There are three main points to consider when thinking about SEO:
- Write useful content
- Try to get as many other websites to link to yours
- Use “meta tags” and “open graph markup” (this one is more geared toward developers)
Point 1: Writing useful content is typically easier, but requires an ongoing commitment. The following types of writing would be considered helpful:
- Writing blog posts on your website
- Continuously adding more testimonials to your website (the more detailed and in-depth, the better)
- Adding a “Frequently Asked Questions” page. When writing the questions and answers for this page, try to write using the terminology that your customers would use when searching Google.
- Adding more detailed case studies – wherein you describe exactly what services were provided.
Adding this type of “useful content” also helps to keep your website alive and fresh.
Long story short: continuously write and add content to your site that appeals to customers.
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Point 2: Getting other websites to link to yours can be difficult – especially in the beginning. But while doing so is unlikely to propel your website to the first page of Google by itself, it is essential to getting Google to notice that you exist at all.
Try to get as many websites as possible to link to yours, and to do so using descriptive wording.
— Jarrod Freeman
Search engines work sort of like blind dates – we connect to our blind date thru a friend that we already know, and the opinion of certain friends is weighted more highly than others. Similarly, search engines find new websites by following the links on the websites they’re already aware of (the more prominent the website/web page, the better). So if, say, the Times Free Press links from their homepage directly to your website, Google assumes that your website must also be pretty important (since Times Free Press is already very prominent and they’re linking from their homepage).
Back to the “blind date” analogy, the wording used to describe the unknown person is important as well, right? Search engines work in a similar way. So in our previous example, if the Times Free Press links to your website from their homepage and uses specific words to describe your business, Google is not only aware that your site exists, but it now knows that your website is somehow related to those keywords that describe your business.
Long story short: try to get as many websites as possible to link to yours, and to do so using descriptive wording. “Your Business Name” is less descriptive than the keywords that describe your business in this case, but either way is helpful. Also, be aware that links from some social media sites will actually be viewed as less important than links from normal websites and/or related companies (the reason why is because a link from Website A to Website B suggests to Google that the two may be related in some way).
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Point 3: Use meta tags and Open Graph Markup on each page. This is specifically important for developers.
The last attribute of effective SEO is done on the backend – usually by the person(s) who maintain the website.
While the other SEO actions should be sustained over time, the following steps are typically more of a one-and-done type of action (for each page or blog post on a website). These actions include:
1) Use meta tags for EACH page within your site. This means creating titles and descriptions to provide extra details about your website beyond what is visible on a web page. In the case of “title” and “description” meta tags, search engines use those to get a quick understanding of what a particular web page is about. Search engines will also use the “title” meta tags of web pages when showing those web pages in search results. The “description” meta tag is frequently used as well (under the title in search results).
2) Make the meta tags relevant and appropriate for your site and the specific page. The title and description tags for each web page should essentially function as short summaries of each page’s content.
3) Make sure that Open Graph Markup is being used. Open Graph Markup works similar to meta tags, only, in this case, the tags/markup is used to inform other websites (like Facebook or Twitter) about your site, rather than search engines. The reason for this is twofold:
- Websites like Facebook and Twitter have their own internal search engines so that their users can find relevant content to share and follow.
- It helps the actual users of these services. Pasting a URL (website address) into the status box on Facebook, for example, will automatically prompt Facebook to scan that URL so that more detailed information will be seen by other Facebook users (rather than merely the URL alone). When Facebook scans a website, Facebook will first look to see if any Open Graph Markup has been added, because this data will be in a format that is easily understood by their service.
Hope you find this information helpful. I just want to say “Thanks” to my husband, Jarrod Freeman, who took the time to write this in-depth article. As always, feel free to shoot me an email or contact me via my contact form if you have any questions.
