As soon as you venture into the digital marketing world, lots of people will tell you that "you need good SEO" - including that random person sending you emails about how they can help you with it. But most people have only a vague idea of what SEO is and how much they need it. You might be asking yourself questions like: How important is it? How does it work? How will it help me?
Our goal here is to clear the air for you. We want you to have total clarity about the topic and, hopefully, we can help relieve you from the stress of figuring out what to do about your website's SEO status.
In brief, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It can help your site appear high on the list of results returned by the search engine, thereby maximizing the number of visitors to your site. That's the bare basics of SEO, but in order for you to understand how it can work effectively for you and your business website, there's a few more things you need to know.
In order for you to make an informed decision, you need to be armed with knowledge. There are a lot of smart marketers out there who know they can make money by telling you that your SEO is not done properly. They make you believe that SEO is the #1 thing you should be worried about when it comes to your online presence. Although SEO is undoubtedly important, the subject is more nuanced than some marketers might want you to believe.
There are two types of SEO - On-page SEO and Off-page SEO. We'll begin with a brief overview of each type before diving into each one in more detail.
On-Page SEO (also known as On-Site SEO) makes sure that a site is built according to the search engine requirements. It specifically deals with the user experience (the page loading time, code optimization, good design for desktop or mobile, etc.) and how clearly your website is the answer to the question someone asked the search engine. On-Page SEO also is about optimizing your web pages with specific keywords that will help your site appear high on the list provided by the search engine. Are all the images properly described with alt-tags so that people who are visually impaired can get an idea of what the images are about? Is the hierarchy of headings (h1,h2,h3) clear and related to your market needs? Are there enough words on the page for the search engine to understand what your website is about?
When web designers and developers talk about SEO, 99% of the time, they're referring to "On-Page SEO."
Permit us to use an analogy: think of On-Page SEO like a well-formatted book. Good books have a clear title and description on the covers. They are organized clearly with chapters, page numbers, and headings correctly labeled so it's easy to understand and to navigate. How thick are the pages? They can't be too thin so that they tear when you're trying to flip to another page.
In the same way, a website needs to be clear and easy to navigate on both mobile and desktop devices. A website needs to be quick to load, even on a bad internet connection. If your website is slow, not only does it have a bad SEO rating, it's broken. Period.
You can see how well someone's on-page SEO is by making a test on gtmetrix.com or Google Lighthouse. At Supersonic, we take pride in launching websites that are as high as humanly possible on the On-page SEO scale. (See image below)
How accessible is the site? Can people with disabilities like colour blindness or poor eyesight still read and navigate around the site?
How is the site visually displayed? Is there enough contrast between the background and the letters so it's readable? Is the font size big enough to be easily legible?
What is the layout like? If the buttons and links are too close to one another, it can be easy to click on the wrong link. That's just plain frustrating to a visitor.
How does your website come across to visitors? Do you have trust signals like a privacy policy page or a contact page with a phone number and email, etc.?
A good website strives to achieve an excellent visual and easy to navigate layout. When it achieves that goal, it accomplishes a good execution of On-Page SEO that rates well from Google and your users' perspective when they visit your website.
In our opinion, SEO is just good design and practice...not an extra. It's like paying more for a brake installation on your brand new car. It shouldn't be an option. Walk away from anyone who wants to charge you extra for doing their job right.
Off-Page SEO (also known as Off-Site SEO) applies to the building referral links to your website. In other words, it deals with actions taken outside of your website that affect your ranking within search engine results pages. Examples of outside actions are other Internet pages, sites, or people, etc. linking or promoting your website. This outside attention affirms the quality of your content, thereby improving both the search engine and overall user perception of your site.
Now permit us to use an analogy for Off-Page SEO: imagine your website is an island. You don't want to be an isolated island; you want to be connected to the other adjacent islands. So you need to build bridges, boat routes, and flight paths between your island and the other islands. In the same way, Off-Page SEO is about connecting your website to other reliable websites. When your site is linked to other sites, this will notify the search engine that your website is a trusted source. Ways to connect to other Internet sources include:
The Internet is an interlaced community. When your website is joined to that community, you're naturally going to see more traffic on your site.
Off-Page SEO is tricky. Ensuring your website is linked to other sites and sources is extremely costly, both in time and money. It is not a short time strategy. It takes time to establish your reputation and the results are not guaranteed.
When you invest in Off-Page SEO, don't expect to see results for months. It is not a quick and easy game. Investing in Off-Page SEO will include set backs because of the change in search engine algorithms. What worked in 2018 might not work for your website today. Again, it costs time and money to update your Off-Page SEO to comply with whatever rule is in effect at the time.
Of course, once you have a solid Off-Page SEO built, you will get residual results for months, or years. It is very powerful.
There is an alternative to Off-Page SEO when you just launch your website. Money is scarce and even though it is good to invest in off-page SEO, consider starting with Ads first.
Google Ads are an amazing (and cost effective) way to achieve good SEO ranking by paying for the top position.
Our favourite things about Google Ads are:
Google Ads are a great place to start when you have a new website. You can experiment and find out what is working for you before investing the big bucks in expensive Off-Page SEO.
Speaking with over 10 years of experience in SEO and website development, our final advice to you is:
We hope this article has helped answer some of your questions about SEO, how it works, and what options are out there for you and your website going forward.
Congratulations! If you are reading this, it is probably because you have launched your brand new website! Then what?
Our mission at Supersonic Sites® is to help small business owners achieve success with their brand new website. This is why we are giving a short 5 point checklist to help you get started right.
Don't let this opportunity pass on and shout it from the rooftop! You've had a significant update to your business, and sharing your brand new website will get a lot of people to it. You might even pick up some new clients who can now more easily schedule an appointment with you or contact you for more questions.
Here is an example taking from one of our clients on the day we launched her Supersonic Site®:
Also, both on personal and business page, you can have your business info updated with your new website. It is crucial to have correctly formatted information in all your online profiles. Things like your business name, phone number, and address must be as consistent as possible across the web.
Suppose you are a small business that offers a local service. In that case, there isn't a single profile online more important than Google My Business...period. It's completely free, and it's the best way to maximize your exposure when people are looking for your business on Google.
Google isn't what it used to be. Google now gears its search results based on the user's location when people are looking for a plumber, restaurant, or any other service. And it gives priority to local businesses.
First, head over to google.com/business and click "Manage Now." From there, it's pretty straightforward; Google will guide you through the steps of claiming your business. Most of the time, to confirm your claim, Google will send you a postcard with a verification code. Expect to wait at least a week before you receive this.
After that, your profile is verified and should appear on the local search results.
Google is and remains the best way to generate leads and sales for small business owners online. Why? Because people are searching for your service. They are not being interrupted; they are looking for a solution.
What does it look like to rank with Google My Business for local search? Take a look...
Imagine coming up #1 when people are looking for your service near you or looking for your area. This is as good as it gets if you are do not have the budget for Google Ads.
First and foremost, make sure to complete every detail of your profile.
Then, your job is to get a consistent flow of reviews on your profile and respond to each of them. You can accomplish this automatically with an email every time a new client has been serviced or do it manually via SMS.
The ways of Google are impenetrable, and it is a mystery to many. Accurate information, engagement, and other factors are at play, including how long your listing has been online. Another factor that plays into the equation is local citations.
What are local citations?
A local citation is any online mention of the name, address, and phone number of a local business. Citations can occur on local business directories, websites and apps, and social platforms.
Moz.com
Building local citations is a tedious job, to say the least, and shouldn't be done by the non-initiated. Many services offer to do that job for you. We suggest only doing business with long-standing and professional services. It is worth paying a few hundred bucks to get the job done right.
We offer, only for Supersonic Sites® members, this service. Contact us directly via email or our contact page to know more.
Having a well-made website is one of the critical steps to establish a professional online presence. But how do you get people to visit your website now?
By far, the best and most efficient way to start bringing people to your website when they are looking for your services is Google Ads. Google Ads allows you to rank high in the search results automatically. They charge you for each click going to your website generated by the ads. Rather than wait months for organic search ranking, Google Ads allows you to bypass the wait time and achieve faster results.
But again, unless you have the time and desire to acquire this skill, you should probably leave it to experts. Most Google Ads management services charge between $399 and $999 every month.
We believe these rates are way too high for small local business owners.
That's why we launched Supersonic Ads®. We created this service to be only available to our Supersonic Sites® clients and only charge $199/mo for it. Our Google Supersonic Ads® has been a smashing success for our clients.
Even though they are quick to set up and get you eyeballs right now, it will take time for the ads to reach peak performance. That's because the task of a Google Ad Manager is to prune useless keywords you might be ranking for and finding new opportunities.
As a general rule, the longer you stay with your ad manager, the better results you should get. But, of course, Supersonic Ads® is tailored to small business owners in small markets. So if you need to bring out the big guns in big competitive markets, we might not be the right fit for you.
In summary, to get started right with your brand new website, make sure to:
If you have all of the steps above covered, congratulations! You are already in a better position than 95% of small business owners who wait for the phone to ring.