Along with designing your new website, we must also optimize your website for search engine readiness. As we develop each page, the programmer optimizes the site by adding meta language into the html source code. This code is found in the backend of the site.
Most consumers use organic search methods to find goods and services. Organic search engine optimization refers to methods used by programmers to obtain a high placement (or ranking) on a search engine. These organic listings show up in the unpaid, algorithm-driven section in a specific search engine.
To be listed in the search results, the search engine bots also need to know where your business is located and what you offer. To cover this, we add meta language in the form of long-tail keywords to the html source code. This programming technique is just as important as the overall look of the website. At launch, we submit the site to be scanned and reviewed by search engines. Those sites who are not properly optimized will be overlooked for top listings.
Adding search engine-friendly content to the landing page:
Another form of optimizing the site is to add informative text on the landing page and adding the business address in the footer area. Most developers agree that the home page content should be about 300 words maximum. Part of this content should be in bullet-form which is easy to read quickly and is the suggested technique for best results. Adding the business address in the site footer area is also a great way to optimize the website. This allows users to see immediately where the business is located. and helps search engine bots identify your location. A step further may be to have the business add a link to the Google maps online.
Advertising many areas of service:
Some clients want to know the best way to list their many service areas. The best way to handle this in our opinion would be to have the staff blogger create an individual blog post representing each geographical service area. This effort by the blogger would go a long way to improve search engine results for specific businesses. This technique will also allow you to avoid having numerous pages on the site menu. The blog page can cover a plethora of company information which does not clutter up the initial pages listed in the menu.
How important is blogging as compared to other media?
Most businesses now know it is important to hire a professional writer for best search engine results. Search engines list trending news topics and if your website provides this content, you will receive the best results. Blogging is now above other media techniques such as Facebook and YouTube videos. Adding regular new content is still king and we cannot express this enough. The challenge to stay competitive in 2017 is a daunting task and without new information discussed on the site it is hard to compete with top authority sites. According to a popular survey, a majority of top websites don’t produce a great deal of content outside of blogs.
Referencing images by tagging them with keywords:
When we add images to websites, we always tag the image using a popular term which would be searched for. Adding images from local places is suggested to capture traffic looking for local services. Some folks search using the Google Photo Search and if your images are labeled correctly, this will help people reach your website.
Submitting your site to search engines:
As we finish the site design and launch the finished website, we always submit the site (once) to search engines. We use our own software to do this. Even though the search engine bots are savvy and know when something new has been added to the internet, it is still a good idea to submit the site as we launch the site. This will allow the search engines to replace any old information with new information on the website. This is extremely important for re-design projects. Older websites have been online for some time. Search engines already have the old information from these sites. Submitting the re-designed site will provide the search engines with new information. The newly re-designed site will no doubt offer updated information which will improve the SEO results.
After the new site is launched, we are suggesting that businesses can also manually submit their sites to local directories. They can also create links to resources such as Angie’s List, the Yellow Pages, etc. Any and all avenues should not be overlooked. The business owner’s responsibility after the site is launched is to continue marketing the site.
What others say about your business:
Last but certainly not least, testimonials are another resource which will build trust and raise the level of any brand. We know by experience that all happy letters from clients are read and evaluated. Many folks choose a product or service based upon these good recommendations. There is no better way to judge a business than to read what others say.
I enjoy sharing my SEO views with you and hope you will hurry back for more website optimization news and views.
Jean Holland-Rose
Chief Creative Officer & SEO Professional
