Heading 1 Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a huge impact in many areas of life and SEO is no exception. While it has made online searches easier for consumers, keeping up with it and staying ahead as a business can be challenging. As Google integrates advanced AI into its search results, businesses must rethink their SEO strategies. Understanding the future of SEO in the context of AI is essential to appear high on search rankings and remain competitive. Traditionally, search engine optimisation (SEO) has relied largely on keyword optimisation and link building. If you sell garden products, you would make sure the phrase ‘garden products’ was used frequently throughout your website. You would also look to get some links back to your site from other websites – maybe other businesses in your local area or in a complementary sector. These traditional SEO methods are becoming less effective. AI means search engines like Google and Bing have become better at understanding the intent behind a search, through machine learning algorithms analysing huge quantities of data, as well as natural language processing. Natural language processing doesn’t just understand the words in a query, it understands the context and intent behind it. AI can even understand synonyms, slang and regional variation in language! When someone searches for something online, AI can analyse, interpret and predict their behaviour. So businesses have to adapt their SEO strategies to changing algorithms to stay competitive. You need to have a deeper understanding of your target audience and produce content which meets their needs and answers their queries. It is about providing the best answer to the questions your audience is asking, because AI algorithms are skilled at recognising content which meets the search intent of users and provides value. This means that content which is designed to meet specific needs, answer questions and provide the solutions to problems is more likely to rank higher in searches. AI algorithms will prioritise content which resonates with users on a human level – with every paragraph adding more value and depth. This aligns with AI’s preference for content which engages and informs – and also helps build a stronger connection with your target audience. In addition, AI is making voice searches (e.g. Alexa) much more effective. Voice searches tend to use more words than online searches e.g. ‘find me healthy snacks for pre-school children’ rather than just typing ‘healthy snacks’ into Google with no context. This aspect of AI will continue to grow in importance and become even more widely used.

An SEO audit is a way to evaluate how well your website is optimised for search engines

When was the last time you had your business website redesigned? If it's been more than two or three years, it likely needs an update...

Local SEO (or search engine optimisation) is a way of allowing your business to rank highly in local search results

Heading 1 The best way to drive traffic to your website for most businesses is through search engines, so it is essential to secure a prominent position on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The two ways to do this are through search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The two options offer a different approach to generating leads and sales. Depending on what you are looking to achieve, either PPC or SEO might be better at reaching your business goals. With PPC, businesses bid on relevant keywords to appear as a sponsored link at the top of SERPs. When visitors search for those keywords, the ad will be displayed in the sponsored results section. A business only pays for the ad if the link is clicked. The most popular ads are Google Ads, but advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn (ADD LINK - Why you need LinkedIn paid ads for your business (cotswoldweb.co.uk)) (ADD LINK - Facebook Ads: Measure your conversions! (cotswoldweb.co.uk)) or other social media can be just as effective, depending on your own target audience. SEO is a long-term strategy to generate clicks without having to pay for them directly. It is about optimising your website content around relevant target keywords to convince a search engine that your business is a leading authority on a particular subject. Here we will discuss the pros and cons of each, and which delivers the better return on investment (ROI) for your marketing budget. One way to help you make a decision on which is the best option for your business is to check out the competition. They are targeting the same audience as you, so you can learn from their successes and their failures. If your competitors are investing heavily in PPC, it could indicate it would work well for your business too. And on the flipside, if they are ranking well in search results, investing in SEO could be the way forward.