You may have heard the phrase “Content is King”. I cannot stress the importance of this phrase. One of the basics for optimizing your website is through content. The content of your website is what search engines use in determining the relevance to the search query. The content on your site can be comprised of images, words, and code. Making sure that search engines can read and interpret your content is important.
We are going to start with content for your site as one of the basic components for SEO. The “content” means any of the words used to describe your site and your mission, words included in descriptions and added through blog posts or images. The use of “keywords” that the end user may search for to land on your site is something that you need to include as well. We will be working on that in later articles.
As you develop your website, you need to keep in mind who you are writing for. Your website is not for you or the search engines. The consumer and reader of the site is the end user.
You also want to keep in mind what you want from your website. Perhaps you are looking to convert readers into customers and engage in a sale. Maybe you are offering information. Your content is what will drive the users search results and the conversion that you may be looking for.
As a small business owner, updating and improving your site on a regular basis is critical to success in your search engine optimization goals. If you have a site that is simply a landing page and you have done no updating recently, it probably is not doing very well at bringing in the business. Plus, the search engines probably are not finding a lot of useful information to bring you good rankings in the search results.
So how do you use content to improve your site? Many businesses use blogging as a tool to continue to add fresh content to their site. Updating site pages and adding new ones on a regular basis is also important. Updating descriptions and driving traffic to your site is also needed on a regular basis.
Overall, adding new information and content that the search engine spiders can read and relate to on a regular and continual basis is key to improving your optimization of your website.
Take a look at your website and see how it is performing for you. Where are areas that need improvement? Make a list that you want to start tackling.
If you are thinking about building a website, start thinking about the end user and what you want to accomplish. Make a list of things to include, topics you want addressed, and how you want to reach your audience.
Your lists may grow over time as you start learning more and more about SEO and how to improve your presence on the internet. But always remember that good SEO is a work in progress and there is no such thing as a quick fix.