Boosting Your Website SEO - Basics

SEO: Search Engine Optimization - affecting your ranking on Google search.

Most business owners contact me because they have heard something, somewhere, from some friend with advice that they also heard from a third party... and some of it is dated.

Before starting any conversation with clients, I want them to understand SEO and the types of SEO, whether on-page or off-page, technical or local. If you're already confused, start with the SEO basics > here's a blog on that.

My first steps are to make sure the website meets Google's minimum standards for structure, compliance, functionality, and accessibility—aka, have we dotted the i's and crossed the t's? I will run the website through an online tool that will detect any deficiencies in the website structure and/or outstanding errors.

Some of the most common errors preventing strong SEO:

Multiple H1 tags - these are headings, and like a book title, there should only be 1 per page, but often, because people want strong headers, they use the same H1 multiple times on a website.

Missing Image Alt Tags: Have you ever searched for an image on Google and got images? They are found because someone ensured there were descriptive alt tags to tell Google (and for accessibility reasons) what the image is about. These small things indicate the website has been properly built with care.

Connecting your website to Google: Yes, Google will find your website, but it's a good idea to go further and build in Google Analytics. This takes a moment to set up at Google and then requires pasting code into your website's header. The information gathered can provide incredible key insights into how visitors on your website behave, what interests them, and perhaps where some of the sticky points are.

Site structure: If you want Google to crawl your website, it cannot look like a mess to Google. Keep site structure in mind, starting with a proper heading and paragraph text structure. In the back end, ensure your Title is completed (keeping in mind character maximums), the reference keywords are placed (with corresponding reference on page). You should include essential and expected content in your header and footer, ensure image alt tags are complete, and ensure all links function.

Accessibility: While this is not a starter SEO point, it should be. Creating an accessible website means ensuring aspects are easier for those using guides and assistance to navigate due to visibility challenges.

These are the basics, and should be kept in mind as you build a website, aka the mimumum that your website should have.

If you need help with your SEO, lets chat!

Julie Boake

awedity creative