When I think of my lawn I imagine lush green grass with the kids and family dog frolicking playfully in the back yard. It also conjures up images of bare spots, a field of dandelions, and just an overgrown mess. Everyone who’s a homeowner knows what I mean when I say that I have a love/hate relationship with my lawn.
Just like homeowners, business owners have a similar relationship with their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. SEO is the lawn care of the digital world. We all have an idea of what it is, that it needs to be done, and that we should be doing it. But, just like my lawn, we find reasons to push down the priority list or we start doing it and, hey squirrel, something else pops up that needs your attention.
In my blog today, I wanted to point out a few reasons why you can no longer ignore SEO like I’ve been ignoring my lawn. Here are a few grooming tips to think about when you’re working on your SEO strategy.
Elements that make up SEO
First, let’s define SEO. Simply put, it helps your site rank higher in the organic portion of search results, those positions below the paid spots, in search engines like Google, BING, Yahoo, and others. It helps better your chances of people finding your information first.
There’s a lot that goes into making your website more relevant to a search being done by a potential customer. Things like meta data, inbound and outbound links, HTML tags, relevant content, site speed, keywords, social traffic, and lots more.
Because so much goes into an SEO score, lots of business owners don’t know where to start, or they don’t know how these elements should fit into one strategy. I’m sad to say that when it comes to my lawn, I do just what I need to in order to keep my yard looking “acceptable.” Just like SEO tactics, it could be that I don’t know what products to use or when to use them.
And even though I’d rather be out and about with my family or fishing with my father, I know there’s work to be done if I want my lawn to look nice. So if you’re a business owner wanting more people to find our website, forget the distractions and put SEO on top of your to-do list.
Maintaining SEO
Maintaining SEO is a lot like maintaining a big yard. You need to monitor the load speed of your site, make sure the meta tags are just right, have relevant content, and the list goes on. Maybe you have a competitor that’s a lot like my neighbor. He mows his lawn twice a week. I see him out applying products to the grass, he waters on a regular basis and edges so the yard has crisp clean lines. His lawn looks nice because he prioritizes his time to include the maintenance of his lawn.
If you have a competitor that you keep seeing ahead of you on a search engine results page, it’s probably because they’ve taken the time and resources to their SEO strategy.
Everyone is busy and you probably have so many other things to do for your business that SEO is one of the last things on your mind. So now your site’s SEO looks a lot like my yard, nice enough to look acceptable, but not the lush, green, healthy we all want.
Time to at Least Look
You should never be afraid to ask questions. Maybe it’s time to look at having someone help with SEO. You might be asking yourself, “Why do I need someone’s help to do something I can do on my own?” Well, unlike me not caring what my neighbors think of my lawn, I know you care about what your customers think about your website.
You want your customers to find you information relevant and useful. A quality SEO service will provide you with reporting and feed back on the performance and updates that are made or need to be made. Working with professionals can make your life easier while also attracting more customers.
Why break your back mowing, trimming, and maintaining your lawn when you can hire landscaping experts to turn your lawn into a backyard paradise that’s the envy of the neighborhood.
Want to check to see what your website’s SEO score is? Click Here to find out.