Onsite SEO Tactics
Onsite SEO includes multiple tactics to help your website rank higher for targeted keywords and phrases. Tactics range from keyword selection, to content creation to technical elements within the website. As you work through the various elements, having a plan in advance will help keep your efforts on point. Keywords The first step in a solid onsite SEO strategy is to carefully consider your keywords. Keywords and phrases should include branding elements, content targets and a geographical consideration. Branding elements include the business name, owners’ names and key employee names. Be sure to use words and not just logos or graphics to represent your company. Google understands words far better than pictures. Using owner and employee names helps is someone may know you and that you are part of your organization, but may not remember the organization name. A search for John Smith accountant may not display your website if John Smith is not included in your keyword content. Content focused keywords are the words people will enter into Google related to what you do. For a landscaper, think words like “lawn maintenance”, “grass cutting”, “irrigation installation”, “sprinkler systems”, etc. Multiple variations of a term will help capture a broader range of search inquiries. Geographical keywords are where your business is located and the different areas you serve. With keywords, always think “what will someone enter into Google when they are looking for my website?” Website Content Now that you have your list of keywords, begin using them to help craft the written content on your website. Keywords should repeatedly be woven throughout the content on your website. Include keywords in headings. Include keywords in paragraphs. Include keywords in image captions. Do it repeatedly, but also do it naturally. Keyword stuffing is a black hat tactic and can get your site banned. (Don’t do keywords, keywords, keywords to get more keywords.) Technical Elements Each page of your website has a <title> tag. Titles should absolutely use keywords. Website pages should also include <meta> tags including the meta description. The meta description is a snippet or summary of your page content that should be more readable but also include keywords. Images should use [alt] attributes to describe what the image represents and are another opportunity to include keywords. Page Load Speed How fast your website page loads is a factor for search engine ranking and for user experience. While not tied to your keywords, be mindful of practices to make your website load faster. Use properly sized images and next-gen image formats like WebP, AVIF and SVG for faster image loading. Use “extras” sparingly. Items like popups and other website widgets may be valuable for your user experience, but be mindful of the impact to load time and use these tools strategically. SEO Summary Keywords and their repeated but natural use throughout the content on your website is one of the strongest SEO tactics available to a website. Using those keywords throughout the technical elements on your website increases the keyword impact. A focus on these onsite, organic SEO tactics will help your website rank higher.
SEO vs. SEM
SEO is an abbreviation for “Search Engine Optimization”, which means utilizing tactics to help people find your website using online search. SEM stand for “Search Engine Marketing” and refers to paid advertising on the internet. SEO is “organic”. Organic refers to the listings in the search engine results that are not paid advertising. SEM results in paid listings which are marked with a tag that says “sponsored” or “ad”. But how do you know when to use SEO and/or SEM? The answer to the SEO vs. SEM question often depends on budget, time and competition. SEO is the longer play. SEO is driven by content changes, website structure and meta tags to better emphasize desired keywords. But it takes Google and the other search engines time to process these changes and begin ranking a website for those adjusted targets. SEO can be handled by the website owner and generally costs much less than SEM. And if you are in a crowded marketplace (think “real estate agents”), then the time for SEO changes to rank is much longer. SEM is fast, is a pay to play solution and is still impacted by competition. The results of an SEM campaign can be seen in days rather than weeks. Competition has less influence on where your ad will display and more influence on how much the ad will cost. If you are in a niche market and looking to make a quick splash, SEM can start generating additional traffic for a few hundred dollars per month. In more competitive fields, the cost per click is higher and could require a budget in the thousands per month to generate the desired results. Overall, SEO is a must for every website. Well defined keyword targets, combined with quality content that includes those keywords, supported by strong website structure and meta tags will help your website rank higher in search results. If your budget allows, SEM campaigns will accelerate traffic and gain exposure where the organic work has not yet reached. Ultimately, the answer is not SEO or SEM, but a blend of both to help people better find your website.
What is SEO?
SEO is a term that is often used loosely to mean anything surrounding getting your website to rank in the search engines. SEO is an abbreviation for “Search Engine Optimization”, which practically means utilizing tactics to help people find your website using online search. Other terms that often are included when discussing SEO are SERP and SEM. SERP stands for “Search Engine Results Page” and is what you see after you enter your search into Google. SEM stand for “Search Engine Marketing” and refers to paid advertising on the internet. Another term that is important to understand when exploring SEO is “organic”. Organic refers to the listings in the search engine results that are not paid advertising. Organic results is what SEO works to influence. This leads to the next question, how do we influence organic search results? SEO is generally broken down into two broad strategies: onsite SEO and offsite SEO. Onsite SEO is included with every website design project from Convergent Design. Onsite SEO is focused on relevant keywords or phrases and utilizes tactics like quality website content, strategic page and image names, title tags and meta descriptions, page speed and more. Offsite SEO refers to tactics that happen away from your website. Offsite tactics can include a variety of activities. Social media accounts and posting are some of the most popular methods. Setting up listings with popular platforms like Google, Bing and Yelp contribute to stronger SEO. Referral links from reputable websites like your local Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau and vendors or other partners with your organization will help. A successful SEO strategy starts with understanding the target market for your website and what keywords people will enter to try and find you. Building your website to capture those keywords will lead to more accurate exposure, higher visibility and stronger search rankings.
Is it time to redesign my website?
A website redesign can be motivated by several different factors. Changes in technology, a branding change, new developments in your area of business, new products or services you plan to offer and changes in society are all potential factors that drive the need for a website change. While this list is not all encompassing, it includes some of the top factors for starting a website redesign. Past changes in technology include the proliferation of mobile phones creating new screen sizes for website display and new compression methods for website images resulting in image formats like .WEBP and .SVG. If you have an older website that is not yet optimized for mobile sized screens, it is past time for a redesign. Some industries like restaurants can see as much as 90% of their overall website traffic coming from phones. Having your website look appealing and informative on a phone sized screen is a must. If your website still uses older image formats like .JPG and .PNG, it may be time for a redesign. The newer compression methods result in considerable savings in file size. Smaller file size means faster load times. Faster load time leads to improved user experience. Load speed is also a major factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. Older images on your website are motivation to consider a redesign. A branding change almost always includes a website redesign. New colors, new logos, new slogans and font changes all lead to a desire for new presentation on your website. Be sure to include your website as part of a branding change so you don’t leave your digital presence lagging behind your other marketing efforts. New developments in your area of business can range from a new standard being released, new laws passed or new opportunities. Business changes often drive what potential customers will enter into the search engines. If your website does not talk about the new developments, your business will miss out on that search traffic. New products and services can sometimes be handled by a website update, but can also be a good motivator for a full redesign. Especially if the new item helps drive new business to your company. A new home page coupled with new content pages can properly promote the new part of your business to maximize website impact and customer response. One change in society that impacted the online world was COVID. As face to face interactions were limited, many organizations looked to their websites to help carry additional load. Online ordering systems increased, changes in hours or business behavior required new communication and websites played a major role in communication the response to the changes happening around us. Watch for other changes in society that may drive change in how your company communicates online. The main question when considering a website redesign? Is your website still effective at communicating your message to your target market and driving the response you desire? If your website misses on one or all three parts of that question, let’s talk about redesigning your website.
Simple, Clear and Focused
Simple, Clear and Focused summarizes our design philosophy here at Convergent Design. When you work with us to build or update your website, this philosophy helps guide our decisions, advice and actions. What does this mean for you, our customer? Simple – Simple refers to the navigation system of the website. We have seen websites where navigation systems change depending on which page of the website you view. Lack of consistency in navigation creates confusion and frustration. Not what you want your website visitors to feel when they visit your website. Simple navigation is consistent and makes it easier for visitors to find what they are after. Clear – Clear is the overall messaging on the website. Are you a house painter? We want that to be incredibly obvious on the website. If the main point is communicated clearly, visitors are more likely to engage your content and look deeper for more information. If you are a painter and someone is looking for an electrician, we don’t want them to call you and waste your time. Clear messaging captures attention and leads to deeper engagement. Focused – Focused revolves around what you want a visitor to do next when visiting your website. We work to identify your primary response and hammer that response through multiple calls to action throughout the content on your website. Your primary call to action may be potential clients completing a “Request a Free Estimate” form. We will place prominent “Free Estimate” buttons in the main menu system, at the bottom of the website, and woven throughout the content encouraging people to complete that form. These three items: simple, clear and focused help us create websites that move your customers to the next step in your process.
Understanding Domain Names
A website domain name is the “address” the user types into their device to reach your website. As an example, www.convergesc.com is often considered the domain name for our website. However, to fully understand the domain name and the options available as you explore domain names, the domain name is actually broken into three different parts: the domain name, the top-level domain, and the sub domain. The “convergesc” portion that appears between the two periods is technically the domain name. This is the part of the name that is most closely associated with your website. The domain name can contain English letters from A to Z, the number from 0 to 9 and the hyphen (-) character. (As with most rules, there are the occasional exceptions to these rules). For examples, we could have chosen any of the following as our domain name: convergent-design converge01 convergentwebsites The portion of the domain name after the second period is called the Top-Level Domain or TLD. The most common TLD is “.com”. You may also be familiar with other common TLDs like “.org” (often used for non-profit causes), “.edu” (generally limited to educational institutions) and “.gov” (reserved for organizations that are part of the U.S. government). TLDs are created and managed by an international oversight organization called ICANN. Individual users cannot create their own but are limited to choosing from existing TLDs. Yet a bit of research will show there is quite the selection available. Potential TLDs include “.pizza”, “.ninja”, “.tech”, “.world”, “.shop”, “.art” and “.church”. Different TLDs can have different pricing ranging from under $10/year to over $1000/year. The domain name and TLD combination is unique and generally controlled by one entity and pointing to one website. This gives us confidence that when we type “convergesc.com”, we will usually see the Convergent Design website. To gain control of a desired domain name, you need to pay a domain registrar to reserve the domain on your behalf. The portion of the domain before the first period is known as the subdomain. “www.” is the most common subdomain, referring to “World Wide Web” or standard website related traffic. Subdomains generally follow the same rules as the domain name itself. Each domain can utilize multiple subdomains for various technical or marketing purposes. If you add a blog to your website, it may help to access the blog using the subdomain blog.convergesc.com. Some may use the subdomain mail.convergesc.com to help accurately route email to the correct location. As part of a marketing campaign or seasonal special, you may find benefit in using specials.convergesc.com or christmas.convergesc.com to direct people that respond to special content related to your marketing campaign. If you are looking for your first domain name or options for using subdomain, Convergent Design will be glad to help explain and use options.
The 4 Key Technical Components of a Website
Building a functional publicly accessible website requires 4 core technical components: a domain name, DNS server, Website Hosting, and the website code itself. A public website starts with the domain name. The domain name is how most individuals refer to their website and communicate it to others. The www.mydomainname.com format let’s people access the website content from any browser connected to the internet. Choosing a domain name can involve multiple considerations from length of the name, to consistent branding to availability. Domain names are not actually purchased, but rather leased from a domain registrar. The domain name then connects to a DNS server using a nameserver name. The nameserver name connects the domain name to the DNS server which routes web related traffic to the appropriate location. Website traffic will be routed to the web hosting server and email traffic will be routed to the relevant email servers. The DNS servers can be used for other purposes like validating connections to other services. Once the DNS server is connected to the domain, the DNS server will then direct website traffic to the website hosting server via an IP address. An individual hosting server may host multiple websites. Protocols on the server will route traffic to the correct website. The website hosting server gives us a location to load or build the website that the public can access. The final piece of the puzzle is the website itself. The website is the pictures, text and graphics that people actually see and engage when typing the domain name into their browser. The website consists of code that the browsers on individual devices interpret and display for the end user. That website code is often created using some type of editor like WordPress. Each of these four components is required for a functioning public website. While it may sound confusing, many website design companies will handle all of these components on your behalf. Here at Convergent Design, we work with clients at any level they are comfortable from purchasing the domain all the way through website creation to simply providing the hosting and website creation alone.
