Demystifying SEO Strategy

If you’re a business owner, chances are that when someone says the words “SEO strategy,” you tense up a little bit. The acronym might as well stand for UFO once we start talking meta data, tagging, and H1 keyword placement. Despite what many agencies and web specialists would like you to think, search engine optimization isn’t as complicated as it seems. Our Denver web design company, Tag Team Design, is here to demystify SEO best practices so you can get to the top of Google’s search results faster.

YEAH BUT WHAT IS IT?

So if you’re totally new to SEO, you’re probably wondering what the heck it is. Search engine optimization is built on a set of guidelines based on how search engines like Bing and Google rank web pages. The closer you adhere to these guidelines, and the more relevant your web pages, the higher you’ll rank. Simple, right? Web rankings are especially important for e-commerce sites that rely on traffic to fuel online sales.

FOUR SIMPLE STEPS TO SEARCH SUCCESS:

Depending on your market, getting to the top of search results can be a cut throat battle of keyword smithing and careful back linking, which is why it’s great to work with an agency like Tag Team Design. If you’re more of the DIY business owner, these simple guidelines will get you started:

1. Content

Yes, content is still king. Search engines crawl every page on the internet and rank their content based on relevancy. According to Google, each of your pages should be between 300-500 words (because even search engines lose interest after that). And every product or service should have an in-depth description of what it is and why it works. The more specific, the happier your search results will be.

2. Meta Data

Don’t forget about the behind-the-scenes work. On the inside of your page, you have the option to add meta data, which acts as a roadmap for search engines to understand where to go for the most important information. Meta data boils down the purpose of your site into a few keywords and helps the search engine score the quality of your page against your intentions. If you’re using a CMS system like WordPress or Drupal, the meta title, description and keyword fields should be easy to find. Simply plug and play.

3. Alt Tags

What meta data is for your web content, alt tags are for your images. Since search engine crawlers aren’t actually looking at your page – just reading the code and text inside it – alt tags act as braille to signal what an image is and why it’s important. Otherwise they just see a blank box where the image should be. If you’re an e-commerce site with product images to share, we can’t stress the importance of alt tags enough.

4. Keyword Research

Last but not least, make sure you know what your audience is searching for. Understanding how many people are searching for your product terms will help you assess how difficult it is to beat the competition – the more general or popular your keywords, the more difficult ranking will be. Since you may not want to bid against mega-corporations with thousands of dollars worth of SEO budget, choose specific words that still get traffic. Google Trends can help you do this … and so can Denver web design firm Tag Team Design.

Whether you’re just getting started or a seasoned web veteran, SEO is a constantly evolving process, so stay on top of the trends to ensure your audience can find you.