Want to know the secret to rank on Google? Time. You have to start with a good strategy and then give it time for Google to categorize your site and visitors to find your website. Slow and steady wins the race. However, it can be challenging to be patient when you start a business you believe in. You have so much passion behind your product, you want to help humans solve a problem, and you want those humans to find your product. In this post, I’m going to teach you three easy steps you can do to set up the foundation of your strategy to rank on Google.
Correct Your Info
Reading Google SEO documentation is like reading the directions to your Ikea Tjodalyng closet. Someone who speaks an entirely different language wrote them and assumes you understand Swedish furniture building. Luckily, I’ve read all the documentation and can translate it for the overwhelmed business owner. One of the best-kept secrets of SEO experts is how much weight Google gives to consistent information. All the basic information about your business should match across the web, like address, hours of operation, description, phone number, and email address. Start with your Google Business Profile. If you are like, “What the hell is a Google Business Profile?” check out my How to Get More Traffic to Your Small Business Website post. Here is a list of places from my Easy Website Content Guide to ensure all your information is correct.
A Simple Keyword Blueprint
When Google’s bots, also known as spiders, are crawling your site, they are reading the HTML, the basic code your site is made up of. Did I lose you there? HTML is a basic computer language that is structured like an outline. However, instead of using numbers and letters to organize a hierarchy of information, it uses tags that indicate what the information is. Here is a visual that shows what HTML looks like a bit better.
The bots are looking for link, heading 1, heading 2, paragraph, alt image, and meta description tags. So naturally, these are the places you want your keywords to appear. Luckily, no matter what website builder you use (WordPress, SquareSpace, Shopify, wix, etc. ), they make filling in these tags easy. Here is an example of the Shopify page builder.
You can see that the heading is highlighted so whatever you fill in will be in the heading tag.
Let’s zero in on my favorite HTML tag.
Make Images Searchable
This post is all about things that are usually overlooked but easily correctable, which will significantly impact your SEO. This section will teach you how to make Google’s bots “see” your images. Stay with me; I know you are like, “What is going on? Katie is high.” As I explained earlier, Google’s bots are computer programs, so any logical person would conclude that they can read code but can’t see anything, which is true. However, an extra special HTML tag gets forgotten, and you can use it to your advantage to make your website more accessible to the visually impaired and Google’s bots. It’s the alt image tag, alt standing for alternative. Its primary use is for screen readers, and when there is a problem loading an image on your site, you would see the alt text instead.
The key to using this tag is to be descriptive while relating it to your keyword strategy, DO NOT just stuff a bunch of keywords. Google will see it and penalize you.
Bad – “dog looking at camera in front of yellow wall”
Good – “Frowning black pug, wearing a hand-knitted sweater posing in front of a yellow wall”
Where is the alt image tag in Shopify, Square, WordPress, SquareSpace, and Wix?
Congrats! You are now equipped with easy, actionable steps to begin your SEO strategy. Do some self-care; you deserve it. You just took steps to ensure your website converts. You are well on your way to making money while you sleep. My favorite way to make money! Want to learn more simple steps for ranking on Google? Read my SEO guide. You got this!
