Our Approach to SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

It’s essential that search engines can find your website. 

Unless there is a real technical problem, your site probably can be found on search, and it’s just a matter of what search terms will bring up your site and how close you are to the top of the list.

Basic SEO

We build well-coded sites and always make it easy to add metadata. 

The text on your site in your headlines, navigation, and body copy can be indexed by Google to be visible in search results. 

We recommend all of our clients run the Yoast SEO plugin on their sites and will install it for you if we build your site. Yoast has a free basic edition, but some of its paid features may be worthwhile. Once Yoast is installed, it’s easy to see whether you’ve filled out all the correct information. Make sure every page and post has all the fields complete, and you’re scoring a ‘green’ from Yoast.

More advanced options to improve SEO

While these are all the basics of a well-built site, they may not be enough to rank near the top with Google.

If you want to invest in a strategy to improve your search results, there are three ways we can help:

1. Keyword research
2. Content marketing
3. Technical Optimization

Keyword research

You probably have an idea of some of the keywords that are important to you. For example, if you’re an accountant, you may want to focus on words like ‘CPA,’ ‘tax returns,’ or ‘tax planning.’ You may not realize how some words and phrases are competitive, and others are not. 

By identifying phrases with high search volume and low competition, we can locate good keywords to add to existing pages. And we will get ideas for blogs that can be part of a content marketing strategy.

Keyword-rich content marketing

Adding new pages, blogs, articles, and other content to your site regularly helps for two reasons:

1. If you can incorporate keywords into your new content, you’ve increased the usage of keywords on your site
2. Google favors sites that are updating and adding to their content regularly. It is a sign that your site is active.

Beyond the SEO benefits, adding content to your site is a way to educate your prospects. This can be through thought-leadership blog writing, detailed product information, or stories that bring your brand to life. 

We can help you identify topics and keywords, write blogs for you, and create a content marketing plan that enhances SEO, social media, and other marketing channels.

Technical Optimization

Speed is a factor in Google search rankings, with slow-loading sites being penalized. We don’t use prebuilt themes or templates so that we can create custom and clean code that’s fast to load. 

If we didn’t build your site, or if you have large images, videos, or other functionality, your site may load slowly. Additionally, you may need a better host. 

We can do testing and optimization to improve site speed.

Be realistic about how search works

SEO is competitive

Unfortunately, it’s hard to rank for competitive keywords. 

If you have a common type of business like an accounting firm or you are a business coach, there are probably similar companies all across the country (or the world) trying to rank for generic words like “CPA” or “business coach.” While you want to ensure you are easily found if someone searches for your business or personal name, you will not be able to optimize your site and rank for those standard terms without significant effort. 

Improving search through content marketing takes a long time

Content marketing is not a tactic with quick wins. But it can be a precious long-term strategy that gains value over time as your site ranks higher and higher for more and more content.

Usually, this additional content improves your search ranking and brings value to your prospect. It can showcase your expertise, build trust and rapport with your prospects, or provide further details about your products and services. And you can repurpose your content in your e-newsletter or on social media!

Ready to invest in SEO?

We’re happy to provide you with an estimate on keyword research, technical optimization, adding keywords and metadata to your pages, or creating and implementing a content marketing plan. Contact us to get started.