Let’s start out with the obvious: What is “SEO”?
SEO literally stands for “search engine optimization”. It is the practice of optimizing a websites code and design so that search engine crawlers can better index your website and rank it according to the quality of the content.
Here are 5 SEO tips that any business owner can implement today:
1) Publish quality content
Google is constantly changing their search ranking algorithm. A long time ago, a lot of weight was put on keywords. Now, Google is rewarding websites with quality content that is published consistently.
One way to publish quality content regularly is by a blog. Start a blog on your website and post once every one or two weeks about your industry. Don’t know where to start? Turn to your industry leaders for inspiration.
2) Inbound links
One thing Google really likes is inbound links. Inbound links are links from outside websites that point to your website. There are many ways to accomplish this, but our favorite is by maintaining a few social media profiles.
On your social media pages, you should post links to your website and blog regularly to gain traffic from your followers. This will also help you rank higher in Google’s search engine.
3) Make sure your website is coded properly and has no errors
Developing a website is more than just typing in some text and hitting “Publish”. There are many HTML and CSS tags that need to be used for a multitude of reasons.
One of them being is to guide search engine crawlers through the website so they can properly index your content. If a website doesn’t utilize HTML tags in a proper way, the website will not be indexed accurately and may even be penalized in the form of a lower page rank.
If you need help analyzing your website’s code, contact us. Our web developers will do a quick analysis and let you know what’s going on under the hood.
4) Include keywords in your domain name and URL structure
As previously stated, keywords don’t hold as much weight as they used to. That doesn’t mean they are ignored completely. Structure your content in a way so that keywords are in the URL.
For example, www.yourdomain.com/p2342.html means nothing to Google or the user. However, www.yourdomain.com/flower-care-tips.html tells Google and the searcher that this page may possibly have flower care tips and may be useful to anyone looking for such content.
5) Make sure your website is running as fast as possible
Google penalizes websites that are slow, and for good reason too. They want to provide quality search results to their users and if a website is performing poorly, they won’t want to show that result.
Here are some ways to be sure your website is optimized for fast results:
- Make sure big images have been compressed
- Keep the flashy elements to a minimum and have them coded with best practices in mind
- Check your server to see if anything is bogging your website down
Conclusion
There are a lot of different elements that go into optimizing a website for search engine traffic. Furthermore, SEO is only one part of online marketing. Check out our SEO services and online marketing services if you want professional help.
