, stay consistent, and track your progress to see steady growth in traffic over time. With practice, you’ll gain confidence and can explore more advanced SEO techniques to take your website to the next level.