Search engine optimization and how it can help boost your website ranking
“What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?”
“Why do I need it?”
“How can I begin implementing it?”
These may be some questions that come to mind when you see the term: Search Engine Optimization. It presents as a very technical term, one which seems like it’d only be useful to someone who works in I.T.
The truth of the matter is, SEO isn’t as complicated as you may think! And, you can even begin taking small steps to implement it on your own site, as well!
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is defined by Google as simply “the process of making your site better for search engines.” By using SEO throughout your website, you will improve your website’s ranking and improve exposure by allowing Google, and other search engines (such as Bing and Yahoo!), to see the content you offer, advertise, and promote. As a result, your webpages and website will gain more traction and move up in position on the search results page, increasing the chances of it being seen by viewers!
How keywords can help improve your SEO
Let’s face it… if you’re spending hours of time maintaining your website, creating new content, you want your content to be seen! While your copywriting work — the text you type out in blogs and webpages — is the first helping hand in optimizing your website, you want to nurture it by putting in a bit of extra work to get search engines more familiar with what you’re putting out.
Some important aspects of SEO work involves the use of keywords — words and phrases that are commonly searched by potential website visitors. These keywords are going to relate to the content you discuss on your website, as well as your services/products.
For example: say you are a freelance wedding photographer in the Maryland area and you are writing a blog on different venues you recommend. Some of your prospective and current clients may find you through Google by typing in “local wedding photographer” or “wedding photographer in Maryland.”
Keywords are a way to predict what your future client with search to help increase the likelihood that they will come across your services and your website — hopefully resulting in you gaining a new client!
In the example I provided above, you can see that including your location can play a helping hand in creating keywords. If you’re a Maryland-based business, for example, that is located in Baltimore, Maryland, you’ll want to include “Baltimore, MD,” “Towson, MD,” “Columbia, MD,” and other locally known counties and cities to pinpoint the location of your ideal clients searching for services/products like yours. This also helps Google learn where your business is located and improve rankings.
One of my favorite resources for thinking of keywords is Answer the Public, which is both a free and paid for service that shows you what other people are searching for on Google. Just type in your industry or the services you offer, and it’ll show you how people are searching for it and what questions they’re looking for answers for. This can be really helpful when trying to think of a blog topic, webpage content, and social media content.
TLDR?
Identify your job and your services (ex: wedding photographer, photography)
Do a quick search of common inquiries on Answer the Public
Collect a list of 15-20 keywords and phrases
Be sure to include location tags to pinpoint the location of your ideal clients
Using your keywords to your advantage: metatitles, metadescriptions, image captions, and filenames
You’re probably wondering where these keywords are going to go. Once you have 15-20 solid keywords, you’re going to want to use them consistently and throughout your website. The more consistent you are with your keyword use, the more reliable Google is going to perceive your website to be for this particular content.
Depending upon the website host you use (Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress), there are a few ways you can input your keywords across your site.
Metatitles - this is the title of the webpage/website that will be displayed on a search engine’s result page
Metatitles should be kept short, sweet, and to the point
Opt for less than 50 characters, otherwise your title may be clipped on Google
Make it concise, and allow it to be clear to viewers what they’ll be reading about
If you are creating a landing page or service page, include the location of your business to increase search results for other local clients
Metadescriptions - this is the descriptor that is associated with the meta title, and often describes the content the searcher can find on the webpage
Keep these below 140 characters
Include relevant keywords based on the content on your webpage
Do not add in a bunch of irrelevant keywords
Write in complete sentences, and summarize the content/topic on the page
Captions - this is the space underneath an uploaded and embedded image on a website where you can include alt-text or words to describe your image
Depending on your website host, captions have the beauty of being hidden. Unless you want your captions to show up under your images, you can include relevant keywords and opt to have them hidden — they will still show up in your website’s coding and are traceable by Google bots.
Captions can be longer than a metatitle or metadescription
In addition to alt-text, captions are able to be listened to by those who use screen reader software, making it accessibe to those who may be visually impaired. Because of this, captions should be typed in complete sentences and make sense to the listener.
Filenames - this is the title of the image file you upload; often, this appears as “image.jpg” but can be renamed prior to uploading or after uploading
Filenames are another great way to “hide” keywords from viewers
To do this, you can rename your file with 3-4 keywords and phrases when saving to your device (prior to uploading to your website) or by adjusting it after uploading it to your site — it is likely this process could differ based on your website host.
How do you track your SEO ranking?
There are different programs that allow you to track your search engine results. One of the most popular is Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which are both free programs available to you when you sign up with a Gmail account.
Some other options include utilizing analytics provided to you through your website host, which are able to track your website visits, views, and visitor demographics.
Paid programs are also available, including Brightervision.
Hire a professional website consultant to help with website maintenance
If you find the thought of implementing SEO throughout your site to be overwhelming, you’re not alone!
Finding help has never been easier! I’m Madison, and I offer online website maintenance for small business owners both locally — in the Baltimore, MD area — as well as nationally.
I can assist with providing the framework for your website’s SEO to get you started and on the road to better search engine rankings!
Not ready to commit just yet? Know that I offer free 15-minute phone consultations to help you figure out whether or not I may be the right fit for you and your business!
