How to do SEO for your business in Kenya

We are going to start by understanding SEO. SEO is what you do to rank higher (compared to your competitors) on search engines and get more traffic to your website.

3 Types of SEO

On-page SEO

We are optimizing the quality and structure of the content on a page. Content quality, keywords, and HTML tags are the key players for on-page SEO.

Off-page SEO

Get other sites and pages to link to the page you are trying to optimize. Backlinks, internal linking, and reputation are your off-page MVPs.

Technical SEO

Improving your site’s overall performance on search engines. Site security, UX, and structure are essential here.

There are other sub-types which include:

•  Local SEO
•  Image SEO- on-page and technical strategies.
•  Video SEO- on-page, technical, and off-page strategies.

Common SEO tools

Most of these tools are free, and they help the organization carry out good search engine optimization without data. These tools include:

•  Google Analytics: This is free. 
•  Google Search Console (GSC): GSC is essential for content-focused and technical SEO. 
•  Keyword research tools:
•  SEO software: Some offer free trial versions or services for the first 500 links.
•  Website graders:

SEO strategies and best practices

•  Always search the keyword: keyword matters, so in your business, ensure that your words match your target clients’ intent.
•  Be patient: SEO takes longer; therefore, patience is a factor. It takes a few months to see the fruits, but with time it will.
•  Focus on quality: due to the fast-changing technologies, google is also changing; therefore, having the best content means your website will always remain at the top of clients’ searches.
•  Maintain your content: by updating new content, the old ones should remain to avoid losing the Google ranking factor. Preserving them ensures that their SEO value is retained, and you will get consistent traffic growth over time. 
•  Track and measure: Always read the topics your clients are researching, detect even the issues they encounter, and finally, set your goals for traffic growth.

Benefits & importance of SEO in Kenya

1)   Increase website traffic and increased brand awareness. 

2) an Increased number of customers.

3)   Credibility of your business. When Google trusts you, your clients will trust you, also.

4)   You put money into your website and marketing campaigns that lead back to your website pages.

Nine Ways how to Do SEO in Kenya

On-page optimization

We will look at how to optimize your website for these factors so you can rank higher on Google and get more traffic. They include On-page, Off-page, and Technical optimizations.

On-page optimization steps:

Start with keyword research

The keywords you optimize determine whether you compete against yourself or other businesses. When your keywords are similar on each page, they contend. These keywords should be what the ideal visitor is likely to type into Google or any other search engine.

The following are essential steps for finding the best keywords to target with your organic content in Nairobi, Kenya.

•  Start by listing the words and phrases your ideal customers are typing into Google. Regarding interests, desires, pain points, and goals, think in their language, which may differ from what you use.
•  Enter them in a keyword research tool. The metrics used to give the output are Competition and Search volume for that specific term. Using metrics, the devices give out data around those words.
•  Sorting and prioritizing. Placing all the keywords and their data helps prioritize since the ones with high searches are the words you never want to miss on your website. It is also worth noting that the top keywords mean a lot of competition; therefore still not the best idea to go for the highly competitive keywords.

Create quality content targeting those keywords.

The homepage, about us, contact, products, and services (main navigation pages) will target keywords, but the bulk of your keyword targeting will come from long-form blog posts. 

Quality SEO content means:

1.  Ensuring your content aligns with what the clients are looking for. That is why we recommend researching keywords.
2.  In the case of images, your website should load properly and quickly on all devices, the concept being the same.
3.  Always ensure you write your content speaking to your audience and not like a content writer who tries to optimize the search engine.
4.  Sticking to 1500-2500 accurate and up-to-date words. This is because Google is not interested in thin, duplicate, low-value pages.
5.  Always maintain the information hierarchy on your page (include activities like your heading tags.

Place your keywords

In your content, ensure you place the keywords in specific spots so that Google can see what you are looking to rank for. They include:

•  SEO title (title tag)
•  Page title (H1 tag)
•  At least two H2 headings
•  Image alt text
•  Image file name
•  Naturally, in the body
•  URL
•  Meta description

Optimize all your titles.

It is worth noting that the most impactful place to put your keyword is in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This tag is one of the two found on every page of your website, the other being the H1 tag. The H1 tag is the one that appears on the page. They may vary depending on the page or the same.

How to optimize your Titles:

•  By including the keywords.
•  Reducing the number of H1 and even sticking to one and others being H2.
•  Make sure the title tag does not go past 60 characters.
•  Use the page to influence your clients to click on the SERP or your website and keep reading/interacting.

Optimize your meta descriptions.

The description appearing on the SERP just below the title tag is a Meta description. Google does the generation itself and not what you provide; mainly, it will build it based on the query.

Google reads your page and understands what it is all about. How to optimize your meta description:

•  Including keywords and other related keywords.
•  Maintaining the ideal length (155-165)
•  Since it is your website’s first image, make it clear and compelling for the clients to stay and interact with it.

Include and optimize images.

In SEO optimization, images always play a vital role since they keep users glued to the screen, increasing the quality of information. Ideas also boost your rankings in SEO, which means more traffic.

Google is increasingly making its SERPs more and more visual in this digital era. The following are ways to achieve SEO optimization for images in Nairobi:

•  Saving the file name with keywords and dashes instead of spaces.
•  Compress your images to reduce the size and adequately size them.
•  Add alt text. An alternative to the image.

Off-page optimization

Unlike the on-page SEO strategies we discussed above, Off-page SEO involves what you do on the other pages of your website, including the platforms that help rank your page. Below are some of the tactics you can apply:

Earn and reach out for backlinks from other websites.

Regarding ranking factors, they come third, i.e., having links about your site from other sites. Backlinks from higher areas are more helpful regarding SEO ranks than low-ranked websites.

The more the quality of the backlink, the higher the ranking. The following are just strategies to achieve this in Nairobi.

•  Producing content that is authentic and worthy of getting backlinks.
•  Reach out to high-ranked sites for them to show a link to your content on their websites and content.
•  Guest posting
•  PR coverage

Share your content on social media

Your followers or subscribers need to see your blogs. Through regularly sharing these blogs, Google grants you traffic referrals, and the more viewers, the more the chances of a backlink being generated.

It is worth noting that social media does not increase your Google ranking; instead, the activities in those platforms, from users’ engagement with your work, prompt Google to influence your order.

Build your brand reputation.

The whole brand is what Google checks before ranking your website. They include:

•  Reviews
•  Ratings
•  Listings
•  Awards
•  Unlinked brand mentions

Technical optimizations

These are back-end optimizations that ensure:

• That you meet Google’s site security.
• That your website meets user experience requirements.
• That your website is easy for Google to perform its work on your site.
• The following are just some of the technical optimizations you can take care of in Nairobi:
•  Your page speed should be quick. Here things like additional images should be the least options on your website.
•  Employ HTTPS rather than HTTP for security reasons.
• Your website should be fully responsive. It should always respond on mobile phones and hand-held gadgets.
• Your URL structure should be organized to allow Google to crawl to your website faster.
• Your website should be accessible faster without needing more than three clicks.
• Have canonical URLs.