Before we go through the most important SEO tips for 2021, let us briefly start with the basics. 

What is SEO?

SEO stands for 'Search Engine Optimisation'. In simple terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility for relevant searches. It helps a business become more reachable organically.

Your pages will rank higher within search engines like Google and Bing. It also helps streamline your content to deliver a better experience for the consumer. It’s like being an estate agent where the pictures don’t match the reality, and no one will stay for long.  

Why is SEO important?

SEO is a fundamental part of today’s digital marketing; potential customers search in the trillions each year and often intend to buy or learn about products and services. If you haven’t even learned the fundamentals, I suggest you do so before tackling the '5 tips to get started in SEO'.  

Google Mobile Indexing

Google has switched over to mobile-first. You are now being judged on your mobile experience regardless of desktop traffic (as you quickly type your website into your mobile). You will need to treat every element of your mobile site with a similar eye to your desktop.  

• Do you have alt text on your images?  

• Is that data structured in the same way?  

• What’s the loading time on pages and animations (more on this below)  

• What is it like to buy something through mobile?  

Load speeds

This is the measurement from when a user clicks on your URL and your page fully loads. Long loading times damping experience and heighten bounce rates. 53% of mobile internet users will leave a web page if it takes longer to load than 3 seconds.

A great example is, if you have an e-commerce website with lots of products, making sure images are the right size with the right tags can help load speeds and keep the consumer engaged. Long loading times can mean high bounce rates, which loses SEO points; search engines will assume you don’t have the relevant content even if you do.  

*A quick tip sometimes animation or content is on a timer which looks like a load speed issue. This is something to be very careful of in case you are fooled.

User Experience

Website SEO in 2021 needs to be technically flawless. It needs a seamless user experience, untangled site structure and content that makes sense within a users journey, i.e. when a customer is ready to buy, a great customer case study can help push them over the edge. This is nothing new but now imagine delivering all the above but on a mobile...