To compete in today’s market your small business needs to develop a strong digital marketing strategy. It is your strategy that will place your business on top of Google’s search algorithm.
When budgeting for your website you need to make sure that you include a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) package. In this blog, I will share 10 do-it-yourself SEO tips. These tips can be implemented by you or your webmaster. Before you begin updating your SEO, see your website like a search engine sees it by using seo-browser.com (http://seo-browser.com).
Enclosed are my top 10 SEO tips:
1. If you happen to find a duplicate copy of your website online (example.com and www.example.com) you will need to redirect one of them. In order to specify your preferred domain - I prefer keeping the www - you will need to write a 301 redirect and update your website’s .htacess file.
Example: 301 Redirect Code
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^website.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.website.com/$1 [R=301,L]
2. Set up your website’s Google Webmaster account. First assign your preferred domain then
upload your website’s XML Sitemap (http://www.xml-sitemaps.com).
2b. Create a Google+ business page. Once you create your page, link your Google+
page to your website via the code provided.
Example:
<meta name="google-site-verification"
content="Google+ Code Example" />
3. Think of your top 3 search key phrases. Use Google AdWords to identify your top
search phrases. It is best practice to
write out your company’s SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats) analysis and identify your unique selling proposition.
4. Once you determine your top 3 search key phrases. Pick 1 website per search phrase (3 in total)
that you would like to compete against.
5. Update your site’s metadata. Metadata is used to describe your website’s
content. Google uses this data when
adding pages to their search index.
Example: Metadata
<title>Insert Title Here</title>
<meta name="description" content=" Insert
description here" />
<meta name="keywords" content=" Insert
keywords here" />
<meta name="Copyright" content="Insert
copyright here"/>
<meta name="Author" content="Insert author
here" />
<meta name="Publisher" content="Insert
publisher here" />
<meta name="Owner" content=" Insert owner
here" />
<meta name="Robots" content="Insert robots
here" />
<meta name="googlebot" content="Insert
googlebot here" />
<meta name="Distribution" content="Insert
distribution here" />
<meta name="Classification"
content="Insert classification here" />
<meta name="Rating" content="Insert rating
here" />
<meta name="Revisit-After" content="Insert
revisit-after here" />
<meta name="Allow-Search" content="Insert
allow-search here" />
<!—Insert comment here-->
6. Manage your online ranking with an SEO software e.g. SEOmoz. SEOmoz is an
online reporting tool that develops data driven action sets focused on
advancing your SEO.
5 benefits of using SEOmoz:
- Track your website’s ranking
- Find errors and missed opportunities
- Find recommendations for improvements to your website
- Track your competition
- Discover link data and metrics
6b. Monitor your website’s backlinks and develop a strategy
to create targeted link building.
I recommend using Open Site Explorer (http://www.opensiteexplorer.org).
7. Since you run a progressive business, take control of
your local listings by using getlisted.org (http://getlisted.org). This tool
can make the process of claiming business listings on Superpages, Yelp, and
other prominent local search directories more efficient.
8. Set goals and measure your website’s traffic on Google
Analytics. Monitor your:
- Direct Traffic: Determine which URLs are the most popular destination for direct traffic.
- Referral Traffic: Determine which domains are referring the most traffic to your site.
- Search Traffic:
- Organic Keywords: Learn which keywords drive the most visitors to your site.
- Paid Advertisements: Create compelling digital advertisements i.e. AdWords traffic, as well as paid traffic from other advertising platforms.
9. Submit your website to Google
(http://www.google.com/submityourcontent).
Only submit your website if there is a significant change or when your
site has dropped from the search index.
10. Create a social media (Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
content strategy. I will discuss the
importance of social media and content marketing in a later post.
Bonus:
Keep in mind Facebook’s Graph Search. Graph search will revolutionize the way
search is done. Your likes and
recommendations will go a very long way in tomorrow’s search index.
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