Most small-business websites don’t have the basic elements to attract attention from search engines like Google and Bing.
A banker who specializes in small-business lending raised an eyebrow when I told him that during a recent networking event. "What do you mean?" he asked.
We were interrupted before I could fully explain, so I’ll answer his question for you, dear reader.
Why search engines are important
First, let’s agree that search engines are an essential tool – arguably the most important – that prospective customers use when searching for information about your products or services.
To help search engines learn about your business, your website needs to include some basic elements. Some elements can be built into website code; others are part of your website text. Together, these elements are signals that help search engine algorithms "decide" when to show your site in a search result.
Here are my top 4 basic signals:
Keywords
Page titles
Meta descriptions
Subheads
Note: These are basics, like knowing how to spell is essential to writing and learning how to add, subtract, multiply and divide are critical to understanding mathematics. There are lots of other more advanced tactics that help search engines refer your business.
Keywords
There are two sides to keywords. On one hand, your website text should be full of specific words and phrases describing the products and services you provide. If you’re a plumber, write about all the services you provide: fixing leaky faucets and broken water pipes, replacing water valves, replacing toilets, fixing showers, etc.
On the other hand, your text should also contain phrases that people use when searching for what your business offers. This usually takes a little brainstorming and some research. Free versions of tools like Free Keyword Research Tool, SEMRush and Answer The Public can help.
Page titles
You or your web developer can build page titles into the behind-the-scenes code of your website. Titles are invisible to your website visitors but often appear in search results as a headline. Each page of your website should have a unique title. Page titles should include keyword phrases that match the page content. Avoid one-word titles like "Home" because they don’t tell search engines any useful information.
Meta descriptions
Descriptions are another element built into website code that is invisible to site visitors. However, search engines often display descriptions in search results. Although they are not a ranking factor, a well-written description that contains keywords and engages a searcher is more likely to lead to a click.
The illustration shows how page titles and meta descriptions appear in Google search results:
Subheads
Subheads are visible to readers and search engines. Subheads allow readers to skim through text to find the exact content they seek. In a similar way, subheads help search engines better understand page content.
Keywords, titles, descriptions, and subheads all help search engines better understand what your website is about. That understanding helps the search engines decide whether and where to show your site for specific search queries.
The basics are missing on many websites
When I evaluate websites for new clients, I often find that one or more of these elements need to be completed or rewritten. It’s usually because titles and subheads are viewed as "labels" rather than search engine signposts.
Meta descriptions are often missing completely because the website builder doesn’t understand their importance. (Search engines will write descriptions for search results pages if you don’t provide one.)
Keywords are missed because, frankly, most small businesses write website content about themselves and not about the customers they serve.
There’s so much more to making your business website search engine-friendly. There’s an entire industry built on search engine optimization. But if you’re a small business, attending to basic keyword phrases, titles, descriptions, and subheads will put you ahead of most local competition.
If you want to know what your website’s titles, descriptions and subheads look like, I’ll be happy to send you a free report. Just reply to this email.
Because Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, I want to pause and thank you for reading. Whether you are new or have been with me from the beginning (January 2021), it means the world to me that you take the time to choose and read these emails. Your inbox is stuffed, so it means something special when you click to open any of them.
The next newsletter arrives Dec. 3. The holiday season is upon us! In addition to Thanksgiving, we’ll be dealing with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Are you ready?
Until next time, be grateful. Be generous. Be patient. Love.
Thanks for spending some of your time with me, . I appreciate you.
Mark
P.S. - This newsletter was 100 percent created by me, a human.
P.P.S. - Some links in this email might be affiliate links, which could generate small commissions for me at no extra cost to you.
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