Search engine optimization (SEO) is no easy task. With every company clamoring to come to the top of Google searches for their product category, SEO is unaffordable for most smaller companies. However, there are some things small companies can do to maximize search results for their company.
First and foremost, your website should have a search-engine-friendly design. The web is changing constantly and Google spiders are crawling the Web everyday to look for new content. If your website hasn’t been updated in a few years, than most likely, Google has forgotten about you. The more you update your website, the more your site will be crawled and indexed by Google and the better your search results will be.
Here are some simple guidelines for creating search-engine-friendly sites:
Have your website done by a professional that designs for the latest Web standards. Many Web designers haven’t bothered to learn the latest techniques. Ask your designer if they use CSS style sheets to design your site.
Avoid template-based websites. Template sites generally have lots of extraneous code that make them difficult for Google to index. It’s well worth the extra cost to have your website custom-designed by a professional.
Make sure your home page has lots of keyword-rich content. Stay away from flash and “enter here” pages. If your home page is a flash movie, Google doesn’t see it at all and your prospects won’t either. Use Flash sparingly for special effects and not as a basis for your design.
Create specific titles for your Web pages. One of the best ways to attract visitors to your site is to use specific page titles throughout your site. The title of the page is the first thing Google sees. If you have technical product categories, make sure your pages are titled that way. This is simple to do, but many Web designers overlook this step.
If you follow these simple guidelines for your website design, your search engine results will improve. It takes a while for Google to index your site, so don’t expect immediate results, but if you start with a properly designed site, you’ll be well on your way to attracting more customers and prospects to your site.