SEO Doncaster Guru | 6th September 2012
It’s very easy to look at your website the same way a doting parent looks at its child.
After all, if you’re a new or small business then you’ve probably done your website yourself or been very heavily involved in it.
Therefore, the way it looks, what it says and your brand is probably very personal to you.
However, when you start to think about how your website performs online in the search engine results, what you tell Google about what you do is fundamental and a first step in getting more visibility online.
In this article, we’re not going to talk about conversion i.e. how to make someone do what you want them to do on your website; we’re going to talk about what Google looks at on your page to understand what it is you do and therefore what types of searches it can bring your website back for in its rankings.
Rather than just looking at the overall design of your site, look at it as if you were Google.
Have a look at the following things
Page Titles – You’ll find these in the blue line that runs across the top of your browser window or if you’re using Google Chrome put your mouse of the tab and you’ll see the same. If it’s your Home page, Make sure there is something meaningful that reflects what you want to be found for. If it just says “Home” or “Products” for your product page you’re not telling Google what you do – it knows it’s your Home Page!
Page Descriptions – When you find you listing in the Google search results what do the bottom 2 lines say? Are they nicely formed, using descriptive compelling language and some calls to action? If you haven’t bothered writing these you effectively letting Google put whatever it likes in here!
Page URL’s – This is the URL for the individual page, it should have descriptive keywords, not be filled with numbers and lots of strange symbols like $,& or id=
Headings – This is the main heading on each of your web pages. Ideally these should contain the key phrase you’re optimising each page for, if you don’t have any put some in and on your Home Page try not to have it just say “Welcome to our website”!
Content – It almost goes without saying that each of your pages should have interesting, compelling content that provides value and is different i.e. not cut and pasted from other sites on the web. Make sure it’s not spammy and is something you would like to read.
ALT Tags for images – When you upload images to your website, you’ll be given the option to give them an ALT Tag. This is another level of description and enables your image to appear on a Google Image search. Just a word of warning, don’t be tempted to download a photo straight from your digital camera or smart phone to your PC and then upload it to your website. It will be way too big (makes your web page load slowly) and it will have a file name that means nothing such as IMG_2035
We’ll flesh this out over the coming months to make sure you leave Google in no doubt about what you want to be found for.
