Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) should probably just be called Google Optimisation these days as Google is by far the most popular search engine used. In very simple terms, the goal is to optimise your website so it shows up more frequently in Google’s search results when phrases or keywords are used that relate to you and your industry.

The practice of SEO (or “search engine optimisation”) is simply the art of getting your website to rank higher, and more frequently, in search engine search results which relate to your chosen industry, service, product, location or a combination thereof.

There are two main ways to optimise your website – onpage and offpage. Onpage refers to elements on your website that help “feed” search results so this could be page titles and descriptions within the metadata of the page, words/phrases on the page, images and filenames, videos, page structure and much more. Offpage activity includes high-quality content on high-authority websites, optimising social media profiles and removing any low-quality backlinks.

If you think that sounds like a lot of work, you’re not wrong! Current expert opinion suggests there are around 200 or so “ranking factors” that can affect your search results. Our team focusses on website content that is high quality, unique, relevant to your audience and educational rather than overtly “salesy”. Google is looking for businesses that produce consistent, high-quality content over the long term. That’s why we often refer to SEO as a marathon, not a sprint.

For Australians, we can confidently replace the term “search engines” with “Google”, because Google controls around 95% of all search engine traffic in this country. For this reason, some people argue that “SEO” should be simply known as “GO” (“Google Optimisation”) – while it makes sense logically, we think it would just introduce even MORE confusion to this already complex topic… so we’ll stick with SEO for now 🙂.

How Do Search Engines (Like Google) Work?

Think about Google’s primary objective for search – they want their consumers (those running search queries) to find the most relevant, helpful and accurate information in the shortest time possible. This means they’re wanting to show “Page 1” search results which provide their users (the searchers) with websites which:

• Clearly and directly relate to the search query / Googled phrase
• Provide unique or well-thought-out answers, solutions, insights and other information pertaining to the topic being searched
• Have a level of authority on the topic being searched
• Provide a positive user experience
• Are easy to navigate
• Are fast to load
• Do not contain technical or grammatical errors
• Are free from viruses, trojans & other “online nasties”
• …and more

In fact, there are over 200 ranking factors within Google’s algorithm, which determine “what ranks where” when it comes to organic (free) search results.

What does this mean for you and your business website?

Simply that your website needs to reflect Google’s guidelines, specifically key factors which they refer to as “E-E-A-T” – previously (still recently!) referred to as just “E-A-T”.

What is E-E-A-T?

Google has openly told us their roadmap for “who ranks where” in their search results, with their E-E-A-T method. From a ranking perspective, they’re actively (some may say aggressively!) prioritising content which:

1. Provides a positive user EXPERIENCE (their latest edition to the acronym)
2. Demonstrates EXPERTISE within the related topic 
3. Has been written by an AUTHORITY on the related topic 
4. Has high levels of TRUST

Why is SEO Important to Businesses?

If you want to beat your online competitors in local Google rankings within your industry, your site needs to telegraph clearly that you’re a trusted, experienced, trusted authority on the subject matter… while keeping your visitors engaged in your content.

In other words, gone are the days of paying $500 for a basic 5 page business website, which is built once & never touched again!

To succeed online in 2023 and beyond, your business needs an SEO strategy which addresses both aspects of the ranking game – your website & its content (roughly 30% of the algorithm), and the quantity & quality of websites who link to you (the remaining 70%).  Only then can your website stand a chance of meeting Google’s E-E-A-T requirements, to outrank your competitors & attract more leads online.

Successful search engine optimisation today requires a cross-platform approach which addresses a wide range of ranking factors. Most importantly, the content on your website (pages, blog posts etc), and off your website (from where you’re building links back to your own site) should be:

• High quality
• Unique and relevant
• Easy for the average person to read
• Targeted to the topic in question
• Addressing common questions in the mind of the reader (i.e. educational, informative rather than self-focused & “salesy”)
• Substantial (750+ words on each page on average – with some highly competitive keywords / search phrases are requiring 2,000+ words of quality content to win the ranking game)

Google will gather all the related data points for your business – including your social media activity or “social signals” – to determine how your website should rank for relevant search phrases (or “keywords”). They will then compare your “worthiness” against your competitors, and other types of search results (including products, maps, images, videos etc) to determine where you show up in the results… if at all!

What do HoS SEO Campaigns Look Like?

When you choose to embark on an SEO campaign with House of Social, we’ll start by developing an in-depth SEO custom strategy for your business & website. This will include but not be limited to:

• Keyword Research – where you’re ranking today & what opportunities exist for additional rankings, based on competition, search volumes and buyer intent (e.g. the search phrase of “renovations” is going to have a MUCH higher monthly search volume than “best renovations company sydney”, but the latter is MUCH more likely to result in a phone call due to the specificity of the query)
• Competition Research – by looking at the top ranking companies for the most significant keywords in your industry, we can reverse-engineer their success. We’ll look at their site structure, the content they’ve produced, the backlinks they’ve generated and more, to see how we can leverage (and beat) their results
• Technical Review –  We’ll uncover under underlying issues with your website which may be leading to reduced traffic or high bounce rates (i.e. clicking on your site, but then then quickly hitting the ‘back’ button to check other search results)
• Pillar & Cluster Content Plan – by reviewing keyword opportunities, we’ll develop a content plan for your website, using a tried-&-true method known as the pillar and cluster model

What is the “Pillar and Cluster Model”?

The “pillar and cluster model” is a way to structure your website content for relevancy. The pillar is the major topic you want to rank for (e.g. “home renovations”), and the clusters are the articles on interlinked pages, related to that main cluster topic. 

Those cluster pages / articles then contain relevant anchor text (the text which contain the links) which point to the website page / post.

Using the pillar and cluster model, you can build up authority over time by demonstrating to Google (and your users) that you are an expert in your chosen field – covering search terms which are all relevant to the primary topic. 

This strategy helps to set you above your competitors, who may write one article (or have just one service page) relating to the overall topic.

Ongoing SEO Effort

Each month, we’ll perform a combination of onpage optimisation (i.e. your website structure & content) and offpage optimisation (i.e. obtaining backlinks from high-authority, relevant websites, using professionally-written articles).

We’ll also keep an eye on your competitors, watch for and address any server / website errors, and explore new opportunities which arise for content creation or keyword optimisation.

Monthly SEO Reporting

Something which sets us apart from other SEO service providers, is our focus to maintain visibility and transparency over the work we’re performing for you each month. At the end of the reporting period, typically monthly, you’ll receive a detailed work report which includes:

• All actions taken during the last reporting period
• Updated keyword rankings, including insights of significant movements / additions
• Google Analytics results, showing the most popular pages visitors found in search results, your most popular pages / posts, and where your traffic came from
• Google My Business, or Google Profiles results, showing you statistics around how visitors discovered your business in Google’s location-based results and what actions (phone calls, requests for directions etc) this traffic created
• Plans for the upcoming reporting period

Accompanying this report will be a walkthrough video, where we explain the data in plain English. These videos typically run for around 20 minutes, to help give you a strong understanding of the data being presented. 

In other words, we don’t just give you “reports”, but detailed analysis! 

How Long Does It Take To See Results From SEO?

Depending on your current site metrics and your competition, you may start to see additional traffic / bumps in ranking from your SEO within the first 30 to 60 days. In most cases, we typically see rankings & traffic:

• Start to increase slowly between months 1 and 3 
• Steadily increasing (overall) between months 3 and 9 
• Achieve strong results between months 9 and 12

Based on how we setup and run our SEO campaigns, and the way Google treats “authority”, you’ll likely find your website ranking for other keywords which we’re not specifically targeting. We like to call this the “rising tide” effect, where your overall website authority results in your other website pages organically improving their Google rank.