When it comes to “marketing things” that are super important but also misunderstood, we’d put search engine optimization (SEO) at the top of the list. Because there are more than a few things to it, and unfortunately, a lot of the information floating around on the internet makes it seem like it’s complicated. But when it comes down to it, you can totally do SEO as a small business owner—and the best place to start is with your website. Here are our 6 tips to help you optimize your website with confidence!

Step 1: Research your SEO keywords

The first step of any project that involves SEO is to research your SEO keywords. Because SEO keywords are the “labels” or “markers” you put on your website to help search engines like Google understand what you’re all about. And that’s important because if Google understands what your website is about, it can put it in front of people looking for a product or service like yours.

You can use an SEO platform like Ubersuggest to start your keyword research. And, when it comes to finding the right ones for your website, you want to start by finding the foundational keywords that describe what you and where you do it (for services) or what your product is (for products). Here are a few other things you should know:

• You want to end up with a mix of keywords focused on what your product or service is
• You also want to make sure your service area is clear by incorporating your location (if geographic location matters for your business)
• Keywords can be short (1-3 words) or “long tail” (these are longer phrases and/or questions)
• You want to find a mix of keywords with a large monthly search volume (how many times people are typing it into Google in a given month) as well as lower search volume (the low search volume can mean there is very high buyer intent)

Pro-tip: Create a doc or excel sheet to organize your list of SEO keywords.

Step 2: Decide which keywords you are going to use on each page

One of the biggest misconceptions about optimizing your website is that you should use the same (or all of your) keywords on every page—don’t do this! The reason is, you aren’t working to get your entire website to rank for certain keywords; rather, you’re actually trying to get the pages of your website ranking for keywords.

So, after you have your list of keywords and phrases, the next step is to decide which ones you are going to use on which pages. The key here is using the ones most related to what potential customers will learn about or find on the page.

Pro-tip: You can use more than 1 keyword per page. In fact, you should use 3 or more!

Step 3: Use your keywords in your website copy

Now that you’ve done your research and planning, it’s time to sit down and write (or pass along your list to a professional copywriter you’ve hired!). Because using your keywords in your website copy is one of the big things you need to do to optimize your website. Here are the best practices for this part of the process:

• Use the main keyword for the page in a headline (heading 1 or H1 as you format it)
• Use your supporting keywords in sub headlines and the body copy
• A good rule of thumb is to use a keyword 1-2 times in about 500 words (you don’t want to “keyword stuff”)

Step 4: Use your keywords in the file names of everything you upload

Most people overlook this step, but not you! Your website is more than just words on a page—there are usually lots of photos, videos or graphics too. And each of those should be optimized for search. Just be sure to use the main keyword for the page in the file names of whatever you are uploading to your website. Here is an example of the best practice:

your-business-name-main-keyword.jpg

Step 5: Optimize your URLs

Perhaps the main “marker” search engines look for when they are trying to understand the pages of your website is the URL. Specifically, everything at the “tail end” of your URL; here is an example:

www.yourwebsite.com/keyword-in-the-url

Go into the settings for each page of your website and customize the URL with the main SEO keyword for the page.

Step 6: Complete the SEO settings on your website

One of the last things you need to do on each page of your website is complete the SEO settings: page titles and meta (or page) descriptions. These are important because they are what search engines show in the website previews they give people on search results pages. Use the main keyword in both the title and description. Here is an example:

Title: Website Copywriter for Wedding Pros

Description: TAYLRD Media and Designs is a website copywriter for wedding pros. Tayler has worked with people globally writing copy that helps them get found by couples.

Pro-tip: There is a character limit on both these fields! Keep your titles to 50-60 characters (with spaces) and the description to 160.

Step 7: Submit a site map

This might sound super intimidating, but the good news is, most website platforms take care of this for you! On the off chance the one you are on doesn’t, here are instructions on how to do it from Google.

Optimizing your website takes some planning but this is 100% worth it! Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way to having potential customers and clients find you on the internet!

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