If you want to ensure your small business website gets found on the major search engines, every page of your website will need to be “optimized” for search. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of designing and laying out a website so that the search engines can crawl through each page easily. If the search engines can’t crawl through the site, they won’t be able to index your pages. There are a number of effective and legitimate SEO techniques that improve the rankings of search engine results pages. This in turn can drive more traffic to your website and help you connect with more customers.
Here are some SEO essentials for your small business website:
Keyword-Rich Content
The keywords and key phrases you use throughout your content are essential for SEO. Keywords and key phrases are the words that most people use to find information when running a basic search on the major search engines. Their queries may include questions or they can just be a string of a few words. Learning what your target customers are searching for can help you create the right type of content and attract more traffic.
Make sure that every page of your site contains relevant keywords and key phrases, and that your pages aren’t “stuffed” with keywords that can be deemed as spam. Have a professional copywriter create customized content that contains relevant keywords so that you have just the right balance and can enjoy the SEO benefits.
Interlinking Pages and Link Placement
Linking text to different pages of your website is another effective way to improve SEO. Interlinking pages not only helps the search engines crawl your site, but also helps the user navigate between different pages as they read through your content. Interlinking keywords and phrases to relevant pages is one of the best ways to make the most of your interlinking strategy.
Another important element of SEO for your website is link placement. It’s important to format your links correctly and use the right coding within the navigation scheme, or the search engine spiders won’t even be able to detect the links when they crawl your pages. Your website coder and designer will work together to ensure your links are viewable and accessible by the search engines.
Popularity
The major search engines do consider the popularity component of a website when indexing pages of your site. The search engines are looking for indications of quality links that are coming in to your site (inbound links) and the types of sites you are linking to (outbound links). Obtaining links from other popular sites in your niche can help to increase your popularity and make you a more credible site in the eyes of the search engines.
Consider investing in a link development program as you set up your small business website, because this approach can help to boost your rankings and ensure your website is deemed to be a credible resource by the major search engines.
Making sure your website is optimized for search will help you attract more traffic and generate leads. Use these tips to ensure your small business website gets crawled and indexed by the major search engines.