SEO, What?
People often ask me questions about their websites and how they could do better. I usually first ask about their SEO and they look at me crossed eyed. SEO, what is that? SEO or Search Engine Optimization is how search engines like google and Bing rank you in their searches. So if you are a chocolate company in Santa Fe and I type in google santa fe chocolate you should come up. SEO is what search engines use to determine if your website it what a person is looking for.
Google and Bing are constantly changing how they rate sites because in the past junk websites will learn how ranking was done and fill their sites with coding and words just to come up first even if their sites were not relevant to your search. They now try to make sure that sites are not spamming, but good quality sites and rank those the best. Well, that is the idea, although it is not full proof.
A few things to think about with SEO. First it is easier to build SEO into your site from the beginning rather then have to change things later. When you hire someone to build your site make sure they are familiar with SEO techniques or consult a SEO expert.
When building a site:
1. Page names are very important
2. Links should not say <click here>, but the name of the page or item they are linking too <Green chili chocolate>.
3. Have titles on all your pages. You can see this as the info on the tabs when you open a page in internet explorer, firefox, or any browser. This is also how if someone has multiple pages open at once, which one is yours.
4. Be descriptive as possible in your navigation or menu bar.
5. Add a footer at the bottom of all the pages with links that have longer descriptive titles.
6. Have good quality content that talks about what you offer.
7. If you are a local store, make sure to have your location mentioned in multiple places.
8. Claim your google places page and update it.
9. Other websites linking to your site is also very important. Directories do not carry much weight, but other highly ranked sites are best. Are there other local businesses in your area willing to share links?
If you already have a site:
1. Make sure your links do not say <click here>, but the name of the page or item they are linking too.
2. Have titles on all your pages. You can see this as the info on the tabs when you open a page in your browser.
3. Add a footer at the bottom of all the pages with links that have longer descriptive titles.
4. Have good quality content that talks about what you offer.
5. If you are a local store, make sure to have your location mentioned in multiple places.
6. Claim your google places page and update it.
7. Other websites linking to your site is also very important. Directories do not carry much weight, but other highly ranked sites are best. Are there other local businesses in your area willing to share links? Create a links page and offer to link to them if they link to you. Only partner with businesses that you trust. You do not want to recommend one of your customers to a bad business, it will look poorly on you.
Time is very important. Once you make these changes it could be a while until your site ranking is affected. It is important to be patient. Also connect your site to google analytics, so that you can monitor how your site visits are changing.
Google Analytics? It is easy to install, and I will review it next time.
SEO is important for every website and it is important to understand the basics. I hope this helps just a little so that the term SEO is not so intimidating or foreign. If you have the time it can be done or there are many SEO experts out there. Make sure if you do hire one that have a good reputation. Many will make promises to get you to page 1 within 30 days, they are lying.