SEO, Search Engine Optimization, it’s that never ending question that any business owner trying to market themselves has on the mind 24/7. SEO requires an understanding of what’s relevant and what isn’t, it requires some thought, and most importantly it requires constant attention and work. Don’t we all wish we could just snap our fingers and have a website that is optimized to the max, social media that works for our target markets, and content just falls in our laps?…Now that I’ve just typed it out I’m realizing that might be one of my top 10 wishes! Anyway, as nice as it sounds we need to get back to reality. We need to focus on today’s best practices and get out of the habits from yesterday. One, there will always be paid options and advantages to those, however they don’t always have the desired outcomes and get costly. If you don’t have a professional working for you on that front you can find yourself in a downward spiral of more money and no results. So, let’s focus on Organic Search Engine Optimization. There are so many useful and easy to maintain resources at our fingertips, and mostly found in what we are already utilizing every day for our business. “Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average, which translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.” What’s going to make your website pop up on the first page versus the others?
Let’s break down a few of the items to focus on.
A well optimized website – what does that mean?
You need to have a well-designed and functioning site. Does it meet the search engine requirements? Does it test well on all browsers? Is it mobile responsive? Is it fast enough, not cluttered or bogged down? Those are all qualities that maintain your web presence and ensure you are a viable resource for the search engines to provide to those searching for what you have to offer.
Quality Content
Your website needs to have good, quality content that actually provides descriptive insight of the services and/or goods you have to offer. Really sit down and think about the content you add to your site. Does it have strong keyword content? Are you providing reliable links? Do you have images and/or videos to help breakup the content? We can’t stress enough about how important this is. Divide out your pages and content in a way that makes the most sense. Allow it to showcase what you have to offer with enough explanation that your audience feels confident in what they are reading. At the same time, don’t add too much, you don’t want to bore them. This also provides the search engines with the meat they need to find your website when someone is searching
Don’t be sneaky and try to add in keywords or “code” them in. Google is smart, they will notice if you are writing about pizza and try to add in a keyword on hot dogs. They don’t pay attention to “meta keywords” anymore. There are standards that are followed utilizing SEO Titles, Meta Descriptions, Alt Tags, and Keyword focuses. If you do it right and nothing less, you don’t need the think about the old school practices that aren’t pertinent today.
The below video was published in 2009 backing the subject from Google. Soon to follow, as they always do, other major search engines, like Yahoo, announced the same dismissal of watching Meta Keywords.
Blogging
You need to be blogging, period, end of discussion. How else are you going to stay fresh and relevant? You can’t allow your website to become stagnant. Provide updates, share news and tips related to your industry and surroundings, share pictures, do anything that will help bring you to the top of the search results. The more content you place on your website, the more keyword focuses you have. The more keyword focuses you have, the more likely you are to get recognized by Google.
Get Social
Social media plays a huge role in SEO. There is a social platform for all ages, markets and purposes. Whether it’s for social community and sharing like Facebook, for the here and now like Twitter, or professional networking like LinkedIn; you can find a social media network that will boost your marketing goals and SEO. Yes, it requires more effort but it’s worth it and is a necessity. “Facebook continues to be the most widely used social media platform, with 79% of American internet users. Based on total population, (not just internet users) 68% of U.S. adults are on Facebook.” Check out more social statistics here
Let us help you make the right moves for improving your search engine optimization. We can provide training or assistance in social media marketing, blogging, content writing, and more.