Let’s Talk About SEO
One of the first things I hear as a Web Designers is… “What about SEO?” So we wanted to share some of our thoughts on SEO.
SEO is a not a magical unicorn - it’s a strategy, an ongoing, consistent strategy not a one and done. It’s not platform specific, but your platform can impact your SEO… but not in the way you may think.
Google wants happy searchers, not people just trying to be “good” at SEO or find ways to game the system. Think about what your dream clients are searching, what are they typing when they open Google? That’s the information you want to provide. When thinking about SEO, content is king, creating compelling content that is up to date, relevant, easy to navigate, and well designed leads to lower bounce rates, better engagement & more traffic. Most importantly, it equals more happy customers!
Not all web traffic is the same. All of the web traffic in the world from people who aren't your ideal clients is not valuable. Haphazard Key wording or "Clickbait" titles that don’t provide quality, relevant information is a waste of time & $$$… ask the thousands of creators who have a following but can't convert that into sales. The whole goal of SEO is not just to get more eyeballs on your website… it’s to get the right eyeballs on your website, to answer the questions your clients and customers are asking so when they land on your site they connect, engage and convert.
What about going viral? Generating a spike in traffic to a page that is slow, hard to navigate, and/or doesn't drive users to the action you want them to take (i.e. buy, subscribe, sign-up, join, book, etc...) is not an effective strategy. Massive page traffic with no desired action taken = no value. Part of your SEO strategy includes having a website that is well designed and guides your ideal client and customer.
Why your website platform matters... but not in the way you may think. I’ve heard so many SEO myths about Wordpress vs Squarespace and how bad Squaresace is for SEO. But SEO isn’t platform specific. Google doesn’t care what platform you’re on, you can rank on any platform. But platform does matter if you’re on a platform that is
Hard to update your content,
Back-end is confusing & overly technical,
You're always fighting plug-in updates,
You have to hire a "web person" to fix it,
You don’t update or maintain your content because it’s frustrating or you’re afraid to break something
Which leads you to just avoid it, which in the end, is bad for your SEO. A good website inspires you to create & makes it easier, not more mysterious to update your content. Usability matters!
So where do we go from here… Here are some best practices and SEO steps we can take.
Don’t get caught up chasing fads, hacks, going viral, or the one thing you don't know how to do well. Focus on creating high quality, useful content. Search for keywords that your dream client and customer are searching and create content that answers their questions.
Go through an onsite SEO checklist to set yourself up for success. Make sure you’ve included ALT tags, resized your images, use heading tags properly, add meta descriptions and SEO titles, check accessibility, load speed, and mobile responsiveness.
Check backlinks. Having backlinks to your website is one of the most important things you can do. You can also set up your site with a blog and link to pages within your site.
Build & design a website that’s easy to navigate, has a clear customer journey, takes into account UX/UI strategy and design, makes it easy for your site visitors to find the information they want and need quickly and easily. It’s not just about getting people to your site, it’s about once they’re their getting them to engage and take action / buy.
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