On-page and Off-Page SEO: Is Searchability on Your Radar?
Recently I shared with you the importance of using keywords to obtain optimum searchability when visitors are searching for a senior care and living service such as yours. It’s imperative today that when people are searching that your service appears on the first Google search page. Understanding the important “behind the scenes” of your website is necessary today to manage, or at least understand, how to be found on-line.
It’s important to utilize those keywords to create good on-page and off-page SEO.
-Good on-page SEO ensures that your site is well-positioned in an internet search. Important aspects of this are Title tags, Meta Descriptions, Header Tags, etc. These different elements need to be communicating the same message to the search engines: who you are and what you do. It needs to be clear what your company is about and what types of services you offer. Each page can have different, specific title tags and descriptions. These elements are all important parts of communicating with the search engines to ensure that you rank higher on Google searches.
-Good off-page SEO is all about links, links and more links! The more websites that link back to your own site, the better. Additionally, the more descriptive those link tags are, the better. Blogs and YouTube video links count towards this as well.
Here are some additional tips to gain optimal SEO:
-Make sure the same keywords show up in the title tag, description, and all over your site.
-Have content, not just images, on your main page. The more information you provide about the services you offer, the better.
-When prospective visitors arrive at your site, they should have a clear direction as to what you want them to do. Should they call you? Email you? Download a brochure with more information? This information (contact info, etc.) should jump off the page. If you lose this critical connection point, they will likely click the "back" button and look for somewhere else.
In summary, Web Marketing in the senior care and living industry has many components, and these components need to fit together right to ensure that you rank high on Google searches and your site is visited often. This is the first critical step in making a connection between yourself and prospective visitors.
What plans do you have to focus on “searchability” improvement strategies on your web site for 2012?
If you’d like to use this article in your own newsletter or on your web site, you are welcome to reprint it in its entirety with an active link to our web site and the following author info:
“By Patty Cisco, Creative Catalyst for CISCO & CO. For effective marketing, sales and customer strategies that connect you with your customers visit www.ciscoco.com.”
