Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Made in the UK for HR consultants worldwide. You're listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Hello, James here and welcome to this week's podcast episode. When a business owner searches for a HR consultant near them or in their industry, it's really important for your website to show up and not your competitors. And that's why in today's main event, I'm going to talk you through all of the SEO basics you need to know. And in today's thought of the week, I'm going to encourage you to take yourself on a date with just a notepad and pen. So let's jump straight in this week's.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Main event.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: When a business owner searches for a HR consultant near them or in their industry, it's really important for your website to show up first and not your competitors. This is where SEO comes in. SEO is a huge topic. It's complex, it's constantly changing to keep up with the algorithms and honestly, it can feel really overwhelming. And that's why in today's main event, I'm going to simplify SEO for you. I'm going to give you the top level information you need to know and I'm going to explain the three areas you need to focus on to make sure your website has the best chance of showing up first when someone searches for an HR consultant. Okay, so let's get started by taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. What is SEO really about? It's about understanding what business owners are searching for and and making sure your website provides the right information to match their needs. And the best way you can understand this is by completing key phrase research. This is the first thing we'll usually do when trying to improve your website SEO wise. And one of your goals is to focus on commonly used searches that have the highest traffic. So there's lots of ways that you can do key phrase research, and either myself or an SEO person can help you with that. From the research that I've done in the past though, the following key phrases are the most common and have the highest search volume. So you have HR consultant in your city or your area, HR consultancy for a specific industry, HR support for small businesses UK and HR outsourcing for insert industry here. By understanding the actual search terms people are using, you increase your chances of being found when it matters most. Okay, so now you understand what we're trying to do SEO wise. You now need to understand the different ranking factors Google and other search engines use. Again, there are lots of ranking factors. It can get complicated and confusing and that's why I'm going to keep it simple and break it down into three main areas for you. The first area we'll describe is backend SEO. So when you talk about websites, you'll hear people talk about back end and front end. Back end is the stuff that people can't see, like your content management system and all of the geeky stuff that creates your website. Front end is the stuff that people can see. So it's the information that's available on Google about your website and of course your website itself. So when it comes to backend SEO, there's a few technical ranking factors you need to be aware of. These include what your website is actually built on. So these are called content management systems. So while Google isn't meant to favor particular CMSs over others, CMSs like WordPress do make it easier to create websites that follow Google and other search engines guidelines. Other factors include site speed, so how quickly your website loads and works, responsiveness, so how easy it is to use your website across all devices like laptops, tablets and mobiles. You then have HTTPs and SSL security. So these are just security things which tell Google that your website is trusted and it's not going to be loads of spam in there. And then you need to make it easy and then you need to make it EAS for Google to crawl your website. So to do this, you should create a sitemap and submit this to Google via Google Search Console. So like I said, there are loads of other backend technical ranking factors that I could go into, but these summarize what you need to know well enough. Think of your backend SEO as your SEO foundation. You need a good technical foundation in order for your SEO to grow. Okay, so that's area one. The second area of SEO that I want us to focus on is front end SEO. So this is the stuff that people will actually see both in search results and when they land on your website. Again, there are lots of front end ranking factors, but for today's podcast, I'm going to focus on the top three that you need to know. The first area is metadata. So when someone searches for your business, the first thing that they'll see is a title and description in Google's results. This is called metadata and it needs to be clear so that people instantly know what your page is about engaging. So they want to click. And it needs to be keyword optimized so Google understands what your content is all about. Metadata is really important because Google uses it to rank your website and people will Read it to decide if they want to click on your website or not. If you're using WordPress, there's a great plugin called Yoast SEO that makes updating your metadata really easy. And that's what I use. The second area of front end SEO is all about making sure you have the right pages on your website. Your website needs to reflect what people are actually searching for. And the best way to do this is by having a dedicated page for each of your services. This is best practice as each page can be optimized for the right keywords. Google prefers clear focus pages over one big services page, and it increases your chances of showing up in searches for specific topics. And the third and final area of front end SEO is about keeping your website fresh. So Google loves websites that are active and regularly updated. And one of the best ways to do this is via blogging. Posting a weekly blog helps your website rank for more keywords. It tells Google your site is active and relevant and it positions you as an authority in your industry. And if you're not sure where to start, I or an SEO expert can help you with best practice blogging techniques to make it work for you. So just think, if backend SEO is the foundation, then front end SEO is the storefront. It's what attracts visitors and keeps them engaged. And what your website has the right content structure and keywords. You'll rank higher, bring in more traffic and convert more visitors into clients. Okay, so that's back end and front end sorted. Now let's talk about local SEO. If you want to show up in local searches and rank well in Google's local pack, which is the box of businesses you see at the top of search results when you look for a service near you. Then you need to work on your local SEO. And again, there are lots of local SEO factors. But for today's podcast, I'm going to focus on the top three you need to know. The first is your Google My Business profile. The first and most important thing you need to do is set this up, verify and optimize your Google My business profile. This helps you to show up in local searches when someone looks for a HR consultant near them. It puts your business on Google Maps so potential clients can find you. And it gives people all of the key details that they need to know about you. The second area is to get Google reviews. So Google loves businesses with lots of good reviews and so do potential clients. The more high quality, genuine reviews you have, the more trustworthy you look and the more likely you are to rank higher in local searches. And the third and final area is to get listed on local directories. Beyond Google, you also want your business listed on other trusted directories to increase your local visibility.
So again, taking a big picture view, if backend SEO is the foundation and front end SEO is the storefront, then local SEO is your map. So it helps people find you when they're searching for your services in their area. Okay, so now that you know the different ranking factors, I'm going to tell you what your action plan should be. So step one is make sure your website is built with strong foundations. So check your cms, improve your site speed, make sure your site is mobile friendly, secure your website and submit your sitemap using Google Search Console. Step two is to optimize what people see. So fix your metadata and use a plugin like Yoast to help you do this. Create individual pages for each of the services that you offer and keep your website fresh by posting a weekly blog. Step three is to improve your local SEO. So set up and optimize your Google My business profile, ask for Google reviews and get listed on local directories. And finally step four is track your progress. So use Google Analytics to track traffic, page visits, and basically how people are interacting with your site. You can then use Google Search Console to monitor how your website is performing. And then you should regularly check where your rankings are at for your keywords using tools like SEM Rush.
Okay, so that brings us to the end of today's main event. Like I said at the start, SEO is a really big, complex and complicated subject. So what I've tried to do today is keep it super top level. I haven't gone into all of the details that one might necessarily need to know if they were to become an SEO expert, but for you guys, it's good enough. And what I've done is put loads of information together for you into a basic SEO pack. So this pack includes the basic guide to SEO, which is just basically this podcast, but in more detail. It includes the checklist that I've just talked you through. It includes key phrase research and it includes a blogging checklist. So if you would like all of this information for free, just send me an email at James the HR marketing guy.com and I'll send it across. And as always, if you need help with your SEO or any other aspect of your marketing, then please feel free to reach out and get in touch. I'm here to help.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: James's Thought of the Week.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: So the last few weeks my brain has been Mental. I've had so many things I needed to do and so many things that I wanted to get done and it was sending me into a complete spin. Even my project management software, which I love, wasn't helping actually. It was just making things worse because that's where all the noise was. So I decided to take emergency action even though I'm super busy and don't have a second to spare. Much like you, I'm sure. I decided to have a laptop free day yesterday. I went to the gym, did my cardio and then I picked up my notepad and pen, went to a cafe, had a decaf coffee and some lunch and I just started right everything down. I dedicated a page to each area of my life and business that I wanted to work on and I was there for probably about three hours just outpouring everything that was in my brain onto paper. I didn't have any distractions. I kept my phone in my pocket and it was just me and a good old fashioned notepad and pen. And honestly, it was one of the most cathartic things ever. I felt so much clearer on what I needed to do and I'm actually really pleased with the action plan that I've created. It's probably one of my strongest ones yet. So by stepping away from the day to day work and going somewhere with just a pen and paper, I was able to outpour and create better strategy as a result. And what a simple and easy life hack. I'm telling you this because it's probably something that you could benefit from too. When was the last time that you took a laptop free day? Just to think? Probably a while. So I hope that today's thought of the week empowers and inspires you to do the same. I know you're super busy and you probably don't have a second to spare, but having the ability to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, even when things are most chaotic, is really important as a consultancy owner. So take a few hours out, go to a coffee shop or somewhere, chill. That's not your usual working environment. Take a notepad and pen and just see what amazing ideas and clarity that you can gift yourself. I honestly feel so much better for doing it. I feel way less stress and way more on track to achieve my goal, so hopefully you'll be able to do the same. Give it a try and let me know how you get on.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: You've been listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast, helping you to get new clients and create a life you love.
