Everyone’s heard of SEO and they know they need it, but when I bring up SEO with a new client, I can see their eyes sort of glaze over.
They may know that it helps get your website higher up in the search engines, but they don’t really know how. I’ve had people ask me to get their website on page 1 as soon as it’s launched. Well, it doesn’t exactly work that way. I’ll explain some of what SEO is and how it works.
What Exactly is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a blanket term for ways in which you can apply techniques to your website so that it’s found easier by people searching for what you offer. I’ll be talking about Google here since they have a majority of the search engine “footprint” and it’s what SEO professionals use as their baseline when creating content for SEO purposes.
How Does SEO Work?
SEO is a combination of many things. Google uses about 200 “signals” to determine where your page shows up in their search engine. So it’s not just one thing you do to create SEO, it’s dependent upon many things. Here’s a list of the most common ones:
- Making sure your website is not loaded down with large photos that take a while to load
- Having an SEO plugin installed so you can write up your own metadata (the descriptions you see when you search something)
- Making sure your theme is mobile friendly so it loads quickly and is still visually appealing on a phone vs. laptop
- Having your menu structure in a logical order
- Having your business on social media which increases the chance it shows higher in search
- Making sure your content is relevant (gives the reader the information they’re looking for) and in an easy to read format
- Not using crazy colours or fonts that are difficult to read or are distracting
- Using the correct headings in blogs and pages and structuring them correctly
- Naming your photos with the right description (not uploading with a filename of IMG_7777 or similar) and also making sure you add that name in the Alt and Description fields within the properties of your media library
- Making sure the website is error-free as far as grammar and spelling go
- Constantly creating new content (like blog posts) that again, are relevant to your business and something that people are interested in reading or search for
- Making sure your domain name has a main keyword in it that describes your business
How Long Does it Take to Rank?
There’s no easy answer to this one. It depends on your competitors and how much traffic you can get to your site, the backlinks from other sites your website has and of course, about 200 other things that Google deems important.
If you have a niche business and not many competitors, you may rank on page 1 quite quickly, assuming all of the above examples have been optimized correctly. If you have a LOT of competition, you may never rank on page 1, especially not right out of the gate. It takes time and effort to reach page 1 so it’s not something you should expect to get without working at it.
Which Platform for Website Building is the Best to Use?
While I haven’t worked in Wix or Weebly in a long time, they used to be some of the worst to use and there was no SEO built in, but now, I believe there is. I don’t think it’s nearly as good as platforms like WordPress or others where you can add plugins for SEO and control what is seen.
So the problem with using entry-level platforms which cater to people who don’t know how to use more “professional” ones is that SEO can be lacking, which in the end, will cost you ranking.
Why do Designers Charge for SEO Monthly?
That’s a good question to ask if you don’t know exactly what they’re doing for you! I would certainly want some kind of proof of what they were doing to the site if you’re paying for it. Unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous folks out there who will just tell you a bunch of tech jargon, hoping you won’t question it.
Some things they could be doing would be:
- Creating new blog posts
- Adding in new pages and photos
- Using Google Ads (which you would be paying for)
- Possibly adding in SEO to pages that didn’t have them originally
- Updating old content
- Trying to get more backlinks from other high ranking websites
- Going through and re-naming or adding in Alt and Descriptions to photos
- Trying to optimize the site to load faster
You should be told what it is they’ve done and why you’re paying for it. I have a feeling many just say they’re doing it, while things are already in place and they generate an income from it. Be careful here!
Warm Reptile Designs doesn’t believe in charging solely for SEO services, unless that’s what we’ve been hired to specifically do. When we build a website, we make sure it’s included and take the time to do things right from the beginning instead of having to go back and RE-DO it. Otherwise, you’ll just take longer to start ranking and that’s not what you want.
Hopefully this has given you more information on what that mysterious SEO actually means and does! Also keep in mind that Google changes its algorithm on a daily basis and every few months or so, makes a BIG change to it. This will also affect where you rank on a page. Google is basically siding with the users out there and they try to accommodate them by showing them more relevant search results depending on what and how they search. This all trickles down to website owners who need to follow what these changes are and how it might affect them.
Google makes suggestions to web designers on what they want to see in a website and what signals they deem most important. So unless you keep your finger on the pulse of John Mueller (the Google “God”), you won’t be privy to this information.
If you’re having trouble building a website or it’s starting to cost you too much time that you could be spending actually running your business, get in touch and we’ll help you get on the right track!
