SEO for Beginners – Part One – Website Optimization

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If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve heard about Search Engine Optimization or SEO, as it is often referred. Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing your website and related marketing efforts in a way that helps improve search engine rankings, which in turn allows web users to more easily find you or your business online. In this first installment of our SEO Basics blog series we will go over the basics of website optimization.

Website Optimization

Building a website is not enough in today’s online world. Once a website is built there are no guarantees that anyone searching for your products or services will find you. This is where website optimization comes in! When you optimize your website you’re optimizing it not only for search engines, but for people. You want to offer your visitors the most optimal visiting experience which allows them to easily decipher what your business is about and how to contact you. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but here a list to get you started…

  • Clear website title and description – these items are added into the code of your website and are often termed “meta tags”. These tags should be keyword-rich and will dictate how your website is displayed in search engine results.
  • Clear headlines – Add clear headlines to each page of your website which details what each page or section is about. These headlines (often referred to as header tags in code) should include keywords (which will be discussed in our next SEO basics blog).
  • TEXT, TEXT, TEXT – Search engines read TEXT! Include keyword-rich text on each page of your website that clearly describes what each page is about.
  • Image files – Give each image file on your website a descriptive name. For example, do not name your logo “logo.png” or your home page image “image1.png”. Each of these images should have a keyword-rich name.
  • Easy to find contact information – Your contact information should not be relegated to a page that is hard to find on your website. It is good practice to include a contact page and also include your contact info in the header and footer of your website.
  • Domain name consistency – Be consistent with your domain name. If you’re using “www.example.com”, make sure to redirect “example.com” without the “www” and vice versa. If you don’t use a redirect search engines will see this as two websites.
  • Link to your social media pages – This helps the search engines connect your online entities. Social media marketing is an important component of any SEO strategy and we will talk about this in a future SEO Basics blog.
  • Website speed – Make sure your website is running smoothly and quickly. Search engines do not like websites that load slow or have issues loading.

The above list should provide any website owner with a good foundation to get started. You may need a website administrator or programmer to help you make certain code changes, but most of these changes shouldn’t be too difficult. It is good to remember that ABOVE ALL, search engines like websites that provide great user experiences. In addition to making your website visually appealing, make sure it’s easy to navigate and provides a clear message of the products and services that you’re selling.

In our next installment of this blog series we will discuss Keyword Research and the implementation of keywords in your content. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me, Amy Grishman at amy@socialfocus.com, CEO of www.socialfocus.com.