What is SEO and why does it matter?

What is SEO?  

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of optimising a website for search engines to direct users to the most relevant content. 

The outcome of these activities lifts a website’s rankings in the organic (non-paid) section of search results listings. 

SEO isn’t new, but the factors that influence how search engines rank content are constantly changing, so it’s important to keep up with developments  in this area. 

Why SEO is important for nsw.gov.au 

Currently, nsw.gov.au has more than 5000 pages of content – and it’s growing.  

The ability for a customer to find this content is critical to our success.  

For us, a better experience through good SEO is when users  are directed to the relevant information on nsw.gov.au when they perform a search. Almost 45% of traffic comes to nsw.gov.au this way. 

How we improve SEO on nsw.gov.au 

The central nsw.gov.au team ensures that the foundational aspects of the website are optimised for search engines.  From a technical perspective, we provide a secure and mobile friendly website that is always accessible to search engine crawlers. We monitor the overall website experience, down to how long it takes for pages to load. The information architecture and site structure we are developing is clear and logical.  

We ensure that the pages we manage have compelling, unique and proper heading tags and meta descriptions. When we develop content, we perform keyword research and create content targeting these search phrases. We are rolling out schema markups (structured data) to provide context to the content, giving our information a greater probability of being used in featured snippets or voice search answers. 

How the OneCX program can support agencies to optimise their content for search 

The OneCX program aims to improve our customer’s digital experience of NSW Government, and strong SEO is an integral part of achieving this. 

Using a learner-led approach, our team is committed to developing the skills of our incoming content editors from across government.  

We provide introductory and ongoing training on the content management system (CMS), SEO and analytics tools to ensure we implement best practice. 

The Digital Channels team works alongside each agency from the commencement of the migration process, to conduct SEO content reviews and planning sessions. This allows us to collaboratively define the best SEO content approach. Technical SEO testing is performed throughout the migration process, and once delivered, analytics are monitored to ensure SEO optimisation. 

Want to know more? 

If you’re starting out in SEO, there are many online resources available for beginners. Here are a few to get you started: 

• Google: Getting started for beginners 
• Google Trends: a free tool to view recent search trends data 
• Australian Gov: Findable content

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