Optimizing Your Website – SEO

To maximize the return on your investment, Small Details offers a variety of services including focused SEO strategy. Although there are many approaches you can take to SEO, there are a handful of tools we rely on to provide reports and guidance for our client sites. Those tools can mean the difference between a site ranking on Page #1… and Google oblivion. There are, however, things you can do as a site administrator to help your cause.

#1 Content, Content, Content

Providing a page with a “keyword” title isn’t enough. Search engines are looking for content within the page that’s RELEVANT to the title. Text should be as descriptive as possible with clear formatting the search engines will recognize (see also “header tags” below). In addition, linked text and images should be consistent with your page topic.

 #2 Page Meta

Page “meta” refers to the tags describing your page — the snippet appearing on Google (and others) as the representative title and description of your website. We will almost always install software to help fine-tune your page/post meta and you can absolutely help this effort by adding details for any new pages/posts you create.*

Also included in this category are “header” tags (Heading 2, Heading 3, etc — subtitles within your page/post), and image “alt tags” which offer a description of the image or photo you’ve added to the content or as a featured image.

*There are best practices when it comes to keywords. We’ll cover these in a separate article in the near future. In the meantime, this information is very helpful.

#3 Backlinks

Backlinks are those you find on other (quality) websites that point to YOUR site. Sounds simple enough but it can be a full-time effort in itself. There are some steps you can take to increase the number of backlinks to your site.

1. As a client, Small Details will automatically add your site (with a descriptive link) to our Project Portfolio. Done!
2. Affiliates may be willing to add a link to your site. Asking won’t hurt!
3. Organizations you may belong to are often willing to add you as a member, especially if there are membership dues involved. We find this is often the case with medical clients.
4. Internet Directories. There are hundreds, possibly thousands of internet directories out there and some are actually free. Rather than taking a chance on someone you’ve never heard of before, we recommend a listing through a reputable organization such as the Better Business Bureau, Yelp or Angie’s List (if you’re a contractor).
5. Paid Ads. We list this method as 5 of 5 because, well, it can be expensive if you’re not careful. If you decide to pay for search engine ads, be selective when choosing a company to handle the creation and management of these ads and watch carefully when signing on the dotted line.

Due to the nature of this ever-changing industry, it’s always a good idea to consider your SEO strategy as often as time and budget allow. Small Details would be happy to help. We offer SEO plans that can be implemented during, or at any point after the launch of a site. Please get in touch to discuss how we can help you achieve your goals!