Why SEO Should Never Be an Afterthought

With all the things a business manages on a daily basis, it’s easy for SEO to get pushed aside. It is, after all, a long-term investment and SEO strategies typically don’t provide immediate results. For this reason, many businesses tend to cut corners when it comes to search engine optimisation and some only think about it after building their website or planning their content—which isn’t, as the title of this article suggests, a very smart idea.

Given how important a business’ online presence is these days, relegating SEO to an afterthought can hurt your brand—something any SEO agency Sydney worth their salt won’t dispute. Here are some key points to ponder on:

Keyword research matters

Keyword research is the practice of analysing which search queries your target audience is typing into the search box to get an answer. You want to add these keywords strategically into your content to increase the page’s chance of appearing high on search engine results pages (SERPs).

With research-backed data, you’ll understand what potential customers need and want, get insight into their buying journey and get a feel of your competition. It is through keyword research that you’re able to create an effective content strategy. In other words, it determines and defines your content, and thus, should come first.

Not optimising for the right keywords means using keywords that aren’t inherently relevant to your products or service. The result? You won’t have much success in driving potential customers to your website.

Come to think of it: Users typically start their online experience by typing in keywords on the search box. Won’t it make sense to begin your content strategy by doing research on them?

The all-important content brief

A content brief is a document that helps everyone in the content workflow to understand what the page is about and summarises what SEO elements should be included in it to create an optimised draft. It includes everything from potential titles and header tagging to the minimum word count and the list of LSI keywords.

By doing a content brief, you don’t only enhance the content creation process but also reduce errors. Take a look at these relevant statistics:

• First page results on Google contain 1,447 words on average. (Backlinko) SEO research enables you to create a content brief that includes elements that will help bring your page to the top of the rankings, word count included.

• 12.29% of search result pages yield featured snippets. (Ahrefs) You can summarise answers to queries in a way that’s featured snippet-worthy.

• The first five organic results on Google get 67.6% of all clicks. (MarTech) Working on your SEO early on will have your page geared for those coveted top spots.

You have two customers

As you may have noticed, search engines like Google can also be considered your ‘customers.’ Apart from the actual consumers that purchase your product or service, you also have to make sure your website appeals to search engines. Your goal is to make it easy for search engines to find your website because it is them that will put your website in front of people.

Every page is different

If you make SEO an afterthought, you run the risk of using the same SEO elements (i.e., keywords, alt tags, meta titles and descriptions, etc.) for different pages. Search engines can view this as spamming and they might penalise your website by not giving you a good spot in the SERPs. Remember that each page is different and your SEO should reflect the page’s content.

Do it right the first time, hire the right SEO agency

When you don’t prioritise SEO, you increase the risk of failure. Sure, you could push certain pages to rank higher on Google later on, but you’ll save a great deal of resources by doing it right the first time. Identify users’ needs and create content that satisfies those needs. That’s how things work.

An effective SEO agency will have the expertise to conduct relevant studies like keyword research and SERP analysis en route to creating and executing data-driven strategies that will drive your intended results. One such agency is G Squared, an award-winning SEO firm based out of Sydney. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a consultation.