Have you recently made a Google search, read the first few results, and wondered what it takes to make it to that first page? Have you wondered what affects that result rank, or what someone can do to improve your rank? Do you want to know how you can make sure your website makes it to the top of the results list when people searching for ideas or products that your business can provide? The answer is SEO.
SEO—search engine optimization—is the process of increasing the amount of visits to your page through an increase in the quality of your content.
Okay, sounds great… but now you’re wondering just how to increase the quality of your content? Isn’t your content already high-quality? Of course it is—your copy is engaging, your graphics are clean, and once a consumer reaches your page, they are happy—but your SEO rating takes additional factors into consideration.
In other words, if you don’t have a good SEO rating, it doesn’t necessarily mean what you’re posting isn’t great, it just means there are a few things you can improve on the webpage level. Try out these four simple tips, and you should see an immediate SEO rating improvement:
1. Utilize the Meta Description
The meta description is a string of code in your HTML where you can input keywords. When people search for certain related words, your page is more likely to appear.
2. Add alt text to your images
When you upload images to your server, there is typically an option to input “alt text” (alternatively, there is code you can add to the HTML of each image to add alt text). Use this to briefly describe the image, so whenever those words are searched, your page with that image on it has a higher chance of showing before other websites.
3. Optimize your images
Alt text isn’t the only important factor to consider with your images, but making sure they are properly optimized for web is important, too. An easy step to take here is double-checking that the images aren’t too big. If it’s not a background image, make sure the width is set to somewhere around 600px, and that the resolution is 72dpi.
4. Reduce CSS & JavaScript
One thing that can slow down your website load time (and therefore negatively affect your SEO) is having unused CSS & JavaScript. If you are using a platform like WordPress, there are plenty of plugins you can install to help with this. Otherwise, you may have to go through some trial and error of combing through what backend code is and isn’t being used.
Pro Tip: Did you know that 200-4000 hits is the sweet spot for SEO? Any lower no one is seeing you, any higher you get lost in the shuffle.
These aren’t by any means the only things you can do to help your SEO. The truth is, increasing your SEO rating can take time. But the sooner you start implementing healthy SEO tactics, the faster your SEO rating can be built up, and before you know it you’ll be shining at the top of the Google search page!
If you have further questions, or would like to consult with our SEO experts as you improve your SEO rating, please reach out to us!
