Making SEO improvements on your website can sometimes be overwhelming. There are so many components that affect SEO it can be difficult to know where to start, and business owners are often limited in time to focus on SEO. Below you will find 5 items to begin with to help you get started with SEO.
1. Meta Data Basics
Every page of your website should have these 3 meta data basics: H1 Header, Meta Description, and a clear Focus Keyword.
H1 Header
Each page needs an H1 and it should contain the focus keyword for the page. Think of it as the page title (which it often functions as). The most important thing about an H1 is that there is only one per page.
Meta Description
A successful meta description should tell both human and search-bot visitors what to expect when they click on each page of your website. It should also contain the focus keyword for the page.
Focus Keyword
A focus keyword should be unique per page and be what the page is about. It should be what you expect people to type in a search while looking for the type of service, items, or content found on the page.
How to Find the H1 and Meta Description on Your Website Pages
Step 1. Navigate to the page you want to check. While on the page, right click with the mouse. A box will pop up, click View Page Source.
Step 2. Press control button f, (ctrl+f) to cause a search box to pop up. In the search box type the phrase: meta property. All meta areas will highlight.
Step 3. You will now be able to review the title and description for your page without needing to login to your website.
2. Know Your Word Count
The look, ease-of-use, and content of a website engages and encourages conversions for human visitors, but Google’s web crawlers are more interested in the code. And within that code is the content for your website. Of course, the quality and relevance of the content will attract visitors, but the amount of content will help to determine how long a visitor stays on your site. And the longer they stay, the better your opportunity for increased SEO.
You may think Google must have an answer for how many words should be on a page, but unfortunately, they do not. At the bare minimum we suggest 350 words, but if you are looking to fully invest in on-page SEO try shooting for 1,000 words per page.
Of course, content amount will also vary by page. A good starting point is to review your page content and ask yourself the following:
- Does the amount of content successfully achieve my goals for this page?
- Is my content clear?
- Am I leaving “unanswered questions?”
- Do my competitors have significantly more content on comparable pages?
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3. Encourage Others to Link to Your Site
It’s a simple truth – the more sites that link to your site, the more opportunity it has to rank higher on Google searches. Of course, you will need to have the right websites linking to your site. Creating original content is one way to address this, another is encouraging others to link to you site. And no, we’re not talking paid back-linking schemes.
Think about why someone would offer to link to their site from yours:
- You have worked with them in the past and can offer a testimonial
- You contribute content to their website via writing, images, interview, product, or as a resource
- Your on-page content is original, and you are an expert in your field, encouraging others to rely on you as a content source
4. Keep Your Website Updated
When was the last time you updated your website? Did you know that a key part to successful SEO is achieved by keeping your website updated with new content? When something new happens in your industry or business, a new product hits the market, or your company is featured on the news, supporting a great cause, or hosting an event – be sure to update your site with that fresh content.
And there’s more than one type of update.
Updating your site with new content is key to SEO, but updating your site’s components is just as essential to search engine optimization. Outdated software versions can cause your site to function improperly, which can cause people to leave your site prematurely, which can start to work against any SEO improvements you are making.
Find out if your website is up-to-date and ready to be an SEO force! Contact us today to learn more.
5. Check Load Speed & Responsive Design
SEO is multifaceted, and one facet is the length that visitors stay on your website. The longer they stay the better. However, if your site takes a long time to load, or if it looks strange on phones, don’t expect people to stick around. Shoot for around a 3s page load speed for critical pages such as the homepage or any page that paid advertising leads to.
Check out Our 2 Favorite website optimization performance sites:
Google Page Speed Insights – All roads lead to Google, so it’s important to see how Google sees you
GT Metrix – This is our favorite source for accurate insights and suggestions
A website that functions properly has the best opportunity to turn website visitors into customers. Achieving website functionality is crucial to your online business success. It is a large umbrella under which many aspects of web design and development fall.
- Fast Site Load Speed
- Successful Link Building On and Off Site
- Intuitive Navigation
- Webforms that Work
Responsive Web Design means that your website will look good no matter what type of device it is being viewed on. When Google looks at your website it looks at the mobile version. Which means if your website was not built with mobile responsive design you could be dropping search engine rank right now.
