Search Engine Optimization. SEO. How your website ranks. Crawling your site.
Does this sound a bit like a foreign language? It does to me too, to be perfectly honest. But I know that being considerate of SEO is important, as it really can improve your website performance. However, it’s best to keep in mind that SEO is not perfect, and that SEO best practices don’t need to be complicated; simple, thoughtful actions can make a big difference.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is a collection of methods that will help make the content on your website discoverable, increasing organic traffic to your site.
- When your website content is relevant to searched topics, it becomes “discoverable;” when it is easily discovered by search engines and thereby the people searching, your content can become popular in search results.
- This boosts awareness of your brand, which results in leads, sales and other conversions.
But what is SEO really?
It’s content. SEO is content and how well it’s displayed because content reigns Queen in the digital world.
This means your content needs to be relevant, it needs to be clear and easy to understand, and it needs to be unique in such a way that the text and images you have on every page have a purpose.
Relevance: Your content needs to be relevant to the topic at hand, whether that’s your products, services, mission and values, etc. And to remain relevant, your content must stay up-to-date. This means getting rid of outdated content when it no longer applies to your brand or your audiences, and adding fresh content as needed and necessary.
Clear & Accessible: This is for search engines and for your readers. Search engines have to be able to find what they are looking for so they can show it to the people searching for it. Your content should be cleanly written, without arbitrary keywords or keyword stuffing*. It should also be intentional and even direct. I have a big love for flowery language, but that’s typically not what your website audience is looking for – unless you want them to purchase your newest volume of cowboy poetry.
*Keyword stuffing means loading your website content with the keywords your audiences use to search for information in your industry, regardless of whether they fit into the context of the content topics, with the hope that search engines will consider your website the most relevant because of how many keywords it contains. It doesn’t make for quality content, it’s not enjoyable for your website visitors to read, and it’s gross so (please) don’t do it.
Do pictures count as optimization?
They can! But you need to give them some context. A search engine won’t crawl a static image on a webpage unless it has a relevant title and/or alt text (alternative text) to describe what it is. This is what search engines read, as well as what screen readers use to describe images that users cannot see. It can also appear on the page if the image doesn’t load.
Plan of Action
Did I write this article about SEO best practices just so Google would crawl Linden Marketing’s website to show SEO beginners some easy ways to get started with their SEO efforts? Nope. But does it hurt? Also nope. (Did you recognize how many words in that first sentence are good keywords for this topic? 👏🏻 )Â
With genuine concern for your website content being discoverable by the audiences who need it, here are some simple things you can do to discover where your SEO updates should begin.
First Things First
Something we all need to do, in life and in websites, is get to know ourselves. So ask:
What are my goals for using my website to communicate with my audience?
How do I want people to land on my website?
What should visitors find when they get there?
What are the primary words or subjects I think people will use to search for what my website can provide them?
Is my website currently in good shape? Is the structure clean and accessible? Do the images have clear tags? Do the pages load quickly?
Competitor analysis time. And while I am dynamically opposed to comparing yourself to others as a general rule, it is beneficial to see what your competitors are up to.
Make a list of competitor websites you are going to search. It doesn’t need to be a long list, but three is a good minimum.
Now pretend you have no idea that these organizations actually exist. Open your favorite search engine. Then use the words and phrases you think your audience would use to land on your website and see if a) this happens and b) if your competitors pop up.
It is also beneficial to have someone outside of your organization go through this step. They are likely to have a different perspective on what words and phrases to use to search for your products or services.
Keep track of the words that are effective for bringing searches to your website, and the words that do not. Do these bring you to competitor websites? Note that, too.
Click around on your competitors’ sites a little, particularly if they turn up in search results, and especially if they are high up on the search page. Does anything stand out to you about their content? How are they using your industry’s language? Hover over some of the images on their website; are they titled or is there alt text?
Your Google Business Profile
This is website content, too! Often, when your specific brand or organization is searched for, the Google Business profile and Maps will come up first. It’s important to make sure this is updated:
- Address and phone number are correct
- Business hours are up to date
- Photos are current
You are in control of this business listing, so choose some images you want displayed, write a clear – and brief – description of who you are and what you do, and respond to your reviews.
Don’t Forget These
Before you roll your eyes at me! I know these are foundational SEO strategies that have been around a while, and that you likely already have them in place. But, being foundational, they are worth repeating.
Make sure to install an SSL certificate on your website, which helps keep user data secure. Having this on your site also shows your visitors that using your website is safe, and it lets search engines know your site is secure. When a search engine thinks a website is not secure, it may show the user a pop-up warning instead of taking them directly to your site. This deters website traffic and it’s not great for public perception.
Your site speed is a big deal. No one wants to sit around and wait for a page to load, so make sure your website pages load within three seconds on desktop and within eight seconds on mobile. But faster is better.
Prioritize mobile! Your website doesn’t look the same on your laptop as it does on your phone. And more and more people are using their mobile devices to search and engage with websites. (Check your Google Analytics and see how many people have come to your website through mobile versus desktop in the past six months – I’ll bet you a coffee that phones > computers.) So while you are making content updates to your site, give the mobile iteration some thoughtful attention.
You can make search engines work for you and bring visitors to your website by playing the SEO game. But, you have to give them something to work with. Remember that SEO is actually content, and clear, approachable, relevant content is what your audiences are looking for.
Alison Quinn
Creativity, strategy and sparkles: our Creative Director's Big 3. Alison is a self-professed word nerd and lover of marketing that makes you go "whoa!"