May 08, 2019
In honor of Small Business Week, let's talk about some simple tips that any business can follow in order to track and improve their website's search engine optimization (SEO).
Search engine optimization can seem intimidating and overwhelming when you're first starting out. If you have a small marketing team, or if you are the marketing team, you may not believe you have the time or skills needed to make any significant changes to your website's search engine rankings. Thankfully, that's not the case. These five tips can go a long way in getting your business on the right track.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by SEO, websites or any digital marketing topic, contact us today and find out how we can help your business grow.
Evaluating your website and its formatting is a great place to start when beginning your SEO journey. Your website should follow an easy-to-navigate hierarchy, with pages neatly organized and housed in proper locations. Group related pages of content together in order to make navigation for the user (and for search engines) a breeze.
Website formatting also applies to how you present your information on each page. Is there a main header? Is the content easy to read? Are there links in the proper locations that guide the user around your website? Evaluate all of your content and ask yourself those questions. Pretend you're a brand new user who has no knowledge of your business and has never seen your website before. Is it easy to follow and understand?
Did you know that Google uses mobile-first indexing when evaluating websites? This means that the mobile version of your website will be used by Google for indexing and ranking in an effort to better serve users on mobile devices.
Keep this in mind when making any website changes or if you're planning a future website redesign. Consider how all of your content and navigation will look and function on mobile devices even if you're planning a desktop-focused website.
Website speed is a critical component both for user experience and for search engine optimization. Abandonment rates increase for every second a user is asked to wait for a page to load, decreasing conversion rates and potentially harming your brand image. Meanwhile, search engines will rank your website less favorably if users are asked to sit around and wait while the page fully loads.
When evaluating your website's speed, take a look at your images first to see if any large files might be slowing things down. Optimize and compress your images so that they load as quickly as possible. Remember: Search engines love a speedy website.
High-quality content is a search engine's best friend. While you may have optimized all of your website pages to deliver clear and concise information loaded with strong keywords, you may want to place a larger emphasis on your company's news or blog section. Consider writing up news or blog stories that answer some of the most common questions asked about your business or industry. Users searching for answers may find your entry, view you as an expert on the topic and become familiar with your business.
However, this doesn't meaning churning out tons of low-effort blog posts. Quality trumps quantity.
The work isn't over after you've published a new post or made some website changes. Make sure you're checking in on your website, evaluating key metrics (traffic, conversions, search rankings) and making any additional changes based on the results you find. Adopt what works on other pages or in future news / blog posts. By the same token, find out what didn't work and try to find out why it didn't work.
Does all of this SEO talk feel a bit overwhelming? Relax! VIVIDSITES can assist with any website or digital marketing project for any business. Contact us today and find out how we can help.
