Search Engine Optimization or SEO refers to the likelihood of a visitor coming upon your website following their search on a search engine like Google. SEO is influenced by a wide variety of factors, including but not limited to the number of visits your website receives, how long visitors spend on your website, the content of the pages within your website, the blog posts within your website, and more. 

Just like website traffic can boost your SEO, so can the quality of the website traffic you receive. In other words, the longer a visitor spends on your website — the better. This shows search engines your website is a high-quality website helping people to gather the information they are looking for. As an example, if someone visits your website and clicks around to keep exploring — that’s great! On the other hand, if someone visits your website, doesn’t click to another page, and simply exits after a few seconds — that’s not so great!

There are many misconceptions surrounding Search Engine Optimization — what helps SEO, what harms SEO, and every detail in between. So, today, we want to share 3 simple, actionable ways to boost your Search Engine Optimization.

Boost Your SEO in 3 Actionable Ways

Last week, we celebrated the debut of an all-new brand story video, brand design, and web design for With Grace and Gold. This week, and through the end of February, we’re celebrating with a big sale on our Showit website templates. All of our current Showit website templates will retire to make room for our Spring 2023 Collection, so all Showit website templates are 75% off through February 28, 2023! Visit withgraceandgold.com and withgraceandgold.com/shop to see more. 

There are many misconceptions surrounding Search Engine Optimization — what can boost your SEO, what can harm your SEO, and every detail in between. That’s why, today, we want to share 3 simple, actionable ways to boost your website’s Search Engine Optimization, to help your website to be discovered organically when prospective clients are searching for a business offering your products and services. 

1. Take a less is more approach to your web design. When we approach our clients’ web designs, as well as our own web design, we take a less-is-more approach to our web design and Search Engine Optimization. When thinking of SEO, we’re not only thinking of including keywords our prospective clients will be searching for on search engines, but we’re also thinking about visitors’ experience while browsing. Comb through your existing website content, and ask yourself whether prospective clients will know they’re in the right place. Does your website answer who you are, what you do, who you serve, and if your business is location-bound, where you serve? Is your navigation menu user-friendly, so visitors have a smooth and seamless experience navigating from one page to another? Are your page names clear and concise, indicative of the content contained on them? Does each page have an engaging, yet user-friendly layout and flow, so your visitors are encouraged to keep exploring your website? Oftentimes, when business owners think of SEO, they ask, “What more can I do?” But we believe there is so much strength in solidifying what already exists — paring down and curating your existing content with purpose, adding SEO keywords to each page, photo, and brand element within your web design, and ensuring your website is creating an engaging, user-friendly experience for every visitor. We believe and have seen first-hand how having a simpler, clearer, more user-friendly website can be better optimized than a website with many unlinked pages and a vast array of content. 
2. Have a website worth linking to. When your website is linked to from other credible websites across the Internet, search engines see this as an indication that your website is credible and worthy of being explored. Like many SEO best practices, there can be too much of a good thing, so this doesn’t necessarily mean you should add blog comments with your website’s URL in them to all blog posts you come upon in the future. Instead, if your business is listed in a credible business directory, or if you are interviewed on a credible podcast and your website is linked in the show notes, such links can help to boost your Search Engine Optimization. Our recommendation is to reach out to at least one business, blog, or podcast owner who features small business owners per month to see how your business can be featured. That way, you can vet credible sources, and determine where and how you’d like your website to be linked to. 
3. Add purposeful internal links to your website, too. Similarly, links within your website can make a meaningful difference for how search engines explore, read, and understand the content of your website. As an example, when writing a blog post about a wedding you’ve recently planned, end the blog post with a call-to-action about how your blog readers can learn more about your wedding planning services, linking to your Services page. Rather than using the words ‘Click Here’ or ‘Learn More’ to link to your Services page, link words relevant to what a visitor will find when they follow the link, like “wedding planning services for couples in Virginia Beach.” These descriptive links help to enhance Search Engine Optimization, and also build value for the pages already existing within your website. 

We are so hopeful these 3 action steps equip you for success and boost your SEO — knowing boosting your SEO is like laying or strengthening the foundation of your website for future success. For a more detailed and comprehensive exploration of Search Engine Optimization, explore episodes 072, 073, and 074 — our Small Business Owner’s Guide to SEO.

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, and founders. Weekly, brief, actionable episodes will equip you to build a successful, sustainable small business.