You’ve likely heard the term SEO thrown around here and there, but what is SEO exactly and how can you use it to dramatically boost your website’s discoverability online?

SEO is an essential tool in a content designer’s toolkit and comes in very handy when designing content that meets user needs.

I’ll explain SEO in 5 easy steps so you can start improving your bottom line sooner and get on with what you love doing most.

Before we get started…

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a process used to boost organic traffic to your website by optimising its visibility on search engines.

It’s sprinkling breadcrumbs throughout your website content that search engines like Google collect. Think of the story Hansel and Gretal, Hansel leaves breadcrumbs for him and his sister to find their way home.

When a search engine comes along to crawl your website it’s looking for hints and clues that tell it what your website is all about and what your content can offer. Search engines want to find content that best answers their users needs. They like creditable, authoritative content that’s unique, organised and clean.

Why is SEO important?

SEO is important to implement into your website content because it will help your site be found, it’s pretty much as simple as that.

The higher ranked your page is the more likely you will have traffic visit your site.

5 steps to explain SEO

1. Use keywords in your content

Sprinkle your chosen keywords throughout your content so when search engines are indexing your page it’s easier for them to match your page to search results. To get you started try using a tool like Google Trends to find keywords that work.

2. Choose simple, meaningful page titles

Creating titles that entice and interest your user will aid in increasing traffic to your content. Try putting yourself in your audience’s shoes, what would they want to read about? Be selective about what keywords you choose to use, a max of 3 keywords in your page title is a good start. 

3. Create backlinking and link building

Linking your content out to credible, authoritative sources where and when it’s called for can improve your SEO immensely. Try and get those credible, authoritative sources to then link back to your content. Search engines love links and the trail it leaves behind. 

4. Keep your website tidy and organised

A well-organised information architecture and structured content on your site allow search engines to crawl easily through your content. It also allows for easy and intuitive user navigation and an overall better user experience. In addition, keep your URLs clean and simple. 

5. Write descriptive metadata 

Metadata is the descriptive title and text that search engines pull from your content to display like an index on the search engine results page. It’s a good idea to use keywords in this description and make it meaningful to your user.

SEO takes diligence and patience

Something to keep in the back of your mind, if you’d like to build your ranking organically you are going to have to be diligent and patient. If you commit to your SEO practice you will reap the benefits, eventually.

Still feel a bit unsure how to implement SEO, take a look at Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

Need a reminder on how to write content? Take a read of Write good web content using these basic steps to help you great web content.

Designing a web page seems simple enough. You just throw a few words on a page and hit publish. Presto, instantly your content is published. Everyone is happy, right? Hmm, that depends on who you ask.

We can often get stuck in this trap of instant publishing and forget to put time and thought into designing a web page that is actually useful to the user and business.

So, how do you design a web page properly that meets user needs as well as balances business goals? I will show you.

Cardinal rule, determine the overall goals of the page. 

Answer 3 simple questions

Ok, the last question is a double header so technically it starts with 4 questions.

1. What’s the purpose of the page?
2. What are you trying to achieve? 
3. Who is the audience and what are their needs? 

If you struggle to answer these questions, don’t be afraid to ask for guidance from your client or subject matter expert (SME). Often the SME can help you uncover the intent of the product you may be designing a web page for and the messages about its value proposition.

If you’re really savvy, you can ask your SME more questions to help you with context and content development. Leverage their knowledge by asking things like, what worked in the past and is there any feedback from user testing?

Once you’ve got a clear idea of the page goals you can get on with the fun stuff. Designing!

If your website has a design system in place, bonus, half the work has already been done for you. You can lean on the design system to add visual support to your content. 

What’s next

1. Draft your copy

Open a word doc and begin writing the narrative of the page. Think about those questions: what is the purpose of the page, what does it need to achieve and what are the user’s needs? Order the content by logical sequence and use the correct heading structure.

Take a look at the Australian Government’s Style Manual for more insights on headings.

2. Begin wireframing 

Grab a pen and paper and sketch out the structure of your page. Doing this part of the process manually can often help the creativity flow more naturally. Refer to the design system to get an idea of page components, layout patterns and general styling ideas. 

You need to marry your copy with visual aids to help tell the narrative and guide your user to where you want them to go.

Once you’re happy with your sketches use tools like Miro to draft lofi wireframes. This is when your design really starts to come to life. At this point you can also do peer reviews to get a sense of whether your designs works, and which one might be the winner.

3. Build the page

Create a new page on your website and ensure it’s in draft while you’re working on it. Pop it in an intuitive place in the information architecture for your user. If you’ve got images on your new page be mindful of selecting supportive imagery that assists the copy, and doesn’t distract. 

Once you’re happy with it, tested the page and links, you’re ready to have it approved and published.

Designing a web page properly and relatively quickly does take practice. It might be a good idea to ask how much time you have before you begin the job so you can plan yourself accordingly.

Ready to optimise your content? Take a read of SEO explained in 5 steps to optimised your new page discoverability.

Good web writing starts with writing for the user. That means you’re speaking directly to them in a voice and language they will understand and in a way they will understand it.

Help your user find what they need quickly and easily by guiding them with and through the content. 

A good starting point

Think about what device is most used by your user. Now write in a way that would be most intuitive to that device and how you user uses it.

1. Context

Provide your user information on what to expect from the content on the page. This doesn’t mean walls of text, it means brief, succinct and well thought out information that leads them from A to B.

2. Scannable

Use meaningful headings and hierarchy to structure the content in logical sequence. This will make it easy for the user to find the information they need, quickly.

3. Structured

Chuck your content into smaller information bites to make it easy for the user to digest. Use things like headings, link text, images and bullet lists to structure your content.

4. Plain language

Write in simple, plain English so the user can quickly comprehend and understand the information they are reading. A good rule of thumb is to write grade 9 level comprehension.

Want to know how to design a web page? Have a read of How to design a web page properly.