These days, you hear the term “SEO” quite a bit when it comes to a website or web marketing. It’s become a bit of a catchall for getting your business noticed online. The fact of the matter is that SEO isn’t all that broad. Instead SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, pertains to increasing the visibility of your website so it’s more likely to appear on a search engine, like Google. That’s why in this latest blog post we go over what SEO is, and a few tips on how to improve it on your website.
SEO changes on a regular basis. Similar to social media, SEO relies on an outside program that decides what should be counted for or against you when it comes to your website. To give a more direct comparison, your social media profile relies on Facebook’s algorithm. By that same token, your SEO relies on Google’s algorithm. This means that if you want your website to show up near the top of Google, Bing, or another search engine, you need to make sure that you keep up to date with the latest announcements about SEO for those specific platforms. However, there are some things that are universal to help your SEO.
Website Text for SEO
First of all, you want to make sure that your website has enough text on it. This means not just making it appealing to a search engine, though. It also means making it appealing to people that visit your website. Make sure to use keywords, and descriptions that match your business. Identify keywords and phrases that are relevant to your website’s content and target audience. Use keyword research tools to discover popular keywords with manageable competition. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your website’s content, including page titles, headings, meta descriptions, and body text. If you don’t have enough text on your website, a search engine will classify it as having “thin text.” This means that it’s less likely to bring your site to the top of search results.
Alt Text for Your Business
When you’re publicizing your business on your website, you’ll use images the show your products or your services. When putting these images on your site, you need to include alt text. Alt text describes the appearance or the function of an image on a page. It’s used to make websites accessible to those who are visually impaired. Not including alt text not only rates your website lower in its SEO, but also causes your website to be less accessible. Make sure you write alt text with each image you put on your site. That way, you don’t need to go back and write it in later.
Images and Sizing for Website SEO
When placing images on your website, appropriately size them. If they’re too large, then it will affect the loading speed of your webpage and also affect how your website scores on its SEO. While it’s important to appropriately size your image, you also need to make sure that your images are appealing. You’re not just appealing to the search engine. You’re also trying to appeal to people looking at your website.
Curate Backlinks
Backlinks improve your website’s SEO. What are backlinks? They’re links that other sites share that link back to your website. The higher number of backlinks you have, the stronger your website’s presence. Quality backlinks indicate to search engines, like Google, that your website is trustworthy and valuable. Focus on creating exceptional content that naturally attracts backlinks, and consider guest posting on relevant websites to build your backlink profile.
Social Media on Your Website
One of the things that a search engine factors into your website SEO is your business’s presence on social media. This includes Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other platforms. When improving your website’s SEO, make sure to include links to your social media channels on your website. As your following on social media grows, the SEO on your page will improve. If you’re looking for a resource to improving your social media in general, we’ve even created this guide for you to use. It’s directed toward restaurants, but the points in it are applicable for most businesses.
Keep in mind that these are just a few tips for improving your website’s SEO. If you want a full walkthrough on how to improve your SEO, then there are a lot of resources available online. Alternatively, if you need help managing your website or simply want a website refresh, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’re happy to chat with you about website design and SEO. In fact, we include it with every website that we build.
