I received an email from someone who is looking to update their website this past week, so I took at look at their existing site. And what I saw really made me angry, especially from the perspective of search engine optimization. Their existing website was a horrible example of what works for SEO today (especially for local businesses), and in my opinion, is just another example of lazy website design and implementation.
So, in order to help other local businesses find the right company to work with so they can have some success with local SEO, here are the top five things you should look for when searching for a website design company. And, I’ll use this website as an example (without mentioning domain names to protect the innocent).
- Meta Tags: On this site, the only meta tag being used is the Title tag. There are three different meta tags that should be used (at a minimum) to make your site more appealing for search engines – the Title tag, the Description tag, and the Keywords tag, with the Title being the most important. You can check out the usage of these tags by viewing the page source for a page. In Firefox, it’s under the View tab. The Title tag will be near the top and you want to make sure it is desriptive of the main keywords for your business. So, for example, if you are a realtor in Pepperell, MA, you would want to have that in your Title tag at a minimum. In addition, the Description tag is used by search engines as the description for your page. If it’s not there, the search engine will pull some text from the page, which may not be very targetted for what you are trying to accomplish. Finally, the Keywords tag just gives you one more opportunity to let the search engines know a little more about the content on that page. NOTE: Every page should have targetted Title, Description, and Keywords information – don’t use the same meta tags throughout the entire site.
- Google Local Business Listing: When I searched for this business in Google, they did not show up in the Google Local Business listings (those listings next to a map at the top of the search results when you search geographically) until the third page. Businesses in surrounding towns showed up before them! There’s a few reasons, but the biggest is that they have not claimed their listing. You should always make sure you own the listing and its easy to claim by clicking on the listing for your business and then clicking on the “Business Owner?” link on the top right of the listing. In this case, the address is wrong, and the only review they have associated with the listing is a 1-star negative review. I know the business, and they have hundreds of satisfied customers. If they claim the listing, they can make sure they have some of their satisfied customers post reviews.
- Incoming Links: When I did a quick search for links coming into the site (by going to Google and typing “links:www.domainname.com”) it came back with seven links – one of which was from their own site, and the rest were just garbage. With the number of great directories out there, and the number of businesses that this company interacts with, there’s no reason not to have a lot of links coming back to the site. Sites like www.yelp.com and www.insiderpages.com offer free listings for businesses, and an opportunity for customers to rate the business. And, since they have a ton of satisfied customers, they can ask them to rate their business on these sites, improving their standing with Google and other search engines.
- Good Content: Finally, the content on the site is plain vanilla. When you create the content on your site, you need to think not only of the search engines, but how visitors will interact. Determine what is it that they are searching for in looking for a business like yours, and tailor the content for them. And make it easy for them to find it on your site. If you have some flagship content, make sure they can see it on the home page, and probably every other page. Become the most valuable resource for information about your type of business in the community, and you start to build your online reputation, and that results in offline reputation as well.
After seeing this site, I’ve decided I’ll put up some tutorials on how to handle each of these issues. Today, there’s no reason why any website design company you choose shouldn’t be making these types of suggestions from the initial meeting. And, you should be checking their portfolio of clients to make sure that they are following these basics – if they don’t have them covered with existing clients, there’s no reason to believe they will be able to do the right things for you.
If you have any questions or comments, let me know. I’d love to see your thoughts, and suggestions, and am going to do my best to make these tutorials valuable for you and your business.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Amen!
this is unfortunately the most common type of business website out there.
Most frustrating to me is the fact that so many local businesses can have relevant and yes – interesting information on their sites at no additional cost – IF they bother to write it.
It is as if they are waiting for an ineffective website to suddenly sprout wings and make them money.
Simple tools like free giveaways, autoresponders, audio messages and video are completely overlooked. I have more than once heard it expresses that they will use those tools- as the icing on the cake,
I have set up an example successful local business marketing page to show businesses just how effective these tools can be – because trying to explain it was so frustrating. I fell you pain – and I feel thiers too.
I am hoping that soon, business will understand that what is behind the website matters too.
Hey Jan,
I agree with you on the simple tools. There’s so much that a local business can do to position themselves as the local expert in their field – great free content delivered via PDF, audio, or video – and very few web design companies are talking about this (at least outside of major agencies). Many small businesses don’t have a huge budget for online marketing, but if they don’t start working on their web presence, some competitor will come along and eat their lunch with very little effort.
Thanks for the link,
Chuck
Hi Chuck,
I agree with you there are some frustrating websites out there! Makes you wonder what anyone was thinking. I totally agree with your first point that meta tags should be default for any new web design done. However, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m gathering that claiming businesses within Google Local and incoming links from websites like Yelp, seems more like Local SEO work and is separate from design work. Perhaps the client did not elect to have local seo work done through their website design company or it’s not a service that’s offered from the design firm or wasn’t a service that was budgeted for, etc?
Good basic local tips, nonetheless.
Take care,
Danielle
Hey Danielle,
You’re right that Google Local and other directory links are not really website design, but are instead part of a local SEO strategy. The reality, however, is that if you’re going to be designing a website for a company, especially a local business, then SEO should be built into your proposal. The simple tactics I mention – meta tags, Google Local Business Center, and some incoming links – are not high-ticket items by themselves. There’s no reason that a website design company can’t do these simple tasks, and a lot of very good reasons why a local business can’t or won’t do these tasks (they are too busy, they have no idea of how or why, they expect their website to show up in local searches).
My argument is that if you’re going to be a website designer today, and you’re going to be building websites for small businesses who have no idea of how to upload files via FTP, let alone handle search engine optimization, then they should hire or partner with someone who does. Or, they should learn these basics as soon as possible.
Thanks for the comment!
Chuck
A good article, and I wish more small businesses (and more web designers!) would take it to heart/
I would argue, though, that the Keywords meta tag is virtually useless. Google explicitly states that it completely ignores the keywords meta tag.
It’s about the only place you should employ common mis-spellings of your keywords and is relatively easy to implement, but I wouldn’t castigate anyone for omitting that meta tag.
Hi Bill,
I agree that it’s not all that useful for SEO ranking purposes, but I like the discipline of thinking of keywords as you develop the content. It helps me focus on the basics if I include them every time I post on my blogs. And who knows if Google is going to do a 180 degree turn and have them mean something at some point in the future? I figure if I include them now, and take the extra 60 seconds, it’s worth the time.
Thanks for the comment!
Chuck
submitting to local directory also works