1. Proper SEO Begins With Researching Keywords And Phrases
Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. Identifying the right keywords involves finding terms and phrases your target audience uses to search for content related to your niche. Zachry uses specific tools like Google Keyword Planner and Mangools to help you discover high-traffic keywords with low competition. We focus on both short-tail keywords (e.g., “shoes”) and long-tail keywords (e.g., “best running shoes for women”).
2. On-Page Elements Need To Be Optimized With These Keywords
On-page SEO refers to optimizing individual pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic. Start with these elements:
- Title Tags: Zachry crafts targeted title tags that feature your primary key words and phrases. The goal is to keep these tags around 60 characters to keep them readable on search engine results.
- Meta Descriptions: Meta descriptions are the brief snippet of text underneath the “blue links” on search result pages. A well-crafted meta description should feature your keywords in readable phrases.
- Headings: This refers to specific titles and sub-titles on your website, just like the one at the top of this post. They are wrapped in behind-the-scenes HTML code that specify which information is stronger in the site hierarchy, so it important to feature the most important keywords in the main headings.
3. Your Website Content Needs To Be High-Quality
Most businesses have heard the modern phrase “content is king” when it comes to SEO. High-quality, relevant content is a cornerstone of an optimized site. Content can include anything from blog articles, images, videos, and even just well-written body copy. Well-crafted website content engages your users to remain on your site, and gets them to see your business as an authority in your field. Most importantly, this content attracts search engines like Google to rank your site higher than other sites with less engaging content.
4. When Planning SEO, Think About How Your Website Is Used
While quality content plays a major role in a websites usefulness, your site’s user interface has to function just as well. The user interface goes beyond just your website’s main menu. It includes on-page buttons, interactive page elements, contact forms, and any other aspect that invites users to “do something” on your site. User interfaces aren’t one-size-fits-all, and Zachry crafts individualized websites that work seamlessly across desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, over 70% of the average website traffic today is from users on mobile devices, and if your website doesn’t work properly on a smaller screen, it will get passed over for one that does.
5. Consider Your Backlink Strategy
In a nutshell, a backlink is a link to your site from another site. For example, if you run a roofing company, you might be a member of your local chamber of commerce, and their site might have a link to your website on their online directory. That’s a backlink to your site.
When there are multiple websites that have backlinks to yours, your site looks more valuable to a search engine like Google. Zachry can look at directories like chambers of commerce and ensure that the links to your site are correct.
6. Continually Monitor Your Site’s Performance
SEO isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it process, and there may come a time where you need to change up some content or keywords on certain portions of your site. Zachry includes Google Analytics with each of their site builds. This free tool features in-depth traffic analysis to show which pages get the most views, where your traffic is coming from, and many other metrics. When you take the time to look at these reports, you can see which areas of your website work the best, and which areas could use improvement.
SEO is just one aspect of your website’s success, and choosing a partner like Zachry will ensure that this piece is in good hands.
