You might be thinking, “Maybe I can learn how to do SEO on my own.”
I applaud people who desire to learn something to become more self-sufficient. It shows gumption and character. That said, I don’t suggest SEO (search engine optimization) as one of those things unless you will study it, master it, and practice it daily.
People who “do” SEO for a living constantly learn and relearn techniques to stay relevant in the ever-changing digital landscape. They also have years of experience and knowledge.
Google, for example, changes its algorithms daily, sometimes multiple times daily. This is how they keep up with consumer and societal trends, which means that having “good SEO” requires constantly optimizing your website to keep up with algorithm changes.
When it comes to search engine optimization services, it is the job of a search engine optimization specialist to know how to get the attention of bots that crawl the Internet. Hence, they favor a particular website, leading to a higher ranking in search results. Factors for this include combining the right content on a website and the technical setup of that content so your website becomes more findable.
SEO is ideally a long-term commitment, not a one-and-done situation. And since I know you want to spend your money wisely, let’s talk about five things to consider if you are contemplating SEO services.
How old is your website domain?
You might consider website search engine optimization services if you purchased your domain less than three years ago. Due to the rise of scammy sites for nefarious purposes, search engines prefer to show established websites in the top results.
However, if your domain is young, it doesn’t mean you won’t rank high. But it does mean you’ll need to do some work to catch up to older domains that have already established trusted relationships with the search engine.
Investing in SEO services means that you are strategically working to create a faster relationship with Google so that the search engine recognizes you and chooses to show your website in top results.
Have you embedded keywords into your content that people actually type into the search engine?
Especially if your website domain is new, you often won’t rank high unless you ensure the right keywords are in your website’s content for bots to find.
A search engine optimization specialist does research before starting SEO services to discover what terms people use when looking for a product or service like yours. This is done in the backend of Google, looking at search queries made in the last 30 days and knowing which terms best connect to content like yours.
Keyword research can also be done on your main competitors––seeing how they are ranking and how you can compete with them––and about your industry in general.
Research such as this leads to a comprehensive list of valuable terms for your website, and a search engine optimization agency will then embed those keyterms in your content.
How well does your site load on a mobile device?
In our digital world, a massive amount of website traffic comes from mobile devices. Search engines know this and are designed to check for loading speed and mobile responsiveness.
Mobile responsiveness means your website will automatically adjust all text and elements to your screen size. If you see things that “look weird” on your smaller devices, this is a sign that your mobile responsiveness needs help.
When bots find your website as a potential match to a query, bots score how well your site is optimized for mobile usage. If the score is low, your site may be skipped for going into top results.
At Lamplight Creatives, a technical SEO audit will show if your website needs mobile responsiveness and loading speed improvement and be added to your site’s action plan.
How much text do you have on your main service pages?
Everyone wants a clean, modern, and easy-to-use site. However, that desire often leads to choosing big pictures and short sentences.
The problem with this comes when someone makes a Google search looking for a product or service you offer, and bots don’t find enough text to understand what your website is saying. Thus, it is skipped over for top results.
Your website’s pages must meet word count minimums to properly communicate with search engines. This is, in fact, an essential element of SEO.
Pages should ideally have 500-700 words that showcase what makes you the most money.
How many services do you discuss on a single page?
To meet the “clean and modern site” goal, people often list all their services on one page without in-depth descriptions. While this is helpful for humans who want to skim content, it is not beneficial to bots.
Your primary services should have a dedicated page in your website’s navigation menu so bots have enough content to analyze and connect your site to search results.
A dedicated page for all your services also lets you answer commonly asked questions for humans. Best practice is to aim for 500-700 words on each service page.
This might seem like a lot of content to ask someone to read—and it is—but we don’t design websites for just humans. We write content for humans and bots, and bots need more words than humans most of the time.
