Ask anyone if they have used Google within the last 24 hours and the answer is likely to be yes! Every day, we rely on Google to help us search online for information, products and services.
If you are in business, selling a product or service it’s likely you have an online presence too. However, simply having a website won’t put you within reach of your customers. When potential customers look for your business online, how quickly can they find it? Will your product or service appear on the first page of the search results or is it buried several pages down?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) has emerged as the key to climbing to the top of searches and is a vital marketing tool. While specialists offer professional SEO services, not every small business can afford it, which is where this DIY guide perfectly fills the gap.
But what is SEO anyway? In short, it is the practice of increasing organic visibility for your website without paid advertising. Increased visibility for your website in search engines will help drive traffic (that’s website visitors) to your site. If you better understand the factors that search engines use to make ranking decisions you can leverage them for your own site. Consider it marketing 101 – you have to be seen before customers can consider you as an option!
This book covers website content and structure, search and optimisation, website loading speeds, keyword planning, content planning, tracking tools and more. It also takes a closer look at off-page SEO techniques like guest blogs, influencer and social media marketing.
There are several SEO myths the author quickly dismisses – including making it to the first page of Google search quickly, paid searches impacts on SEO and once you rank high you will stay there.
Written by search engine consultant Richard Conway, this book is practical, simple and straight forward. Richard arrived in New Zealand in 2009 and started PureSEO with just $200 and a single webpage. Mostly using digital marketing, he grew his business and is now a Google Premiere Partner with offices in Auckland, Wellington, Brisbane and Manila. If you own a small business or offer any service online, then this is a useful book that will certainly make an impact on your bottom line.
Reviewer: Andrea Molloy
Random House, RRP $35.00