There is no point building a website if no one sees your website. Therefore, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is important. Without SEO, your website won’t rank highly in search engines. There are experts that can help you with your SEO but there are also things that you can manage yourself.
SEO for normal people
The purpose of this article is to share with you 11 things that should be part of every SEO checklist. Here they are and a short description of each:
Keyword Research
When people use search engines they type in keyword phrases. It’s important that you use keyword research tools (Google has a free one) to find out what people are searching for and to make sure that these search phrases appear on your website.
Title Tags
Whilst not shown publicly on your web page, within the HTML code are title tags. These are displayed in Google as the title description for your page. A good title tag, related to the content of your page, is great for SEO. They are also important for sharing on sites like Facebook.
Meta Descriptions
Like title tags, Meta Descriptions appear in the HTML code. They are 160 characters that tell search engines what that web page is about. An optimised meta description, containing search terms related to what your clients are searching for, will mean your page will appear highly in the search results.
NAP Information (Name, Address, Phone Number)
Google has a priority for local search. To improve search results for local areas, make sure your business name, address and phone number are shown prominently on your website.
Customers Reviews
Google loves businesses that are popular and well respected. Google also loves fresh content. For this reason, Google loves Customer reviews.
Image Optimization
Google can’t “read” images so you need to have the right HTML tags on your images to ensure that you allow Google to understand what these images are and how they relate to what your site visitors might be looking for.
Anchor Text Optimization
Good Search Engine Optimisation means that the anchor text, the text describing a link to another website, should relate to the website that it is linking to. So, if other sites are linking to your website, you want to make sure they are using text phrases that relate to your website, not just generic keyword phrases.
Mobile Friendliness
Mobile search is everything. More people are using Search Engines on a mobile device than they are on computers. As such, Google is prioritising mobile friendly websites and penalising those that aren’t mobile friendly
Social Profiles
Ranking your social media profiles, and linking to them from your website, means you may be able to fill out more Search results related to your desired results. Make sure you have all your social profiles filled out and update them regularly
Google My Business Page
Google provides you with an amazing free resource through their Google My Business Page. These are important for local search and they are also a useful tool for your business to again appear at the top of search results.
A Good Link Building Strategy
Having other websites link to your website is a great opportunity for you to get better search engine results. There are several link building strategies and tactics – some good and some bad. They’re referred to as either white hat (good) or black hat (bad.)
Here you have an 11-point checklist for SEO. Good luck with implementing them. Here’s to your success!
