If you’ve recently completed building a website for your business, or you’re thinking about doing so, you might be asking “how do I start SEO for my website?” Search Engine Optimisation isn’t an easy (or fast) task, but there are things you can do to give yourself the best chance for success. Here are 4 steps to help you kick-start your SEO strategy.

Step 1: Perform thorough keyword research

Before you can start optimising your website for search, you need to know which keywords you’re targeting. Just ask yourself which word or phrase best describes your business, then use Google (or even the free Google Keyword Planner) to discover related key terms you could target at the same time.

Step 2: Optimise your text content for SEO

Now that you know which terms you’ll be targeting, how do you get your site to appear higher in the rankings? Well, a lot of it is down to your website’s text content. You need to write it in such a way that it appeals to your website visitors, but also to search engines. It can be a bit of a fine art, but it always pays off. You should also ensure your page titles and header tags are optimised, too. With a bit of practice, you’ll have this down in no time.

Step 3: Submit your website for indexing via the Google Search Console

Once you’re happy with the on-page SEO changes you’ve started with, you’ll want to make sure Google actually knows about your website. To do this, you’ll need to request indexing directly from Google. It will eventually find the site on its own, but registering your website can speed things up. Just sign up for the free Google Search Console tool and submit your website from there.

Step 4: Plan out your content strategy for long-term success

As we’ve discussed, much of SEO relies upon your website’s content — and lots of it. Content marketing isn’t just a buzzword, it’s fuel for the SEO engine. For this reason, it’s a very smart idea to develop and deploy a content strategy, or content calendar. This is essentially a roadmap you can follow to ensure your website is always publishing fresh content — which is something Google really loves!

These steps will form a great foundation for search engine success, but if you’re yet to build a website and you really want to make a splash, try out Go Sitebuilder free for 14-days. With SEO tools built right in, it’s the best way to get a running start for your business.