Preloader Logo
ANA Digital Media Logo
Breadcrumb Elements 1 Breadcrumb Elements 2

What Is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

Home What Is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
Blog Img

I hope you enjoy reading this article. If you need support with SEO, Google Ads, Facebook Ads or Landing Pages click on the link.

A successful website is your company's business card; it ensures that not only do visitors arrive, but they also buy your product or use your service. First, though, your website needs to be found among the millions of others on the World Wide Web.

With Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you can make this happen. Here, you can read more about what it is and how you can carry it out step-by-step yourself. After a 6-minute read, you'll know how to get your website into the top 5 search results.

What Is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a part of search engine marketing and can be defined as the set of activities meant to make a web page score highly in a search engine's organic search results.

When relevant keywords or search terms for that web page are typed in, SEO can ensure your website appears on the first page. Since a listing in these organic results is free, they're an interesting alternative to search engine advertising.

What does Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) deliver

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a long-term investment that requires time and patience. It can be difficult to determine exactly how long it takes to see results because this depends on a number of factors, including the current state of the website, the competition in the industry, and the keywords used.

However, based on information from Break the Web, we would like to outline a timeline for you on how long it takes to earn money with SEO.

It can take a few months to a year before the results of SEO become noticeable. Below is a detailed timeline based on the information on their website:

Check Icon

Months 1-2: During this phase, the website is analysed and optimised for the most important keywords and keyword groups. This includes adjusting the content, optimising the meta-tags, and setting up Google Analytics and Google Search Console. In this phase, ANA digital media lays the foundation of the website. This also involves the URL structure and technical improvements.

Check Icon

Months 3-4: In this phase, work is done on building the website's authority through link building and optimising its internal link structure. Building authority through link building remains a constant process and is the main thread running through the campaign.

Check Icon

Months 5-6: During this phase, the website should show visible improvements in its search results ranking. This can lead to more organic traffic to the website and an increased conversion rate.

Check Icon

Months 7-8: In this phase, the focus is on maintaining and improving the website's ranking. This includes continuing to optimise the content and the website's link profile.

Check Icon

Months 9-12: After about a year, the website should have reached a strong position in the search results and should provide significant benefits for the organisation. It's important to keep working on SEO to maintain and improve the website's position.

It's important to note that this is just a general timeline and that the results can vary depending on the specific circumstances of the website and the industry. SEO is a process of constant optimisation and adjustment, and it's important to be patient and continue to invest in SEO to achieve the best results.

What Are the Biggest Advantages of Search Engine Optimisation?

Blog Img

There are countless advantages to Search Engine Optimisation. Here are our top 8:

Check Icon

Increased Visibility: Search Engine Optimisation ensures your website ranks higher in the search results. This makes your company faster and easier for potential customers to find.

Check Icon

Quality Traffic: By targeting relevant keywords, we attract visitors who are genuinely interested in your products or services. This results in a higher chance of conversion.

Check Icon

Sustainable Results: Unlike paid ads, Search Engine Optimisation offers long-lasting results. Once optimised, your website continues to score better in the search results, which provides a constant stream of traffic.

Check Icon

Cost-Effective: SEO is an affordable marketing strategy. Compared to paid ads, Search Engine Optimisation requires a one-time investment that pays for itself in the long term.

Check Icon

Increased Credibility: A high position in the search results creates a reliable image of your company. People often trust organic results more than paid ads.

Check Icon

Competitive Advantage: By optimising your website, you distinguish yourself from the competition. Many companies still don't invest in SEO, which means you can gain a head start.

Check Icon

Better User Experience: SEO goes beyond just keywords and link building. Optimising the website also includes improving the user experience, which leads to satisfied visitors who are more likely to convert.

Check Icon

Measurable Results: At ANA digital media, we're focused on delivering results. Search Engine Optimisation makes it possible to analyse and adjust the performance of your website so you can see where your investment is going and what it's yielding.

The 3 Pillars of Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation is a crucial part of online marketing and consists of three important pillars: technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO.

Check Icon

Technical SEO: This pillar focuses on improving the technical aspects of your website so that search engines can index and crawl it more easily. Technical SEO ensures that search engine optimisation is more effective and the overall performance of your website improves. Some aspects of technical SEO include optimising the loading speed, using an SSL certificate, and implementing a responsive design.

Check Icon

On-page SEO: This aspect of search engine optimisation focuses on the content and structure of your website. The goal is to use relevant keywords and informative content to show search engines and visitors that your website is valuable. Important elements of on-page SEO include optimising titles, meta descriptions, and using header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.).

Check Icon

Off-page SEO: The third pillar of search engine optimisation is about building a strong and reliable link profile. Off-page SEO means you get references from other websites to your site through, for example, link building, content marketing, and social media marketing. A strong link profile increases your website's authority and leads to a higher ranking in the search results.

Local, National & International Search Engine Optimisation

At ANA digital media, we understand the importance of a targeted SEO strategy, depending on the level at which you want to operate. In this section, we cover three levels of SEO: local, national, and international.

1. Local SEO:

An example of an Indian webshop that focuses on local SEO is a flower shop in Mumbai. This webshop could focus on keywords like “flower shop Mumbai” and “bouquet delivery Mumbai.”

To improve local SEO, the webshop can create a Google My Business profile with the correct address and opening hours, add local content to the website, and ensure local backlinks from, for example, Mumbai events or associations.

2. National SEO:

An Indian webshop that focuses on national SEO could be an online bicycle shop. This webshop would focus on keywords like “buy bicycle in India” or “electric bikes India.”

To strengthen national SEO, the webshop can create landing pages for different cities or regions, produce content that's relevant to bicycle enthusiasts throughout India, and get backlinks from reputable Indian bicycle blogs and websites.

3. International SEO:

An example of an Indian webshop that focuses on international SEO is a brand that sells designer furniture. This webshop could focus on keywords like “Indian design furniture” and “buy designer chairs online.”

To optimise international SEO, the webshop can offer the website in multiple languages, such as English, German, and French, take into account the different search engines that are popular in other countries, and get international backlinks from design blogs and websites from different countries. In addition, they could adapt their website to the cultural and linguistic nuances of the different markets they're targeting.

Work with a Custom SEO Strategy

Blog Img

At ANA digital media, we understand that every company is unique and has different goals and needs. That's why we develop a customised search engine optimisation strategy for our customers that perfectly matches their specific wishes and goals.

Example Plan for an SEO Strategy:

Case: An Indian bicycle webshop with a limited budget that wants to conquer both the Indian and the German markets.

Check Icon

Step 1: Focus on 1 country first (India). Example: Concentrate the marketing efforts and search engine optimisation on the Indian market and Indian keywords, such as “buy a bike” and “electric bikes.”

Check Icon

Step 2: Optimise the website's speed. Example: Reduce the size of images, use caching, and minimise scripts to reduce the loading time of the bicycle webshop, which also offers advantages when expanding to Germany.

Check Icon

Step 3: Create valuable and useful content according to Google's helpful content guidelines. Example: Write informative articles about bicycle maintenance, safety, and the latest trends in the bicycle industry.

Check Icon

Step 4: Ensure the website complies with Google's E-A-T guidelines (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Example: Add author profiles with relevant experience and recognitions, place customer reviews, and provide clear contact information on the bicycle webshop.

Check Icon

Step 5: Start link building on correctly formulated URLs with valuable content and high speed. Example: Focus on getting backlinks to pages with high speed (80+ on Google Pagespeed Insight for mobile and desktop), such as a blog post about the “Top 10 electric bikes in India.”

Check Icon

Step 6: Continue link building in India and translate the website into German. Ensure the pages are indexed in Germany. Example: Translate the bicycle webshop and the most popular content into German and register the new German-language pages with Google Search Console for indexing.

Check Icon

Step 7: Continue link building in India and invest a percentage of the profit in the German market once there is a result. Example: When the Indian bicycle webshop becomes profitable, invest a part of that profit (e.g., 25%) in search engine optimisation for the German market.

Check Icon

Step 8: Increase the budget as the result or confidence in the approach grows. Example: If the bicycle webshop becomes successful in both India and Germany, increase the budget for search engine optimisation and link building to achieve further growth and market share.

Our experienced team logically starts with a thorough analysis of your company, target audience, competition, and current online presence. Based on this information, we draw up a comprehensive plan in which we apply the most effective search engine optimisation tactics and techniques to increase your online visibility and make your website rank higher in the search results.

Whether you want to focus on local, national, or international search engine optimisation, we ensure that your strategy is tailored to your target audience and market. We carefully select the right keywords, create relevant and valuable content, and technically optimise your website to offer a smooth and user-friendly experience to your visitors.

Moreover, we're committed to building a strong link profile for your website by obtaining quality and relevant backlinks that strengthen your online authority. We constantly monitor the results and adjust the strategy where necessary to ensure that we achieve and even exceed your goals.

At ANA digital media, we are committed to helping your business grow and succeed through search engine optimisation. Let us help you create the ideal strategy for your company and discover the difference that ANA digital media can make for your online success.

How Does ANA Digital Media Measure the Progress of a Search Engine Optimisation Journey?

We're dedicated to delivering the best possible search engine optimisation results for your campaign. To achieve this, we use various advanced tools and techniques to accurately measure the progress and performance of your SEO campaign. Below are a number of examples of tools that we use for this.

Check Icon

Google Analytics: Google Analytics allows us to gain insight into the behaviour of your website visitors. With this, we can evaluate the performance of your campaign, identify trends, and discover areas for improvement. This way, we can further optimise our search engine optimisation strategies.

Check Icon

Google Search Console: Google Search Console offers us valuable information about the indexing of your website and any technical problems that may affect your search engine ranking. We use this tool to ensure that your website meets the requirements of search engines and to quickly solve any problems.

Check Icon

SEMrush: SEMrush is a comprehensive tool that helps us analyse your keyword performance, identify optimisation opportunities, and track your competitors. We use SEMrush to improve your keyword strategy and increase the visibility of your website in search engines.

Check Icon

SE Ranking: SE Ranking is a versatile tool that allows us to track your keyword positions, analyse the traffic to your website, and keep an eye on your competitors. With SE Ranking, we and our customers have insight into the daily performance of your website and can accurately monitor the progress of your campaign.

Why Is SEO So Important?

Blog Img

The reason why SEO is so important becomes clear when we look at the search behaviour of internet users. Let's say a relevant search term for your company is typed in; 9 out of 10 searchers won't look beyond the first page of the search results.

In fact, only three-quarters of this group actually looks at the first five results. In total, 4 out of 10 people from our group of searchers will go to the first website in the search engine's ranking. If you get this first place, you know that your website is viewed by 40% of the people who have typed that keyword.

How SEO Works: 5 Different Components

You can perform search engine optimisation yourself, or you can use an online marketing agency for this. It's always useful to first perform an SEO scan to see where you currently stand with your website. Then you get to work with the different parts of SEO. These are technical SEO, SEO content, link building SEO, social media SEO, and local SEO. We'll explain these five parts further here.

1. The Underlying Technology of Your Website: Technical SEO

A good place to start is by looking at the technical side of your website. Is it fast enough, for example? Visitors will quickly leave slow websites; on average, they do so within 7 seconds. You also look at the links on your website, check whether they still work properly, and whether there's any duplicate content. In this last case, the search engine gets confused, and that leads to a negative score. The page title, the meta title, and the meta description must also comply with certain rules. And, of course, a secure SSL encryption is a requirement today.

Regularly Maintain the Technology of Your Website

You can compare websites to cars. They need maintenance to continue to work properly. If you decide to update your website, it's important that your technical SEO doesn't lag behind. So, make sure you keep the internal links good, that your website remains clear, that there is no duplicate content, and that you also adjust the meta title and meta description. You do this maintenance yourself, or you outsource it. A marketing agency will then regularly scan the technology of your website and adjust it if necessary. After your website has passed its technical inspection, you look at other SEO techniques.

2. The Content of Your Texts: SEO Content and the Use of Keywords

Blog Img

There's an SEO trend where search engines are increasingly choosing well-written and interesting texts. It's difficult for search engines to link an algorithm to this. That's why the content of your texts is scanned for the number of keywords that are included in it. And these aren't just exact keywords but also other words with the same meaning, keywords that are formulated slightly differently, or entire sentences.

Find out how ANA digital media can get massive amounts of traffic to your website...

Check Icon

Link building – we create relevant backlinks to help your website grow into an authority.

Check Icon

Content – we write the ultimate content that gets shared, gets links, and attracts traffic.

Check Icon

Technology – our specialists know exactly how to optimise your website for the Google search engine.

This means that your content must first be relevant and fluent, but at the same time must comply with certain rules, and that feels contradictory. The keywords shouldn't appear too often, because the search engine then assumes that you're abusing this. If you place too few keywords, the search engine won't be able to find you. It is therefore important to first determine the right keywords and then incorporate them into your texts in a subtle way. Google prioritises websites with texts that are useful to visitors; the visitor's experience is therefore always paramount.

Performing a Keyword Analysis

Before you start rewriting or updating your texts, it's important that you determine which keywords you want to use. Choosing your keywords correctly is then essential. Make sure you choose keywords with little competition so that the chance of your website being filtered out is greater. Various online tools are available for this, such as Moz Keyword Explorer, Ubersuggest, and Keywordtool.io

Determine what your main keyword should be and take about 7 other keywords that are related to it. Then look at the keywords used by your competition and try to be original without losing relevance to your website. The more unique your keywords, the less the competition for that keyword, and the greater the chance that you'll be chosen by the search engines.

A Keyword Example

If you have a shop for women's shoes, the keyword 'shoes' is much too broad. The search engine can find so many websites on this that the chance of yours being picked out is small. Choose at least the keyword 'women's shoes', or, if you work in a certain region, 'women's shoes in [city]'. There's already considerably less competition for that keyword. The programs above are useful for determining your keywords, but using Google is perhaps even easier. Type 'women's shoes' in the search bar and don't press enter. You'll be given Google's keyword suggestions.

If you want to search even more specifically, you type 'women's shoes a', 'women's shoes b', 'women's shoes c' until you have gone through all the suggestions and have made a selection. Other keywords that you then add, for example, are 'women's shoes wanted', 'buy women's shoes', 'women's shoes with a discount', 'quality women's shoes', 'leather women's shoes', 'comfortable women's shoes', and 'cheap women's shoes', and so on. You determine the keywords you choose by looking at the usage and the competition. Take one main keyword and have it appear in 1 to 2 percent of all your words on that page. You incorporate the other keywords a few times into your texts, as it suits you.

3. Internal and External Links: Link Building SEO

Today, link building is one of the fastest ways you can improve the findability of your website. At the same time, this is also a method with which you can go completely wrong and achieve the opposite results. It's very important that your website's link building is in order, and you can achieve this in different ways.

Check Icon

Internal links on your own website: Search engines give priority to websites that are well-built and have a good structure. This, after all, benefits the visitor. The way to assess this is by looking at the internal links. These are links that are on your website and refer to other pages on your website. With a good internal link structure, the visitor can quickly get to the required information, and that's seen as positive by the search engines.

Check Icon

External links on your own website: It's also important that you place a number of links on your website that refer to other websites. The search engines will also assess these links, so it's not only important that the links work, but also that they refer to quality pages. A link to an authoritative website is many times better than a link to a dubious source.

Check Icon

Links to your website: Finally, you benefit from links from other websites that refer to your website. These are also called backlinks. These are often a bit more difficult to get because you first have to be very visible. If your website has authority, the links will come on their own, but until then, you have to collect them yourself.

Collecting Backlinks

Blog Img

Collecting backlinks isn't easy, but at the same time, it's definitely worth it. For example, write a guest blog for another website and include a link to your own site in it. Especially if you know a lot about something and can find professional blogging sites, you generate backlinks in a fairly easy way for yourself. Always put a good link in your press releases and in your posts on social media.

If you sponsor an event, there's a good chance that your company will be mentioned a lot. Contact the websites where your company is listed and ask them to add a link. There are backlink checkers for this, such as SEMrush, LinkMiner, and BuzzSumo. Regularly clean up your internal, external, and backlinks and check whether they still work. Then fill your website with 'link-worthy content': content that's so good that other websites want to add a link to it.

4. A Good Social Media Campaign for SEO

Social media is a unique way to communicate interactively with your customers. By promoting yourself on social media, you can place and collect backlinks directly, announce your new blogs, events or sponsorships, and also reach a very specific target audience. Use social advertising in a smart and subtle way, and you have a much more targeted campaign than when you place an ad in a newspaper or magazine. Social media can no longer be absent from your online marketing, and it's particularly beneficial for your search engine optimisation.

Cool Social Media to Improve Your SEO

Maintaining your social media pages takes a lot of time. It's important that you regularly post something interesting, funny, or relevant that your followers will like and share. There are the standard programs such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also link them all to each other so that you use multiple social media simultaneously with one update. You also have other options.

YouTube, for example, has millions of visitors per day. You can set up your own channel on it and place the videos on your website and other social media. Consider choosing an influencer and entering into a collaboration with them. Then you also collect interest and can increase the number of backlinks to your page.

5. Regional Search Engine Optimisation: Local SEO

This last method is especially applicable if you only work in a certain region. Local SEO is becoming more and more important because it promotes the visitor's experience. Let's say you have a car breakdown and need a garage in Mumbai. You grab your phone and you type or speak the keyword 'car repair Mumbai'.

Google then ensures that you only get to see results in Mumbai and not garages that are 100 kilometres away. You didn't search for that, and you have little use for it. If you run a garage nearby, you naturally want these people with a breakdown to come to you. You do this by working on your local SEO. You then become more findable for a targeted audience that is actually looking for you.

Improving Local SEO

There are a few ways you can improve your local SEO. A good start is Google My Business. You create an account, and Google will show your company in the ads when a search is done in your region. You immediately add a link to your website and your other contact details. Because visitors can also leave reviews and give you a rating, this is a unique opportunity to gain prestige with Google. You can also adjust your link building to local SEO. Focus the links mainly on local companies and contacts. This applies to both your external links and your backlinks.

You Must Keep Up with Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation is aimed at the parameters that the well-known search engines use to rank websites. These parameters can change overnight, making it quite possible for top positions to collapse and other websites to get priority. You prevent this by properly maintaining your website, by continuing to gain popularity, and by continuing to post relevant content.

Create an upward spiral because then the search engines will recognise this. The more popular you are, the more authority you build, the more backlinks you collect, and the more visitors come to your website, the more the search engines will prioritise your website. If your competitors pass you by because they do keep up with their SEO, you'll quickly lose your top position. So, pay enough attention to this so that you not only achieve a good position but also stay there.

Do SEO Yourself or Outsource It?

SEO is a method that you can apply to your website yourself, and if you get started yourself, there are plenty of useful SEO tips to help you with that. Nevertheless, more and more website owners are outsourcing their SEO, and there are good reasons for that.

Check Icon

Time-consuming: It is particularly time-consuming to first perfect the SEO settings of your website and then maintain them. You have to actively continue to look for backlinks, regularly update your social media, regularly test the technology behind your website, and continue to use your keywords in all texts that are placed. It's much easier if you use someone for this who has knowledge and time for it, so you can be sure you won't fall behind.

Check Icon

Complicated: In addition, it's also quite complicated to get the SEO of your website in order. Search engines use more than 200 parameters to find your website. If you do your SEO well, you'll be successful, but with a toxic backlink, with poor content, or with a wrong ratio for your keywords, the search engine can just push you aside. You have to learn SEO, so why wouldn't you use someone for this who already knows how to do it?

Check Icon

Changeable: A final important feature of SEO is that it's constantly changing. What the search engines use as an important parameter one day may already be gone the next. It is therefore not only important that you keep up with the search engine optimisation of your own website but also with the trends so that you stay one step ahead of the search engines. A specialist is always aware of the latest developments in his or her field.

Find out how ANA digital media can get massive amounts of traffic to your website...

Check Icon

Link building – we create relevant backlinks to help your website grow into an authority.

Check Icon

Content – we write the ultimate content that gets shared, gets links, and attracts traffic.

Check Icon

Technology – our specialists know exactly how to optimise your website for the Google search engine.

Search Engine Optimisation at ANA digital media

If you decide to outsource the search engine optimisation of your website to ANA digital media, you won't be disappointed. We have the knowledge, experience, and tools to analyse, optimise, and maintain your website. We ensure that as many visitors as possible come to your website so that you only have to turn them into a customer.

ANA digital media first performs a comprehensive SEO scan of your website. For this, we use, among others, SEO Surfer. We then immediately get to work on making the changes that will have the biggest impact on your findability.

We optimise your link building, we look at the technology of your website, and we help you set up a social media network, should you want this. Together, we determine the best approach so that your website is also quickly placed in the top 5 by the major search engines.

CTA Design images 1 CTA Design images 2

Ready to Grow with ANA Digital Media?

Let our experts turn your goals into real results.

google partner logo