Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
A focused SEO strategy will bring more online attention and website traffic to your organization.
The underlying steps of SEO begin by coding your content so that search engines better understand what your website is about and thereby serve up better search results.
The next piece of a SEO strategy is captivating your users with interesting, usable information once they arrive to your website.
A brief explanation of SEO
At its basic level SEO insures search engine crawlers index your site properly so that your website appears on search results pages relevant to the user’s search query.
The next level of SEO is to increase awareness of your message online, meet stakeholder expectations, and/or meet other website objectives.
Other levels of SEO would entail some or all levels of competition.
The efforts of SEO, however, should be with the mindset of showing up in the first few search results locally, nationally, or globally, or increase awareness in niche industries, whether for e-commerce, authority and recognition, lead acquisition and marketing, or for educational influence.
Advantages of an SEO strategy
When visitors see that your site meets their expectations after they find you on a web search, this means your usability is solid. The ultimate work of SEO is to increase website usability so that once you can bring the right people in from relevant related search results, they find what they were looking for and you keep them interested in your work.
The purpose of your website should be clearly defined so that you can make sure you can achieve this underlying structure.
SEO provided for a Website Design or Redesign
Integral to website design projects by CCB Creative is good structure to make your primary content easily understood by search engines and ultimately your audience. This would include, as is possible working with the client, clearly defining the topic on the page, title and header tags, and alt tags for images. Other onsite strategies include cross linking, meta descriptions, landing pages, and layout structure.
Onsite SEO Services
Going beyond these basic onsite services, onsite SEO would also utilize targeted keywords, continue the meta data work, and incorporate cross-linking.
CCB Creative can provide onsite SEO for you
— in an agreed set of training sessions;
— as a package to optimize specific pages on your website;
— or as a consultant regularly maintaining your onsite needs and providing analytic reports
(starting at $565 monthly for individual enterprises and small organizations, and could also include offsite SEO described below).
Offsite SEO Services
CCB Creative offers offsite SEO research, analysis, and keyword research. If your goals are about building an online presence, you’ll need a combination of the following: relevant inbound links, a social media presence, blogging, PPC campaigns, and an engagement with websites in your industry with authority.
For enterprise projects, we’ll work together to build an SEO team to meet your goals and help you land top ranking for targeted search results.
Below are more details that outline the work of SEO.
Contact CCB Creative today about SEO services.
A basic outline for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
On-Page Optimization
1. Head Section Order
Proper order and best practices for Meta tags in the header section of each web page — this is what searchers see on a search results page.
2. Title Tag
Meta data: Approximately 55-65 characters including spaces, this is the title of the browser window – enticing information as this title and the description tag (#3 below) are what’s displayed on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) and what users will see who are searching for topics relevant to your website.
3. Description Tag
Meta data: The description tag should be a compelling, enticing description about the topic of the web page (approximately 156 characters including spaces as this is the space allotted and what the users will be able to read on search results pages).
Side note: Don’t forget to make the title and description compelling as this text assists in conversions – or clicks to your website. You don’t want to waste your prime real estate in the SERP with stale copy.
4. Heading Tags
Good SEO structure – one primary heading, followed by appropriate secondary headings as needed for the primary topic of the web page.
5. Overall Word Count
While word count is a technical aspect, focus first on robust coverage of your website topics that prove your subject matter expertise. Quality content is key.
6. Alt Attributes with Keywords
The American with Disabilities Act says you should always describe the image on the page for the vision impaired. And this practice also applies to search engines.
7. Best Practices for URLs
Readable, memorable, website address for home page and all internal website pages.
8. Fully Qualified Links
Outbound links from website are linking properly, and to relevant, reputable websites.
9. Make JavaScript/CSS External
script code is not primary content a search engines crawls.
Sitewide Optimization
10. Site Map
XML Sitemap you submit to search engines.
11. Text Navigation
Verify proper text navigation, logical for users and search engines.
12. Make Robots.txt File
It’s important this file exists, even if it’s empty. The Robots.txt file is a guide to search engine crawlers.
Offsite SEO
13. Keyword Strategy
The keyword strategy is an ongoing process as trends in your industry change, and as technology changes. A Keyword strategy begins with intensive research to find the right keywords for you and then how to use them naturally within your website — as always your interesting content is what prevails, keywords should simply support your efforts to improve or assist with SEO rankings.
14. Web Analytics
Being able to measure the traffic on your website is an important factor for your SEO strategy. Monitoring your traffic will help you determine how to improve your findability for particular types of searches.
15. Linking Strategy
Or called Link Building: your inbound/outbound links should be part of an organic, natural strategy in compliance with search engine guidelines.
16. Server Configuration
Regularly check your server, looking for 404 errors (page not found), 301 redirects and other errors.
17. Set Up a Webmaster Tools Account for Google
Webmaster Tools accounts for Google provides site owners insight into how search engines view their sites with reports on issues like crawl errors and penalties.
A. Check Crawl Errors Reported
B. Review Mobile Usability Issues
C. Analyze Your Site Traffic Against Known Google Algorithm Updates
D. Improve Site Speed and Performance – Check PageSpeed Insights in Google Webmaster Tools
to analyze and improve a website’s performance.