You’ve heard the term SEO tossed around, and you probably understand its importance — but what does it really mean for your business? How can it help you increase your digital presence?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process that determines the visibility of your website in a web search engine’s unpaid results. Type “coffee” into your preferred search engine and you’re likely to see a list of nearby coffeehouses and maybe a few trending articles about coffee.
The first few unpaid articles that appear have strong SEO. They appear at the top of your results, indicating their popularity and quality content. Now, a long list of other factors affect SEO like link building, relevancy and social media marketing. But, if you’re looking for a few quick ways to boost your SEO without using an outside company, here are our best solutions:
1. Focus more on content, less on optimization
Adding value to your website is the number one way to get more visitors. If visitors realize the value of your content, they’ll keep coming back for more. If your website is lacking strong content, take some time to reevaluate your messaging. What are you selling, and how does it solve your customers’ problems? Start with the foundation of your service, then build up content from there. Once your “why” is established, consider launching a blog that addresses question your customers often ask. The goal of your blog should always be to enhance the lives of your visitors.
2. Fix any broken links
This is an easy one. Take a moment and browse through your website’s links. If you have any broken links, fix these right away. This will minimize the amount of error pages associated with your website. If the link is no longer in use, take it out altogether. Cleaning up any “clutter” on your website is key in creating a cleaner, easier user experience (and stronger SEO).
3. Update your images
Remove any outdated images on your website regularly, and replace them with high-quality photos. If your website showcases you, the owner, then consider getting professional photos made. If you use a lot of stock photos, make sure you’re pulling these from a credible source. Some of our favorite websites to get high-res, free images are Pexels and Pixabay. If you frequently need photos, however, it might be worth investing in paid images. Adobe Stock and Creative Market have great selections of high-quality images.
4. Add meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are the 160 character snippets used to summarize a webpage’s content. If you use WordPress, the meta description field is usually located under the content field. Search engines sometimes use the meta description in search results to let visitors know what a page is about before they click on it. The best way to learn how to write good meta descriptions is by checking out how they look on search engines. Search a topic, then look at the description that appears beneath the title on the results page. Your meta description should provide a short summary about what you want to tell your readers. Think short, and concise when it comes to writing a strong meta description.