As marketers, we know how vital search engine optimization (SEO) is to the success of our business. Don’t leave SEO up to your website developer to accomplish- it’s important for marketers to understand SEO basics as well.
So how do you find out how well your website is doing? One of our favorite tools is websitegrader.com, where you enter your website URL and get a detailed report and score of your website− for free! Here are a few more basic guidelines to accomplish the best search engine optimization for your website:
- Develop effective keywords.
Think about your organization from the customer’s perspective. What terms would they use to search for you? Check out Google’s keyword tool to see what words are being searched most. Once you’ve made a list of descriptive terms, include those words on each page on your website.
- Utilize captions.
When Google scans a webpage, it doesn’t “read” images. Be sure to place descriptive captions relating to your company below and underneath (alt text) each image. The more keywords you employ, the higher Google will rank your website.
- Make sure you are connected.
Link all of your profiles and blogs to your website; connection is key! Linking your blog, Twitter and Facebook to your website is one of the most effective ways to rank yourself higher in search results.
- Educate and update yourself.
SEO is one of the fastest-changing aspects of the internet. With the evolution of search engines, social networks and the way we gather information, SEO tips evolve just as quickly as the internet does. Reading blogs from SEO experts is a great way to stay up-to-date and to educate yourself.
- Use descriptive page titles.
Take the list of keywords that you developed in the first bulleted step, and use these terms and phrases in your page titles. Page titles are part of the metadata of your website, which is the description on each page that a search engine picks up. The more explanatory your page titles are, the higher your website will rank. For example, instead of the page title “Speaking,” use relevant keywords like “Nonprofit Finance Speaking” or “Keynote Speaker on Board Governance.”