Cambridgeshire Search Engine Optimisation
Strategies to get more people to your website
90.63% of web pages get NO traffic from Google!*
* According to a study by AHrefs
90.63% of web pages get NO traffic from Google!
What is SEO? How does it work?
Looking for an SEO expert in Cambridgeshire?
Reach more people in Cambridgeshire with effective SEO strategies to get more people onto your website.
Targa Web Solutions is based just a few miles from Peterborough, and specialises in web design, website management and search engine optimisation.
What is Search Engine Optimisation?
Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) is the process of setting out a website and each of its pages to be as effective as possible in search engine results.
Search engines aim to return a list of websites which are the closest matches for the search terms entered, and successful SEO on individual web pages will allow each of those pages to stand a better chance of being listed amongst the top search results.
Is SEO important?
SEO can be very important, but it will depend on what you want from your website, and also the level of competition you have in your area and in your industry.
Even if you have the most incredible website but no one ever gets to see it, then what is the point of that website? Worse still, if your business depends on it, then you’ve got a big problem!
In a typical Cambridgeshire town, there will be some businesses which will have very little competition with other similar businesses in Cambridgeshire for a good position in search engine results.
Low competition for search results
A search for Porsche dealer in Cambridgeshire
would be a good example, and I can predict with a fair degree of certainty that Jardine Motors will be near the top of the search results.
However, if you search for car dealer in Cambridgeshire
list of results will look very different. Jardine Motors will be in the search results somewhere, amongst other main dealers and used car dealers.
High competition for search results
On the other hand there could be a lot of competition for electricians and plumbers in the area. So success in a typical search for electricians in Cambridgeshire
or plumbers in Cambridgeshire
will need a lot more effort, analysis, and frequent monitoring and tweaking than a search for a main car dealer in Cambridgeshire would.
But let's be clear... SEO success certainly won't happen overnight. It WILL take some time, because Any new business offering services within a geographic area such as Cambridgeshire will need to earn the right to be amongst the existing well established websites for those same search criteria.
What does SEO involve?
Ideally your website should be built from the ground up with usability and SEO in mind. Some of the specifics are explained further down this page, but let’s just say at this point that SEO should have been a key consideration right from the start of the development of your website, and not just an add-on at the end.
But what if it wasn’t designed to be effective? Is it too late?
Not at all. Things can be done to improve your effectiveness with search engines, but how much can be done would need to be assessed on a case by case basis, as some things such as content changes could be easier and cheaper to implement than changes to the structure of a page.
Some examples of what should be reviewed include:
Competitor analysis:
- Which of your competitors are appearing in the top search engine results?
- What are they doing to give them such a high position?
- A
gap analysis
would be carried out to assess the content and structure of your website in comparison to your competitors.
Checking for website errors:
Broken links:
Checking for any links to pages which may have been removed, or links which have been incorrectly set up and therefore fail to reach a target page.Missing images:
Checking for images which are not displaying. The results may be different for mobile and desktop displays.Missing images:
Generally looking out for any website errors.
Review for improvements to your website:
Website content:
Conduct a website content review and suggest enhancements.Keyword research:
Analysis of what is working, what is not working, what your competitors are doing, and suggesting.Tag analysis:
Checking how the major tags such as<title>,<h1>and<h2>etc are being used.Page load speed:
Carrying outpage load time
analysis for desktop and mobile displays.Website architecture:
An analysis on the structure of your website.Internal links:
Analysis and review of existing internal links and identifying opportunities for improvement.Inbound linking:
Analysis and review of links from other websites to your website (also known as
)backlinking
Outbound linking:
Analysis and review of links from your website to other websites.Landing pages:
Determine strategy for the use oflanding pages
which could be used to great effect in organic searches and paid searches.
Google submissions:
Google validation
and submitting.Google Analytics
tag installation, validation, analysis and monitoring.Google Business Profile
(previously known asGoogle My Business
) listing to help your business to stand out when people are searching in your area for the services you provide.
Bing submissions:
- Submission to the
Bing search engine
- Submission to
Bing Places
which will help potential customers find your website when searching for businesses like yours on Bing.
Our free website health check would be a good place to start the initial investigation.
What impact does SEO have on design?
In many ways styling shouldn't be affected, but what the content on your pages say and how they link and reference to other content and pages on your site is very important.
But you shouldn't overdo it.
In the early days of the web, success with search engines was often achieved by cramming as many keywords and key phrases on a page as possible, sometimes to a point where it would look excessive and repetitive.
For example it might have looked something like:
Targa Web Solutions produces professional websites for businesses in Cambridgeshire. Our 27 years website design experience speaks for itself, and we are unbeaten in Cambridgeshire for building quality websites. You will find that our website design services are amongst the cheapest and best value in Cambridgeshire.
That is NOT how I want to portray Targa, but you get the idea? It was very much a case of how many times the same thing can be said in as many ways as possible, and hope that you had managed to cram in more than your competitors so that you appeared higher in search results.
It is also known as keyword stuffing and some websites still operate on that basis.
Thankfully things are continuing to change
For example Google places increasing importance on meaningful and relevant content, and discourages any form of keyword stuffing in the way described above.
What does relevant content mean?
Let's say that you run a conservatory installation company in Cambridgeshire, and you also cover other areas besides Cambridgeshire. Your website should convey that message. It should be clear to potential customers what services you offer, and where you operate. You should therefore aim to be successful in search results for terms such as:
kitchen fitter in Cambridgeshire
professional kitchen installer in Cambridgeshire
bespoke kitchen specialist in Cambridgeshire
That might sound obvious, but also bear in mind that dedicated pages could be worth having for any additional services you offer, combined with the names of any relevant towns and villages in Cambridgeshire which you also provide services in.
That approach will certainly be beneficial to your SEO efforts and reach more potential customers.
What does meaningful content mean?
Does your website portray your company as being experts in your field, and from all of the other options of similar companies in Cambridgeshire, will your potential customers get the sense that your company is the one which is most suited to your needs?
Google tries to determine just that, by evaluating the nature and content of a website against criteria which assesses the credibility of a website and its owners. Google calls this process E-A-T
which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness
E-A-T
is derived from Google's Search Quality Rating Guidelines.
Your SEO questions answered
How long does it take for SEO updates to take effect ⇨
How long does it take for SEO updates to take effect
SEO efforts, when done correctly and methodically, should be able to show measurable results within a 4 to 12 month period.
Your website needs time to establish itself, and search engines will need to determine how your website and the individual pages it contains compares to the vast number of websites already out there and currently ranking for keywords that you intend to rank for.
So you'll need patience, but also an SEO strategy.
Can you get my website to the top in Google search results? ⇨
Can you get my website to the top in Google search results?
Let’s be clear what this means, using myself as an example. I’m Daron Harvey, a web designer based near Peterborough in the UK.
A search for Daron Harvey
ranks me at the top in Google. No effort or SEO strategy was required, because there aren’t many Daron Harveys around the globe. So yes, I could probably get you to the top in Google for something, but it depends what you want to be at the top for.
A search for web designer
or web designer uk
is a much tougher one to get to the #1 spot in Google for. In fact getting on pages 1, 2 or 3 is really tough, but search for web designer peterborough
and you’re like to see Targa listed on page 1. That didn’t happen without some effort, by the way, as there are some very well established web design companies out there who I needed to compete for position with.
As the top few positions for web designer peterborough
are paid ads, I would need to pay to be amongst them, but in organic search results (the free non-paid results) Targa is doing well.
Getting to the top in Google is a competition. You need to earn the right (or pay in some cases), and your competitors are also putting in the effort to be #1 too. So let’s be honest here... Nobody can guarantee that they’ll get you to the top for all of the search terms you want to be found for, but without a focused SEO strategy you are unlikely to get even close. Maybe we should talk!
What does SERPs mean for search engine results? ⇨
What does SERPs mean for search engine results?
SERPs is a term which you may or may not have come across, but you use them a lot... probably every day.
SERPs simply means Search Engine Results Pages
Google it, then look at the list of search results displayed on the pages in front of you. Those are the SERPs!
Do you know who your target audience is? ⇨
Do you know who your target audience is?
A common mistake for many businesses is to think that every person out there is a potential customer.
In some cases that may be true, but in most cases it’s worth businesses targeting narrower groups or types of people.
This may be based on age, sex, location, interests, habits, people with children, people with elderly relatives, pet owners, cyclists, car owners, people going abroad, etc.
What do customers expect when they reach your website? ⇨
What do customers expect when they reach your website?
Do visitors to your website expect to find out enough information about you, your products and services so they can make a purchase?
Are they likely to carry out some research before making a decision?
To make an enquiry, are they more likely to call you, email you or complete an online form?
What are your customers needs and want? ⇨
What are your customers needs and want?
By knowing who your target audience is, you should then ask yourself what do they need or want from a visit to your website?
If you can satisfy their need with the products or services you provide, what is the best way you can you communicate that to your potential customers, and how can you make the decision and buying process as simple as possible for them?
Are your customers all from your local area? ⇨
Are your customers all from your local area?
Are your customers local, or do you reach out to customers right across the UK?
If they’re local, it might be worth considering targeting customers in specific towns and villages. That way you could get the edge on your competition by getting targeted landing pages
to work well for you in search engine results.
If SEO needs patience how does Google display the latest news and sports? ⇨
If SEO needs patience how does Google display the latest news and sports?
You might be wondering why, when we ay that SEO takes time and patience, Google can display up to the minute sports scores or updates on major news stories which happened earlier that same day.
Google has a way of categorising certain search topics and search terms, and it can make use of different features based on industry and, in the above examples, news and sport.
This special ranking feature is called QDF, which stands for Query Deserves Freshness
and aims to serve up to date information in its search results.
Most business websites are unlikely to get the QDF treatment, and therefore we have to compete in a much broader arena, where updates to our website content will take much longer to take effect.
Get in touch...
If you feel that Targa can help with your local SEO in Cambridgeshire, feel free to contact us using the form, phone, email, or select a time slot to suit your schedule.
info@targaweb.com
Phone: 01406 373511
Mob: 07564 372222
Web design too...
Besides SEO services, Targa also offer web design services in Cambridgeshire, and would be happy to hear from you.
