This guide is our gift to you. It is FREE!
This guide is meant to give you tools to help your Search Engine Optimization without having to spend any cent.
It is specifically for companies, businesses, and organizations in Cape Town and surrounding areas.
Pay close attention to the last part of this guide which is critical for local service businesses.
Why Choose Symaxx Digital For Your SEO
Enjoy this free guide and be sure to check out the rest of our site with curated content to make it easier for you to navigate through.
Let’s get started!
What is SEO?
A simpler definition of this seemingly hard concept is, that SEO is a set of activities meant to improve your website’s visibility online.
In particular, search engine results page when an internet user inquires about services you offer.
It is the improvement of the quantity and quality of web traffic to your website.
This could be to sell a product, or service, or share information and tools. By far, Google is the most used search engine in the world.
Consequently, it receives the highest search queries every second.
This is a result of its amazing search algorithm which functions to match the internet user search query with relevant results.
The Google algorithm takes into account several search ranking factors to be able to match the search inquiry with the results.
Right there! Right, there is where we come in as Symaxx Digital, your partner for all things SEO.
Our job is to optimize your website to align with the ranking factors the Google algorithm considers important to put you on top of search results.
But first! Let’s get a common understanding of what an algorithm is.
Defining The Algorithm
Google’s algorithms are a complex system used to retrieve data from its search index and instantly deliver the best possible results for a query.
The search engine uses a combination of rules and instructions to do calculations and problem-solving operations.
It uses numerous ranking factors to deliver web pages ranked by relevance on its search engine results pages (SERPs).
The goal of the algorithm is to best match what the internet user searched for and the relevant information/products/services to that search.
As such, SEO is a technique of aligning your website to what the algorithm considers important to rank on the first page.
This SEO Cape Town guide for 2022, gives you all the important information on how to rank on search engines.
Google expects modern websites to have well-crafted content, with text, graphics, pictures, and videos.
This is to achieve the value proposition Google has to its users, that it will match exactly what they are searching for.
The content has to be immersive and solve their needs.
Besides content, there are other factors that Google wants modern websites to have;
- On-page Search Engine Optimisation
- Off-page Search Engine Optimisation
- Keywords Research
Before we dive deeper into these, let’s first look at the space of SEO.
Different Spheres Of SEO
SEO is broadly characterized by three spheres; KEYWORD RESEARCH, ON PAGE SEO, and OFF PAGE SEO.
Keyword Research
Pay close attention to Keyword research as this is one of the most important steps in the SEO Cape Town guide.
In order to find what they’re looking for, users enter words and phrases into search engines known as keywords.
There are two methods of finding out which keywords your potential customers use when searching for something online.
- PAID method – this is using paid tools that will compile all the potential keywords around your product, service, or information. Ideally, these tools will also give out the search volume (how many people use that keyword) among other metrics
- FREE method – this method requires your time and patience. It involves going to a competitor’s website and snooping around to check what keywords are most prominent and are making them rank higher. [There is nothing wrong with this! You are using a proven method your competitors have already demonstrated and you are improving it].
Another FREE method for keyword research, especially for DIY SEO for Cape Town companies is utilizing the Google search engine itself.
You can type in the search engine the main keyword for your product, service, or information.
As you type Google automatically suggests other keywords around that keyword. You can compile these and include them on your site.
Additionally, there is also a section on the search engine results page (SERPs) titled “people also searched for”.
This section contains other keywords you can use on your site. This can also be found at the bottom of the SERP.
Keyword Research Using The FREE Method
Ideally, you should not just target short keywords.
These in a sense do not lead to higher conversion.
The longer or more descriptive the keyword is, the higher the probability of turning those people into paying customers.
Here’s an example:
A user who searches for “Mountain Bike” might want to buy the bicycle or might just want to know more about it (general performance info, parameters, gadgets, or any information related to mountain bikes, etc.).
If you are a seller of these types of bikes you need to drive traffic that is already in the buying phase to your website.
That is why they searched the query in the Google search engine!
One way to do this is to also target longer descriptive words “Mountain bike price on a budget”, “specialized mountain bike”, “full suspension mountain bike”, and “mountain bike for sale”.
These keywords were obtained for FREE using Google suggestions of what other people also searched for.
These keywords offer a higher potential to convert those web visitors into clients.
The point here is, do not just go for short keywords as these already are highly competed for and difficult to rank for.
However, using the FREE methods outlined here you can obtain some longer, more descriptive words to easily rank.
On-Page SEO Cape Town Factors
These are factors on your web pages that need to be kept at optimum to boost web visitors.
Speed Test
This factor is how fast a website loads when a user enters it.
Google has a free tool called Page Speed Insights.
Using this tool, you can copy-paste your website (or your competitors’ wink* wink*) and it’ll show you a breakdown of your website’s loading time.
More importantly, it’ll show you what’s hindering loading time.
Fun Fact: An increase in loading time from 8 seconds to 2 seconds can boost your conversion rate to 74% (this is based on data monitoring real user activity from 33 major retailers) – – – hostingfacts.com
Of the many factors that contribute to PageSpeed, the important ones for you as a beginner are
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is when a visitor comes to a website and immediately leaves.
If it happens frequently, Google interprets it as your website content is not what users are looking for, of low relevance and low quality.
Here are some practical tips to improve PageSpeed and reduce bounce rate.
i. Choosing the right WordPress themes or other platforms
WordPress themes give you a wide variety of design themes.
They constitute around 34% of the internet.
The challenge is that the more functionality is added to the themes the more difficult it is to load faster. Ideally, you should choose a light theme that won’t load very slowly.
Loading speed is very important.
That is why Symaxx Digital offers customized WP themes and web designs to Improve SEO for companies in Cape Town.
This allows you, our client, to have a very good-looking website with high page loading speeds.
ii. WordPress plugins
Plugins bring different functionalities to your website.
However, you should Keep It Simple.
Don’t install unnecessary plugins as these might slow your website.
iii. Image Sizes
A picture indeed speaks a thousand words.
As much as images are important in creating immersive content, they should be smaller in size. Images should be of the right size and quality.
In no way should they compromise your page speed.
Now that we have looked at Page Speed and its importance in retaining web traffic, and how it reduces bounce rate, let’s look at other factors.
In this SEO Cape Town Guide for 2024, other important SEO factors for your Cape Town company are meant to increase the duration of sessions on your website. Content sure is King.
Keyword Insertion In Copy
Copy is the text you use on your digital platforms.
When writing this text, remember to write for another human being who will be reading it.
The temptation, especially if you have heard from other “gurus” is to write for the search engine algorithm to “trick” it into ranking you higher, DONT!
So don’t unnecessarily stuff your content with keywords, it’s a terrible practice and it doesn’t work.
Write content that is easy to read and digest.
This will keep your website visitors engaged.
Organically spread the keywords in a natural manner of flow to the rest of the content.
Length of copy
The length of your copy is also an important factor to note. Ideally, your copy should not be too short or too long on your web page.
Minimally, have 500 words.
But as challenging as it can be 1600 words will be the optimum length to express what you are writing about.
Simultaneously, it signals to Google that your content might match the broadness of what internet users are searching for about your services, products, or information.
The long content form has two immediate benefits;
- It helps build your website authority
- It makes your visitors stay longer on your website. Anything in the range of 2.5 minutes to 3.5 minutes signals positively to Google.
Page titles and titles
To add on, another fundamentally important factor for SEO Cape Town Guide is your website page titles.
Google indexing programs crawl websites and use titles to look at what the content is really about.
Make sure the keyword is also included as close to the title as possible.
WordPress uses H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 to denote headings and subheadings.
H1 being main headings and other denotations being subheadings.
As a tip, make sure to also include keywords in the titles, headings, and subheadings.
Lastly, do not make the titles and headlines clickbait, but rather make them interesting for the users to be drawn to click.
Freshness of content
Google does love fresh content. You should post new content as frequently as possible.
Once every week at the least.
If you can not, make sure you post at least once a month.
This positively signals to Google that you are adding depth to your content and are adding more value to your website visitors.
More so, it also signals your content is of higher quality.
If there’s one thing you need to remember in this SEO Cape Town Guide, is the factor of keeping things fresh.
Especially your content!
Copied content
There is a strong temptation to just copy and paste content from competitors.
DO NOT! Remember the above-stated factor of keeping things fresh?
Google can penalize you for copied content. It’s lazy!
However, a clever person can draw inspiration from ranking content from your competitors.
Avoid also copying content from other pages of your websites. Even if it’s a pdf version.
This will be a carbon copy of the original content.
For a DIY SEO Cape Town Guide, you can use the free tool’s website www.siteliner.com to check for duplicate content.
Use the results to locate where the duplicate content is and immediately replace it.
Of course, the website will have some amount of duplicate content.
What’s not recommended is exact duplicates.
Meta tags
Although meta tags aren’t a ranking factor anymore, they help internet users analyze the content displayed by Google.
Imperatively, meta tags should be crafted descriptively and relevantly.
They should entice the reader to want to know more about what your site has to say. If possible, you should include keywords.
SEO Cape Town Guide – Off-page factors
Off-page SEO is concerned with actions you can take to outside your website to improve your rankings.
Link building
Link building is in two ways.
- Internal linking – where you link web pages to other web pages on your site. You can internally link to other web pages on your site that describe that particular topic in depth
- External links – these are other external websites that link to your websites. As you build website authority, other websites will naturally start referring some web traffic your way. This is an important factor as it positively signals to Google your content is high quality and authoritative on a subject. Do not attempt to obtain shady backlinks from private Domain Networks.
The most important backlinks will be from higher authority websites that are respected and powerful. An example will be a university or government website.
This part of the SEO Cape Town Guide is the most challenging to implement. Thus, tread with caution or use the best SEO company in Cape Town, Symaxx Digital.
Local SEO in Cape Town
Furthermore, it is paramount that you register your business, organization, or company with Google Business and have your local address verified.
This is important for local service businesses.
Google serves geographically relevant results.
This means that even if you have the right keywords on your website, a locally verified competitor of yours will appear higher on the search engine results page than you.
Google Business Profile has huge SEO dividend payoffs. Do not take it lightly.
Summary
We hope this SEO Cape Town Guide for 2024 is helpful and takes your website to higher rankings and increased web traffic.
We are available to assist you whenever you need help.
As an SEO company in Cape Town, SEO is our passion and there is tremendous research that goes into making sure we stay on top of all the factors important in increasing your website ranking and traffic.
WE LOVE WORKING WITH OUR CLIENTS, WE OFFER FREE ANALYSIS AND PROPOSALS.
Yours in winning,
Symaxx Team.
