Search engine optimization (SEO) is vital for any Nigerian business that wants a solid online presence. Businesses need to have websites that are easy to find on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Because of this, it can be challenging for businesses to stay on top of their SEO strategies. This page answers frequently asked questions about SEO.

As a Nigerian business owner, you may have many questions about improving your search engine rankings and optimizing your website. Business owners often ask, “How can I get my website to rank higher on search engines?” “What are the most important SEO factors in Nigeria?” or “How can I get more people to visit my website?” or “How can I get my business to show up in local search results?” You may also have questions about how to track and measure your SEO progress, stay up-to-date on the latest SEO best practices, and optimize your website for voice search and featured snippets.

Nigerian businesses must optimize their websites for search engine optimization (SEO) to stay competitive and reach their target audience. By answering these frequently asked questions, you’ll have a better idea of improving your website’s ranking on search engines, bringing in more traffic, and making your business a trusted source in the Nigerian market. With the proper knowledge and approach, you can make your website more visible and reach more potential customers, which will help your business grow.

Would you like to know those things you need to do to improve your SEO rankings? 

Download my Free eBook where I explained a checklist of 10 things you need to do to get the best results for your SEO efforts.

Whether you are hiring someone to optimize your website for search engines or you wish to DIY, this is a checklist of things you must do to succeed in SEO.

What does SEO mean?

Search engine optimization (SEO) improves a website’s ranking on search engine results pages by making it work better (SERPs). SEO aims to make a website more visible and trustworthy so that potential customers looking for products or services related to its content are more likely to find them. SEO includes technical and creative parts, such as keyword research, on-page optimization, content creation, building backlinks, and the structure of a website. By making changes to these things, a website can move up in the SERPs and get more traffic from search engines. SEO is an ongoing process that needs to be constantly checked and changed to keep up with the newest search engine algorithms and best practices.

How much does it cost to do SEO in Nigeria?

SEO costs in Nigeria can vary depending on some factors, such as the size and complexity of the website, the level of competition for the target keywords, and the services that come with the SEO package. As a result, SEO can cost anywhere from ₦‎100,000 to ₦‎300,000 in Nigeria.

Some SEO agencies charge a flat fee for their services, while others charge by month or project. Some services that might be part of an SEO package and affect the price are:

• Research and analysis of keywords
• Page optimization
• Content creation
• Backlink building
• Technical SEO
• Local SEO

It’s important to remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it may take a few months for your website’s search engine rankings to improve significantly. To keep working on your website’s SEO, some companies may charge you a monthly retainer, a recurring monthly fee.

It’s important to compare prices and services from different SEO agencies to find the one that fits your business’s budget and needs the best. However, it’s also important to be aware of SEO services that promise unrealistic results, like an immediate top ranking. This is only possible with unethical practices, so avoiding them is best.

How long does it take for SEO to work?

SEO takes a different amount of time depending on several things, like the size and complexity of the website, how competitive the target keywords are, and how well the SEO is done.

Generally, it can take several months for a website’s search engine rankings to improve significantly. This is because search engines need time to crawl and index new and updated content, and changes can take longer to appear in the search engine rankings. But it’s essential to remember that SEO is an ongoing process that must be constantly checked and changed to keep up with the latest search engine algorithms and best practices.

It’s important to remember that SEO is not a one-time job. It’s a long-term strategy requiring constant work. You will see the results of your SEO work later, but if you have a good plan, you will see results over time. It’s not unusual to see improvements in the first few weeks, but it can take months to see the full effect of your SEO work.

Keep in mind that SEO is a long-term strategy, and it helps to have realistic expectations about how long it will take for SEO to work. You also must be patient and consistent and keep going even if you don’t see results immediately.

How can I make search engines rank my website better?

Focus on critical areas to improve your website’s rank on search engines, such as keyword research, on-page optimization, content creation, building backlinks, and technical SEO. Doing keyword research will help you figure out what people are looking for and how you can make your website rank for those keywords. On-page optimization means ensuring that your website’s content and structure are optimized for search engines. Creating high-quality and relevant content will help you get more visitors and backlinks, which can also help your website’s ranking. Building backlinks from other relevant websites can also help you improve your site’s ranking. Finally, technical SEO means ensuring that your website is technically sound and that search engines can easily crawl it.

What are the most important things when it comes to SEO?

These are the most important things for SEO:

Relevance: Your content must match the search query and answer the user’s questions.

Quality of content: Your content should be of high quality and give the user something of value.

The freshness of content: Changing your content often can help keep it relevant and bring back visitors.

On-page optimization: If you organize your content well and use the correct tags, search engines can understand it better.

Backlinks: Links to your site from other authoritative and relevant sites can help show that your site is a reliable source.

Technical SEO: It’s also essential to ensure your website is technically sound and easy for search engines to crawl.

Should I run both PPC and SEO campaigns?

Combining Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be a good way for businesses to get more people to visit their websites and make them more visible.

PPC ads can get people to a website immediately, while SEO focuses on improving a website’s organic search engine rankings over time. By using both PPC and SEO, a business can get immediate visibility and traffic from PPC ads while also working on SEO to make their website more visible in the long run.

PPC and SEO can work well together in different ways. For example, using PPC can help you figure out which keywords lead to the most conversions, which you can then use to optimize your website for those keywords using SEO. PPC can also help fill in gaps in organic visibility while SEO work is done.

Also, if a business uses PPC and SEO, it can make itself more visible on more search engines and search results pages. This can help make it easier for potential customers to find a business, leading to more sales and money in the long run.

But it’s important to remember that PPC and SEO require different skills and tools, so the business needs to ensure it has the skills and budget to run both PPC and SEO campaigns well.

How do I get more people to visit my website?

Focus on critical areas, like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, and content marketing, if you want more people to visit your website. By making your website work better for search engines, you can get more traffic from search engines. PPC advertising can quickly bring in visitors who are interested in what you have to offer. Social media marketing lets you connect with potential customers and get more people to visit your website. Making high-quality and relevant content can help you get more visitors and backlinks, which can also help your website’s ranking.

How do I get my business to show up in local search results?

Focus on a few critical areas if you want your business to show up in local search results. These include creating and optimizing a Google My Business listing, building local citations, and getting customer reviews. Google My Business is a free service that lets you manage the information about your business and show up in Google Maps and Local search results. Getting your business listed on relevant online directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc., is what it means to build local citations. Positive customer reviews can also help your business top search results for your area.

What is On-page SEO?

On-page SEO is optimizing the parts of a website that affect how it ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs). These parts of a website are its content, structure, images, and code. On-page SEO aims to make a website more accessible for people and search engines to understand and use.

On-page SEO uses many different methods, such as:

• Keyword research is the process of finding out what words and phrases people are looking for and using them in a website’s content and meta tags.
• Content optimization means making high-quality, relevant content that meets users’ needs and is optimized for search engines.
• Optimizing meta tags means using title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags to help search engines figure out what a website is about and show it in search results.
• URL optimization is the process of making URLs that are short, easy to understand, and full of keywords.
• Image optimization improves images by compressing them and giving them descriptive file names and alt tags.
• Internal linking makes a website’s internal links make sense and are easy to use. This helps search engines understand how the content on a website is organized.

On-page SEO is a vital part of SEO. It helps search engines understand what a website is about and how it can help the user. It also helps improve the user’s experience when they visit the website.

What is Off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO is optimizing things outside of a website that can affect how well it ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs). Backlinks, social media signals, and mentions of a website on other sites are all examples of these things. Off-page SEO aims to make a website more visible, authoritative, and relevant to search engines.

Off-page SEO uses many different methods, such as:

• Backlink building is getting links to a website from other websites to boost its authority and visibility. Search engines see backlinks as “votes” for a website. Therefore, the more backlinks a website has from trustworthy sources, the more credible it looks to search engines.
• Social media optimization is making and sharing content on social media platforms to make it more visible and get backlinks.
• Online public relations is getting good things said about a website in the press or other credible sources.
• Local SEO is the process of improving a website’s ranking in local search results.

Off-page SEO helps search engines figure out a website’s reputation and authority. It also improves the user experience by giving them more information and background about the website. Optimizing off-page elements allows businesses to make their website more visible, authoritative, and relevant, leading to a higher search engine ranking and more traffic.

What is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO improves a website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages by tweaking its technical parts (SERPs). The goal of technical SEO is to ensure that a website is easy for users and search engines to crawl, index, and get to.

Technical SEO uses many different methods, such as:

• Website architecture improves a website’s structure and organization so that search engines can easily crawl and index its pages.
• Mobile optimization ensures a website is mobile-friendly and responsive to be easily accessed and read on mobile devices.
• Site speed optimization makes a website load faster so that users have a better experience and search engines don’t punish the site.
• Crawlability ensures that search engines can easily crawl and index a website’s pages by eliminating technical problems like broken links, blocked pages, and redirects.
• Ensuring a website is safe and has an SSL certificate is part of security.
• Indexability improves a website’s content and structure so that search engines are more likely to find it.
• Internationalization and localization make websites work better for specific countries and languages.

Technical SEO is a significant part of SEO. It helps search engines understand and navigates a website, improving the user experience by making the website fast and safe. By fixing technical problems, businesses can make their websites more visible, authoritative, and relevant, leading to higher search engine rankings and more traffic.

How can I keep track of and measure the progress of my SEO?

You can use tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz to track and measure your SEO progress. These tools can help you keep track of your website’s traffic, keywords, backlinks, and other vital metrics. You can also use these tools to find places to improve and keep track of how well your SEO efforts are working over time.

How do I make sure my website works well with voice search?

You should focus on natural language processing, long-tail keywords, and structured data to improve your website for voice search. Voice queries tend to be conversational, so using natural language in content can help your website be more friendly. In addition, voice queries are more likely to use long-tail keywords, which are longer, more specific phrases. Finally, structured data can help search engines understand your content and make it more likely to appear in voice search results.

How can I make sure that my website shows up on featured snippets?

To optimize your website for featured snippets, you should focus on critical areas, such as researching and targeting featured snippet opportunities, using the proper format and structure, and giving clear and concise answers to questions. By studying and focusing on featured snippet opportunities, you can find possible search terms for which your website could rank. Formatting your content to make it easy for search engines to understand, like using lists, tables, or step-by-step instructions, can help it get into a featured snippet. You can also help your website show up in featured snippets by giving clear, short answers to questions instead of long explanations.

What is local search engine optimization (SEO)?

Local SEO is making changes to a website so that it shows up higher in local search results. Local search results are search results that are only relevant to a particular locality. When someone in an area search for a product or service, search engines show results that are relevant to that area.

Local SEO is vital for businesses that have a physical location and serve customers in a particular area. By making a website better for local search, a company can get more people to see and buy from it.

To improve a website for local SEO, you can create and optimize a Google My Business listing, build local citations, and ask customers for reviews. Google My Business is a free listing service that lets businesses manage their information and show up on Google Maps and Local search results. Getting a business listed on relevant online directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc., is what it means to build local citations. A business can also move up in local search results by getting good reviews from customers.

Local SEO also involves optimizing a website’s on-page elements, making content based on a specific location, getting backlinks from local sources, and more. Local SEO is vital for businesses with a physical location that wants to be seen by more local customers and get more business.

Need help with local SEO? Learn more about my SEO services

Should I have a blog before I start SEO?

SEO can be helped by having a blog, but it is unnecessary. A blog can be an excellent way to create new, relevant content and get backlinks, which can help a website’s search engine rankings. There are, however, other ways to make and share content that can also help SEO.

You can do SEO on a site that doesn’t have a blog. However, a website can still have high-quality, helpful content, good on-page SEO, and backlinks. Some of these are making pages for products or services, about us and contact us pages, frequently asked questions, and more.

Other vital parts of SEO don’t need a blog, like keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, and building backlinks.

In conclusion, a blog can help with SEO, but it’s unnecessary. Even without a blog, a business can still make its website SEO-friendly and get people to visit it. The most important thing is to focus on producing high-quality, relevant content, optimizing your website for search engines, and building backlinks from reliable sources.

How do I make sure that my website works well on mobile devices?

To make your website work well on mobile devices, you should focus on a few key areas, such as mobile-responsive design, page speed, and content that works well on mobile devices. With a mobile-responsive design, your website will automatically change to fit the size and resolution of the device used to view it. By optimizing the page speed of your website, you can make sure it loads quickly on mobile devices. Creating content that works well on mobile devices, like shorter paragraphs and bigger fonts, can also help improve the user experience.