SEO in Cape Town. SEO services that work.
SEO is Search Engine Optimisation. It is the practice of optimising your website to get found organically in Google searches.
Disclosure Of course we don’t only do SEO for people in Cape Town. SEO Cape Town is a keyword we rank for along with SEO South Africa, SEO Johannesburg, and SEO just about anywhere.
Do you need SEO?
More than half of all website traffic comes from organic search.
40% of all online revenue is captured by search traffic via Google search results.
If you want more visitors you need SEO.
As a bonus, good SEO improves user experience which improves engagement and conversion. It’s a win-win!
Read about our SEO services package or get your free SEO assessment.
Need some proof? Check out our case study for SPOTBOT.
What does Google want?
Imagine heading up the search team of Google, the world’s most successful search engine. How does Google ensure it stays there?
To stay up there, Google’s algorithm needs to deliver genuinely relevant and useful search results for every user and every search. It needs to return the most relevant, useful web pages in response to the user’s query.
The algorithm is like a swarm of helpful termites, tunnelling through the world wide web day and night, sniffing out high quality websites, ranking the wheat above the chaff. The algorithm is constantly refined and updated to achieve this.
Google wants web pages that best satisfy any given search term. This is dependant on a large number of factors.
What can the algorithm see?
The algorithm mostly sees code. Code reveals words, links and interactions. The algorithm primarily focusses on the effectiveness of the page to satisfy the user’s query.
To some degree the algorithm also looks at user experience (UX), which may involve how the page is designed and structured, and how fast it loads.
The website’s content and structure is also important. Does the website convey Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness (EAT).
How does the algorithm rank websites?
The Google algorithm’s criteria are called ranking factors. Although ranking factors are not explicitly revealed by Google, there are estimated to be over 200 of them. Here are the top 10:
- UX (a good user experience)
- Website structure (topical clusters indicate a well-organised website)
- Responsiveness (good on different devices, eg. mobile phone, iPad)
- Backlinks (the number and quality of links from other sites indicates authority)
- Internal links (the links to other pages on your website)
- Keyword relevance (relevance of keywords to user intent)
- On page SEO (such as title tags, header tags, meta descriptions)
- URL structure (it likes simple, to-the-point URLs)
- Information quality (Fresh accurate information in coherent form)
- Page speed (a fast site is pleasant to use)
Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search Engine Optimisation aims to get your site ranked well by Google’s algorithm. The algorithm responds to genuinely relevant and useful content, which is the key to effective SEO.
Because Google’s algorithm is constantly moving in the direction of detecting and ranking genuinely useful content, your efforts to stay ahead of the competition will naturally result in content that is genuinely useful to your customers.
Hence content that is optimised for search engines also converts them to your product or service, a win-win situation.
SEO results in being found AND in converting customers to your products and services.
What does SEO involve?
SEO is a vast topic involving a very wide range of strategies and tools.
For more detailed coverage you can read our introduction to SEO, our DIY SEO guide, or our copywriting guide.
Here is a brief summary of a few strategies which might be utilised when performing search engine optimisation for a website.
- Perform technical SEO. Make sure your website performs well.
- Identify your marketing goals
- Identify your ideal customer
- Identify the search terms or keywords your customers might be using
- The list of keywords might run into 1000s, so we sort them into categories
- For each keyword, assign scores:
- Volume: number of searches per month
- Difficulty: how competitive / hard it is to rank for
- Relevance: how relevant the keyword is to your business goal
- Priority: taking the other scores into account
- Perform deep analysis of the search and competitive landscapes
- Develop an SEO strategy. This may involve:
- Content: write pages and articles that cover topics better than your competitors
- Site structure: organise your website into distinct silos, communicating topical authority
- Backlinks: identify and notify websites with high authority in your industry which may be willing to link back to your website
- Set up tracking tools. Monitor performance and competition. Revise the strategy as needed.
- Repeat on a monthly basis.
How long does SEO take?
Unlike paid Google ads which show results in 24 hours, SEO takes a long time to bear fruit. But the results are robust and long-lasting.
SEO work is taking longer to gain traction than it did 10 years ago. It can take from 6 to 12 months for a new website to gain traction in organic search results.
And bear in mind that if you are in a competitive niche, then your website must be better than your competitor to outrank it in this time period.
But of course this works both ways. Once you are up there on page 1, then it is hard to unseat you. Your position is likely to remain stable even for a while after a competitor strives to outrank you.
The value of SEO
SEO is more robust than paid ads in a crucial way: 75% to 80% of clicks are from organic search results.
Because effective SEO requires authoritative, well-structured content, an SEO content strategy results in building trust in your brand.
Therefore a comprehensive SEO campaign is a vital marketing tool.
Is SEO for everyone?
SEO needs to be done properly, or not at all, so it’s worth considering the viability of SEO.
If your website is a personal website or niche product which people find by searching for your name. If your name or product name is relatively unique, then chances are you’ll be found.
Or perhaps your website is a brochure or portfolio which you market via social or email channels? Perhaps this doesn’t warrant a dedicated SEO campaign.
Some websites may be in a competitive niche for the main topic, making the question of whether it’s worth doing SEO a nuanced one.
Our service
Our SEO services start with a budget of around R5000 per month, and can be scaled depending on number or competitiveness of keywords.
We are based in Cape Town, South Africa and service SEO clients worldwide.
- Extensive keyword analysis
- Overall SEO strategy
- Analysis of your competitors
- Google MyBusiness management
- Internal link building consultancy
- External link building consultancy
- Content creation: copywriting and content writing consultancy
- Google Search Console monitoring and reporting
- Monthly SEO and keyword ranking report
Get a free SEO asessment
We will give you a quick overview of your ranking potential. The assessment will be used to ascertain what level of service you need.
More about SEO
UX vs SEO? The relationship between user experience and SEO
UX and SEO are separate skills, but their effect is intertwined.
What is so great about SEO in Cape Town?
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An introduction to SEO
Getting a bright new shiny website is a bit like getting your first bicycle. Your needs can be simple: to get lots of happy, paying customers visiting your site and telling their friends about it.
DIY guide to SEO
Welcome to our DIY guide to SEO. In this guide you will learn some basic techniques to do your own SEO, and – with some luck and skill – beat your competitors in search results.
Keyword Research
In this chapter you will learn what keyword research is, as well as the strategies, tools, and techniques that are used in keyword research to come up with a quality keyword and content strategy.
Copywriting for effective websites
Website copywriting has but one function only. It serves to PERSUADE the visitor to take action by clicking a button.
Every tactic described below is aimed at this one function.
SEO: What does Google want?
Imagine heading up the search team of Google, the world’s most successful search engine.
How does it get up there, and how does it stay up there?
SEO content writing and traditional essay writing
Why do instruction manuals on how to write good SEO content tend to avoid the subject of how to actually write?
Inbound Marketing SEO in Cape Town
Inbound marketing is shouldering traditional advertising into the dustbin of history. This is the central thrust of needing great SEO in Cape Town.
