Great website content is made even greater by enabling users to find it easily. It can be optimised by following the process of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).


TABLE OF CONTENTS


What is SEO?

SEO is the process of growing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine. 

 

This is achieved through structured use of:

  • Keywords
  • Title
  • Backlinks 
  • Metadata

 

How do I use keywords?

Keywords, which can be used as ‘short-tail’ or ‘long-tail’, are the words and phrases that people type into search engines in order to find what they're looking for. It’s important to have the right keywords or phrases on your page as they play an important part in the EIT Food website’s ability to rank on these search engines.  

 

Short-tail keywords 

These are short keywords that are made up of three words or fewer. They have high search volume, a highly competitive rate, broad search intent and low conversion rates, but are necessary to have generally on the EIT Food website. 

  

You should use short-tail keywords for articles on emerging trends, in the hope that our content establishes itself as an early, high-ranked result. 

 

Long-tail keywords 

These consist of more than three words (they are generally mid-to-full sentences or questions) and are more specific than short-tail keywords. They have lower search volume, a lower competitive rate, more specific search intent and higher conversion rate. They are most useful for content like blogs and landing pages. 

  

You should use long-tail keywords for topics that already have large search volumes. This means we can target more niche terms in a topic with lower competition, which will increase the likelihood of our content ranking. 

    

Here is a list of high-volume keywords that are related to EIT Food’s six focus areas:


SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ALTERNATIVE PROTEINSSUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE CIRCULAR FOOD SYSTEMS TARGETED NUTRITION DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF TRACEABILITY 
agfood, agriculture, farming, farmbot, precision farming, agroforestry, agritech, agtech, vertical farming, sustainable agriculture, regenerative farming, precision farmingvegan protein, protein, vegetarian protein, oat milk, plant-based protein, vegan protein sources, protein snacks, tofu protein, high protein snacks, high protein breakfast, protein alternatives aquaculture, fisheries, trout fisheries, fish farming, marine stewardship council, fish farming, carp fishing, sustainable fish, RAS fish, cage farmingfood technology, food supply, food management manufacturing, upcycling, food waste, upcycle, zero waste, food packaging, co packing, beeswax wraps, cling filmclean eating, healthy food, snacks, meal plan, keto meal plan, weight loss meal plan, whole food plant based diet, diet plan for weight loss, healthy eating, healthy diet, personalised nutrition, personalized nutritionfood traceability, food sensors, food sense
180K140K45K125K185K500K


How do I optimise my title?

When choosing your title, it is important to ensure your reader gets what they expect when they click through to your website. If your content doesn’t fulfil their expectations, you will lose their trust. 

 

Here are some tips for writing an effective title: 

 

  • Make it engaging
  • Set the right expectations – for instance, a blog title needs to be descriptive and outline the content purpose
  • Keep it short and concise – around 10 words 
  • Include a keyword
  • Make sure sub-headings are clear to help the reader scan the page to see what the article content covers easily 
  • Learn from others – what are the competition writing about?


How do I use backlinks?

Backlinks bring a user to the website from somewhere else on the web. They are an important factor in how well EIT Food is ranked by search engines.

  

When using backlinks on the EIT Food website, you should take an active approach to gathering backlinks. All press releases should include backlinks to relevant EIT Food web pages. If EIT Food is mentioned anywhere online, the content must be linked to the EIT Food website. If there is not a link included, the publisher should be contacted with a link request.


Campaigns should feature backlinking as part of the content strategy, and all partner websites should link to the EIT Food website. If a partner isn't linking to the EIT Food website, try these tactics: 


  • Add an EIT Food logo and link to the partners section on a partner website
  • Ensure any mention of EIT Food in articles is linked
  • Ask partners if they'd like us to create guest content on their website, which includes a link back to the EIT Food website 

  

To get the most value from backlinking activity, you should always aim to: 


  • Acquire links from websites with a domain authority above 30 (this means the site in question is deemed to be high quality). Use Moz to check domain authorities
  • Make relevancy a priority. All backlinks should be a bridge between two sets of highly relevant information. The more relevant the content, the higher value the link
  • EIT Food's backlink landing pages should be high quality, including:
    • Strong and authoritative content - see this article on "How Do I Create a Good Blog Post?"
    • Fast page load speeds
    • User-friendly layouts
    • Mobile optimised
    • Check that any backlinks are follow links rather than no-follow links. These indicators are found in the link URL and are used by webmasters to differentiate between the credibility of links. Follow links are deemed as credible and win more points with Google. Go to article on SEM Rush to find out more about backlinks.


What is metadata and how do I use it?

Metadata is essentially “data about data” and is instrumental in good SEO. It can be divided into three categories: 

 

  • Title tag: This is a HTML element that specifies the title of a web page and is displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given result. Google typically displays the first 50–60 characters of a title tag, so keep that in mind when writing one so that important words are not cut off. You can find more information on title tags here.
  • Meta description: This is an HTML attribute that provides a brief summary of a web page. Search engines such as Google often display the meta description in search results, which can influence click-through rates. They should be descriptive of the content and be between 50–160 characters. You can find more information on meta descriptions here.
  • Alt text: This is used within an HTML code to describe the appearance and function of an image on a page. Alt text is particularly important for accessibility, as it will allow a visually impaired person to understand what the image shows, and also for image SEO. You can find more information about alt text here.


How do I optimise images?

Read our article about how to optimise images for the EIT Food website.


Can I measure my SEO?

Yes. There are several free and paid tools that you can use to measure and improve SEO and to research keywords:

  

  • Answer The Public pulls the questions people are asking (and a few other types of queries) from Google’s autocomplete results. It’s great for coming up with topics. 
  • Google Keyword Planner is Google’s keyword research tool. You can use it to generate keyword ideas based on up to 10 seed keywords, or from a website or URL. You need an Adwords account to use this tool.
  • Google Trends shows the popularity of a topic over time. Use it to catch and capitalise on trending topics.


This article was reviewed in January 2024 and will be reviewed again in January 2025. 


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