Ever wonder how people make it to the first page of Google? It’s because their website is “delicious.” What does that mean exactly? It means that a website has all of the delectable content, images, structure with the backend and frontend topped with all the mouth-watering fixings. This Las Vegas SEO company offers some of the basics to help your business succeed online.
Picture your website like a burger. How do you optimize that burger? You make sure the burger is cooked correctly. You have a fresh bun. You add pepper jack cheese, fresh romaine lettuce, bacon, blue cheese, arugula, tomatoes, red onion… awe geez. Nomnomnomnom. You get the idea. SEO is making your burger-er-site-delicious to search engines like Google.
What is SEO really?
More specifically (and technically), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page’s organic rankings in the search engines. Organic rankings are unpaid results found in major search engines (such as Google, Yahoo or Bing). The idea behind SEO is that the more frequently a website appears in the search results for a particular search query, the more likely consumers (pun intended) will click on that website and can then be converted into customers.
Why does a website need SEO?
When searching for anything online, people typically type their search query to one of the major commercial search engines (like Google) and select one of the results that pop up on the first page. Will your website be one of those first 10 results for a search query related to your business? If not, SEO can be used to improve your website’s rankings and hopefully land you on the first page of Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Why does this matter? Well… When is the last time you ventured to the second or third page of Google to find what you are looking for? Search engines and your business are hungry.
Why can’t search engines figure it out without SEO?
Google is smart, but it doesn’t know everything (yet). Major search engines have complicated algorithms and are always working to improve their technology to return the best results to its users—the most “delicious” results. In such a competitive space, the companies who practice good SEO will have a huge advantage over companies that do not.
Can I do SEO alone?
SEO is a complex system in an ever-evolving industry, where best practices and industry standards change often. However, most people can grasp basic SEO standards with a little practice. Even a little bit of knowledge can make a big difference in the world of SEO. But if you can’t take the time to learn the basics or need a more complex SEO strategy for your website, calling in the chefs of the web might be the best idea. This is where SEO companies, like Post Launch in Las Vegas, will come in handy.
The Best Time to Call in an SEO Company
- Your website is not on the first page of Google and you want it to be.
- You do not have the time to apply basic SEO best practices to your website.
- Your website has many pages and/or technical errors.
- Your business is in a competitive online industry (such as law or real estate).
Just like good SEO practices can help your website move up in ranking, poor SEO practices can punish your website and push it down the ranks.
SEO Best Practices – The Basics
Strap on your apron. Let’s get our hands dirty with some local SEO tips for the busy business owner.
Keyword research
Good SEO practices begin with knowing what your customers are typing into Google when they search for your type of business. Your keywords should be reflective of what your audience is searching for. Use these keywords throughout your website so Google can index your site accordingly.
Create unique and accurate page titles
Each website page should have a unique and accurate page title, reflective of the original (not duplicated) content on the page. The title tag informs both search engines and users the page topic. Best practices are to use brief, but descriptive titles.
Use good URL structure
Many times the page title will be used in the URL, so the page title will show up in the search results as the website’s URL. Sometimes, when creating a new website page, the URL will not automatically populate with the page title. These are times you should manually type in the URL structure to be reflective of the page title.
– Good URL Structure:
https://postlaunch.co/blog/Summer-School-SEO/
– Bad URL Structure:
What to learn more about the fascinating world of SEO and links? Read about dofollow and nofollow links.
Fill in the “description,” aka meta tag
The meta tag description is simply the summary of a particular page. This summary appears just below each result in the search engines, and also helps search engines (and consumers!) get a clearer idea of what the page is really about. Meta tags are the appetizers of the SEO world.
Create quality content
Google appreciates quality content, and they’ve gotten really good at ranking websites according to the quality of the content for users. Each page you create should have a minimum of 250 words, to properly describe what that web page is all about. If you think users won’t want to read 250 words describing your services, then write it for Google. Optimize the content with keywords, break up large blocks of text with images and headers and spend a little time making the page look good. Users may not notice everything, but Google certainly will.
Tips from Google on writing good content for SEO value:
- Stay organized and on topic.
- Create fresh and unique content (do not plagiarize other websites – Google will notice and punish your website).
- Write easy-to-read text (you do not have to be a professional writer to get your point across).
- Create content for your users, optimize content for search engines (do not lose sight of your main audience – the users).
Add links
Good SEO practices include using internal links to other pages on your website and anchored links to outside sources. This is the perfect time to make sure you are not plagiarizing other’s work by ensuring you are linking to them in your content. This should always include linking back to your homepage and the category page of your website (if applicable).
Add images
Standard SEO best practices include populating your web pages with images, including a “featured image” as that web page’s main image. The image should include a description that accurately describes what the picture looks like because, as smart as Google is, it cannot see images – it can only read the image description. So help it out and provide a description with some relevant keywords.
What are you waiting for? Get started on your SEO.
Begin your SEO work by applying these best practices to each and every page on your website. Commence the SEO journey with keyword research and then start using these keywords strategically throughout your website. Add content to reach that 250 word minimum on each page. Ensure each page has a well structured URL, a good title and a complete meta tag description.
If you need assistance learning SEO for your company or getting your website’s SEO up to par, contact Post Launch (a Las Vegas SEO company) anytime. We will be happy to…
- Analyze your website’s SEO performance and problems
- Run your website through our in-house SEO site auditor
- Advise on the best practices to get your website ranking
- Provide services to improve your website’s SEO
You’ve launched your website? Great job! Now it’s time to blast off.
