If you have a small business, creating a website that will attract local customers is essential to growing your business. Well over half of all consumers will do a Web search if they need a local service or product, so if you don’t come up at the top of a search result you are missing a major opportunity to convert a sale. If you’re just starting out in web design, search engine optimization or SEO can be confusing. Here are three tips for how to increase your SEO score and increase the chances that you will show up on the first page of a Google search.
Lots of Content
If your web pages are lacking content, search engines won’t be motivated to send users to your site. You need to have relevant, informative content that consists of at least 500 words per page. Anything less, and the web page may slip down in the page ranking. Add links within the text whenever possible, as this is also a sign to search engines that you are providing good content and directing visitors to other relevant resources. Don’t add filler text, however, as an SEO scan can sometimes pick up on poorly constructed text or content that already exists elsewhere on the Internet.
Targeted Key Words
Key words on your page should relate to your products, business name, or the industry to which you belong. Think about the terms that someone who can find your business useful would use on a search engine, and include them in your page content as naturally as possible. Also add titles and “alt text” to any page images in the form of targeted key words. You can also add key terms to things like video meta descriptions or video descriptions. When the key word density is high enough, search engines will start to see you as a valuable resource in a particular field or industry.
Quality Design
A site must also be easy to navigate. If no internal links exist, or you only have one main page with no sub pages or site map, your SEO will suffer for it. Create an interactive site with an intuitive design, so that you can not only improve your SEO but also make it easy for users to find what they need and be inclined to visit again in the future.
SEO is essential to any business site, but it’s essentially crucial if you have a small business. Local businesses are largely reached via the Internet, so a lackluster site or one that people can’t find will end up decreasing new business. Also make sure to include plenty of contact information on the site. These links and phone numbers will not only allow people to reach out for more personal contact, but they will also increase your SEO. Google, for instance, will scan for a complete phone number when looking into your SEO.
