This is the 3rd part of our blog series about SEO basics.
If you haven’t read the first 2 I suggest starting with these.
SEO Blog Part 1: Where to start
SEO Blog Part 2: What to focus on
Now that we have a better understanding of SEO, what to focus on, and where to start let’s go over the common myths and misconceptions I have seen overwhelmed, mislead, or distract clients. My goal is to save you stress and time, as well as to help you focus on what matters most when growing your online presence.
Myth 1: Platform Matters
One of the main misconceptions attached to SEO is that platform matters. When I say platform, I mean whether your site is built with Zibster, WordPress, Wix, or another company. Google doesn’t rank you based on what platform your site is built on, it mainly cares about if your site is mobile-friendly, how fast it loads, and if you have SEO data in place (and what that data includes).
The only things that matter with your platform are:
MOBILE-FRIENDLY
If your platform isn’t mobile-friendly you will be penalized because more users access sites on mobile devices and Google indexes this first. Zibster sites are fully mobile friendly and work across all devices.
SPEED & SSL
A website should load quickly for the best engagement opportunity and for Google’s approval. Speed can vary from platform to platform and your content (text and images) can affect this as well. The best tool to test your site’s speed is Google PageSpeed Insights. Make sure you have good hosting for the best speeds and also make sure you have an SSL certificate so your website is secure. This will become more important to Google over the next year. At Zibster we have you covered for both security and speed! You get an SSL included for free with a Zibster website and we have also done testing that shows we are the fastest platform around.
Button: Learn more about Zibster Speeds
SEO TOOLS
You need a website platform that has SEO tools built in so you can easily customize metadata for every page of your website.
With Zibster your website has auto SEO tools built-in and you have the ability to customize your metadata for every page on your website for the best results.
Myth 2: Alt Text is Necessary
Alt text is a big topic in the SEO community, and although it can be helpful, it is usually used in a way that hurts your SEO results more than helps it. Take a look at the points below to understand what alt text is and how you can get the best results on your Zibster website.
First off, what is alt text?
Alt text is the text associated with an image that Google can see/crawl. Alt text should be unique to every image and should describe the image as if you were describing it to someone who is blind. It is important not to stuff keywords into alt text as this can actually hurt your search engine rankings.
Can I add alt text to my website?
You can set up alt text, titles, and caption options on your images once you upload them. You don’t need to embed information in your images before you upload them to Zibster.
What will get the best results?
Making sure to not keyword stuff is key for alt text success. The safest way to do this is to include the keywords you want to be found for in the back end metadata of your site and to include the keywords naturally in the text on that page. Don’t force it!
If you use keywords too much in titles, captions, and alt text the site will be flagged as spammy and Google will think you are trying to trick the system, which they are not a fan of.
Myth 3: SEO is Quick and Easy
There are many different SEO strategies and services out there, but the one thing to look out for is anyone promising results or guaranteeing an easy solution. I wish SEO had a magic solution, but the only way to grow your presence and improve your rankings is with time and persistence. The best tips I have for you are:
DON’T LOSE FOCUS
Focus on the basics and build a good structure for your website and SEO. No matter how many things change these basics will always be important: (1) content, (2) metadata, and (3) marketing.
TIME & CONSISTENCY
Don’t get discouraged! SEO takes time to build and Google looks for consistency. To build credibility with Google and other search engines that will last, you need to market your business, encourage reviews, and blog consistently (read: set yourself up on a schedule).
ANALYZING
SEO is not a one-time thing. To get the best results, you have to continue to monitor, update, and set goals based on how your users are responding.
You can manage SEO on your own, but when running a business sometimes you only have so much time and SEO can be time-consuming. If you want a partner you can trust to work on your SEO, sign up for our SEO GO service! Our team will optimize your website for you, provide monthly reports on how the site is doing, audit your marketing efforts, and will help determine what you can focus on for growth.
Have questions? Give us a call at 1.844.353.3412 to learn more about the SEO Go service and talk about how we can help you achieve your goals.
0 Comments