Simon Heseltine Seo
Simon Heseltine serves as Director of Organic Audience Development for AOL Inc and is responsible for planning and executing SEO projects across HPMG / AOL brand websites.
He has vast experience managing Global SEO for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, leading AOL Audience Development’s award winning Audience Development team (In House Team of the Year 2014 – US Search Awards), working at agencies, as well as speaking and training on online marketing topics.
What is SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the practice of increasing a website’s presence in search engine results pages (SERPs). This involves making small adjustments and adding targeted content that targets keywords on your website.
Earning top placement in organic search results is of vital importance for businesses, as this will mean more traffic and customers for you. With long-term marketing like this, it is vital that a plan be in place in order to stay on top of trends.
Google dominates around 92% of the global search market, but it isn’t the only major search engine. Other engines use different algorithms to give searchers optimal results.
As such, SEO has become more complex than ever and it is essential that businesses remain informed and gain as much knowledge as possible about this field.
One way to stay on top of SEO trends is reading blogs and watching videos by experts. Not only can these resources offer insight into current practices, but they can also assist in creating an SEO plan tailored specifically for your business.
An essential tip when embarking on an SEO campaign is that results take time. While paid search can provide quick returns, organic results typically take weeks, months or years to materialise.
Staying abreast of SEO’s evolving trends can be challenging, but investing time and energy to learn about it will result in long-term success.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is an integral component of SEO, making it essential for any online business. With targeted keyword searches, businesses can drive more visitors to their site while simultaneously increasing their ranking on popular search engines such as Google.
Semrush offers an effective tool to conduct keyword research. With its variety of features and tools, this platform will help you identify relevant keywords which will attract traffic to your website.
Start by brainstorming what customers are searching for within your niche. Although this step may take some time, it’s essential for creating a solid plan.
Once you’ve developed a list of topics, use one or two keyword phrases from it as keyword searches in a search engine to see how many people are searching for those terms. Try getting an understanding of which phrases are popular – this will provide an indication as to which ones might be worth targeting.
Doing research on your competitors will give you some great ideas for keywords to target as well.
Keyword research should be part of a regular routine; it will assist with website optimization for search engines while potentially driving organic traffic for years.
On-Page Optimization
On-page SEO refers to optimizing certain aspects of your website in order to boost its search engine rankings and gain more traffic. It includes updating page content, title tags, internal links and other elements.
Opposed to off-page SEO, which depends on external factors like backlinks for success, on-page SEO is entirely your responsibility. Because you have more control over this form of optimization, it is key that you prioritize and execute these strategies correctly.
Start by making sure the content on your pages is of high-quality; this is key to on-page optimization, and could make or break your SEO efforts.
Create high-quality page content that provides value to visitors while simultaneously building trust with search engines. This can help establish your brand and gain respect from search engines.
Search engines will rank your pages higher in search results for keywords relevant to the content on them, while also helping your site garner links from other websites.
Page titles (also referred to as title tags) are one of the key SEO components on-page. Assuming you use your most essential keywords as page titles is a good start, though for best results use different wording or keyphrases for various pages and use unique ones for each one.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-page SEO refers to techniques you can employ outside your website in order to enhance its search engine rankings, such as link building, encouraging branded searches and increasing engagement through engagement with social media and shares.
An effective off-page optimization strategy focuses on building authority and trust with visitors to your website, most commonly through links. Google measures backlinks as a measure of authority, giving your page greater rank as a result.
Link building efforts are an integral component of every content marketer’s off-page optimization strategy, but to truly maximize effectiveness they must also incorporate other off-page factors to improve brand authority and reputation.
Earned media mentions are another key off-page SEO factor that should not be neglected when building brand awareness and gaining new customers.
Create an engaging and targeted social media campaign to increase brand mentions. When users enjoy the user experience, they’re more likely to share it with their followers and friends, boosting brand mentions with each interaction they make with your brand.
Other off-page SEO strategies include increasing local visibility, expanding Google My Business presence and soliciting reviews from consumers. Such efforts increase credibility of your business while helping it compete more successfully against similar industries; additionally they may increase local SEO ranking which leads to more organic traffic for your brand.
Link Building
Link building is one of the key aspects of search engine optimization, with its primary aim being gaining links from high-quality websites that will direct qualified traffic towards your website.
There are various approaches to link building, but outreaching to websites within your industry is often the most successful approach. Outreach can build long-term relationships with key influencers in your field and may result in highly valued links from these outlets that Google values highly.
Guest blogging can also help with link building by producing original pieces of content tailored specifically for another website, and featuring them there. This strategy can lead to high-quality backlinks back to your own as well as increasing targeted visitors and potential customers for your brand.
However, it’s essential to remember that guest blogging isn’t an instant solution; it takes time and dedication to build strong relationships with key influencers and build your reputation; but its rewards make the effort well worthwhile in the end.
Start by understanding your audience and what they want from you – this will lay the groundwork for creating valuable content tailored towards their needs and interests.
Once you understand who your audience is, the next step should be an audit of current content to identify gaps that need filling and create more high-quality, informative, and relevant pieces that other websites will want to link back to.
Social Media
Social media is an online communication medium that enables its users to create and share content, including websites for social networking and microblogging as well as platforms facilitating specific formats (photos or videos).
Social media’s rise marked a new era in global communications, dispersing power away from elite gatekeepers like government agencies, publishing houses, and other organizations and opening it up for any individual with access to the internet to share their opinions, ideas, and interests freely.
People use social media mainly to stay in contact with family and friends, while businesses utilize it as an inexpensive form of marketing to drive leads and traffic to their products or services. Social media offers not only quick leads but can also increase brand recognition while creating loyalty among customers.
Some social media platforms focus more heavily on building connections than others; for example, Facebook and Twitter both require mutual followback instead of simply allowing you to follow people unilaterally.
Other platforms focus on content sharing, like Instagram and TikTok which enable photo and video uploads; Reddit and 4Chan allow communities to find each other and post on topics.
Social media should always be seen as a powerful way of creating and nurturing personal connections at scale, making it one of the primary marketing channels. Marketers have made use of it extensively.
