If you currently have a small business website, it is extremely important that you know how well optimized it is for search engines.

I am continually amazed at how often beautiful, professionally-designed websites fail to incorporate basic on-page SEO principles. This is because most web designers focus on design rather than on search engine optimzation. (In fact, I have even read disclaimers from web design firms that specifically state they do NOT do SEO.)

This is unfortunate because a site that lacks optimization will just sit there–alone and unvisited–no matter how beautiful it is. Clearly, this is not the response you want your small business website to have!

In analyzing your site, it is important for you to know the difference between onpage and offpage SEO. To learn more about this, see Understanding Search Enging Optimization.

The following discussion focuses on onpage SEO.

Onpage SEO

To discover how well your website is doing in the search engines, ask yourself:

Is the content on EACH page of my website built around a unique set of keywords? If so, do these keywords show up in two or more of the following areas?

• Site URL
• Page title
• Page description
• Heading tags (H1 and H2)
• Alt tags (used for graphic images)
• Onpage links
• Body copy

Title and Description Tags

If the same keywords are used on each page of your site (especially in the title and description tags)–or your title and description tags are completely missing–there is a good chance your site is NOT optimized.

This is because title and description tags form such a basic part of SEO that if they are not handled correctly, it is a good bet that nothing else has been done correctly, either!

Visitor Interaction Opportunities

Another thing to check for is visitor interaction opportunities, such as a Contact Us form, newsletter or blog sign-up form, social media integration, or an active blog that people can comment on. This is because search engines love to see movement and action on your site: new pages, new blogs, newsletter sign-ups, etc.

The more people interact with your site, the higher you will rank in search engine results!

If your website is thoroughly optimized, congratulations. If it isn’t, now is a great time to get started.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this process, please contact me.