Are you looking for a way to improve your online presence and reach larger audiences? SEO help for your company website may be exactly what you are looking for. Everyone knows that when working to build your website, having an attractive and user-friendly design is important. However, less people are aware of the importance of utilizing SEO practices in the design of your site. At the end of the day, you can have the best website on the internet but if no one can find you when they do an online query, what’s the point?
What is SEO?
SEO means Search Engine Optimization and is the process used to optimize a website’s technical configuration, content relevance and link popularity so its pages can become easily findable, more relevant and popular towards user search queries, and as a consequence, search engines rank them better.
Search engines recommend SEO efforts that benefit both the user search experience and page’s ranking, by featuring content that fulfills user search needs. This includes the use of relevant keywords in titles, meta descriptions, and headlines (H1), featuring descriptive URLs with keywords rather than strings of numbers, and schema markup to specify the page’s content meaning, among other SEO best practices.
How do search engines work?
Search engines provide results for any search query a user enters. To do so, they survey and “understand” the vast network of websites that make up the web. They run a sophisticated algorithm that determines what results to display for each search query.
Why SEO focuses on Google
To many people, the term “search engine” is synonymous with Google, which has about 92% of the global search engine market. Because Google is the dominant search engine, SEO typically revolves around what works best for Google. It’s useful to have a clear understanding of how Google works and why.
How Can My Small Business Compete Against Big Named Corporations?
Competing against businesses that have multiple locations throughout your state or country can be a difficult task, but it is possible. With enough thoughtful web development, social media marketing, blog posts, and Google Business Listing marketing, your small to medium-sized business does have the ability to outrank nationwide brands. This sort of goal will require time and continued efforts in order to achieve, as nationwide brands have already developed and nurtured a marketing strategy that has led them to grow.
At Houston Small Business Marketing, we keep up with online marketing trends and find new ways to successfully utilize them for your website so you don’t have to. Unfortunately, for many small business owners in Houston that are working in competitive industries, getting ahead of the competition can feel nearly impossible.
By failing to stay on top of the most current online marketing trends, you run the risk of losing business to your competitors who are actively working to market their company online. Do not let a business with an inferior product or service outrank you online. Instead, contact Houston Small Business Marketing today! Our team will work with you every step of the way to ensure your business is standing out online and reaching new customers.
5 SEO Tips for Your Business
- Find the right keywords
Think about the words your clients are likely to use when looking for your products or services on the web. If you’re selling appliances, for example, are your customers more likely to use a formal word like refrigerator or a slang word like fridge?
Make a list of 20 to 50 keywords, then go on Google Ads. Once you have created an account if you haven’t already done so, you can validate that the keywords you chose are frequently used in online searches.
You can also use a Google Ads product called Keyword Tool to find more keywords to build your list.
Use your keywords on each of your website pages to help them rank higher when prospective customers search using those keywords.
Start by using keywords in the URL—the address appearing in the Internet browser for each of your website pages. Also include them in your titles as well as in your metadata descriptions (the brief text that tells search engines what your content is about).
- Focus on your unique offerings
Remember you’re competing against other companies for attention online from prospective customers. To rise above the pack in web searches for your industry, look for words that correspond to your market differentiators such as your unique offerings or geographic location.
Competition is also stiff for keywords you buy as part of a pay-per-click campaign, where an ad for your company appears above or beside the free search results. You pay the search engine company each time your link is clicked. Again, you will have to focus on niche keywords if you don’t have a big budget.
- Don’t overstuff your site with keywords
As Google’s webmaster guidelines states: “Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.”
If you are just sprinkling keywords all over your content, you risk distorting the meaning and irritating readers, so don’t overdo it.
Your priority should be to make the text clear and easy to read.
- Build links to your site
The more sites that carry links to your site, the higher you will rank on searches. Ask the owners of related sites to carry a link to your site. Offer to carry a link to theirs in exchange for a link to yours.
Focus on the quality of the links. One link directing to your website from a chamber of commerce or a university website will help you more than a dozen links from obscure blogs.
- Publish high-quality content and lots of it
The main mission of search engines is to help people find answers to their questions. So your best strategy to get lots of traffic is to create compelling content—articles, videos and photos—that provides quality information to your readers. Make sure to update your content frequently so it stays relevant.
A good content strategy will also position you as a thought leader in your field.
Strong SEO Drives Traffic to Your Website
It requires consistent efforts to successfully optimize your website. Every day that you are not working on increasing your placement online you are falling behind because of your competitors. As the gap grows between how much effort your competition puts into their online marketing and how little work you put into your website, the more difficult it will become to engage with customers online. The Houston Small Business Marketing team works hard to help your business stay relevant in this online-focused world by tracking the latest strategies in digital marketing.
Don’t continue missing out on potential customers and become a force within your industry! From excellent web design to social media management, the Houston Small Business Marketing team is here to help you broaden your reach and grow your audience! If you are tired of giving away potential customers to your competition, call us today!
Houston Small Business Marketing
713-492-0025
1415 North Loop West #950
Houston, TX 77008
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