If you’re a business owner and you’re not doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), then you’re likely to fall behind.  You can be certain that your competitors are diligently researching top search terms and optimizing their sites accordingly. If you’re not doing the same, you’ll quickly get left in the dust.  If you don’t know much about SEO, don’t fret. The basics of SEO are actually pretty simple and (depending on your industry) they may be enough to get you to the top of the search engine results pages.  At TIC Digital Marketing, we eat, sleep and breathe SEO, so here are 4 steps you can take right now to establish a solid base.

Keyword Research

The first thing you need to do is find out what terms people are searching.  There are a few tools you can use to accomplish this but the basics are common sense.  Say you’re running a restaurant in Anytown, USA. Hungry people in your area will probably be searching for terms like “restaurants in Anytown, USA” or “best restaurants near me.” These will be the keywords you want to include in your website content.  Start by including those phrases a few times in your website content, or you could even write a few blogs containing similar keywords. It might not seem like much, but it could be exactly what you need to start appearing on page one!

Make a Content Calendar with Keyword-based Topics in Advance

Speaking of blogging, the most-used search engine algorithms give preference to websites that frequently update their content.  Think of some topics and make a calendar for at least one or two blogs every month. It’s a good idea to make your content seasonal, but be sure it  uses those keywords from step 1.  After a month or two of following your content calendar, you’ll likely see your pages creeping up towards the top spots on search engine results.

Keyword-based H1 and H2 Tags

H1 and H2 tags are small bits of code that are like a beacon for search engine algorithms to follow.  When they see H1 and H2 tags in your code, they’ll know that the keywords contained in those lines are the most important thing on the page.  For best results, make sure your H1 and H2 tags include some of those keywords from step 1.

Alt Tag all Images with Keywords

Everything on your page has the potential to ratchet up your search engine clout, and that includes images – but only if you alt tag them.  Go over the alt tags for each image on your page and fill them in with your keywords from step one. That way, your images won’t be dead space on your site; they’ll be working hard to get you better results!

Depending on your level of web development experience, these steps may be a breeze for you.  We encourage you to give it a shot, and if you have any questions, TIC Digital Marketing is here to help! Whether your site is completely un-optimized or you’ve got your content squared away, we can always find ways for you to improve.  We can even act as your own marketing department, so pick up the phone and dial (858) 480-9932, send an email to [email protected] or visit our contact page and fill out the online form for your free quote or website audit today!