S.E.O. (dun-dun-dun!!!)
Does that word give you anxiety? Or maybe you're wondering what does SEO even mean?
Just know that you're not alone. SEO is an endless book and could be talked about for days, but in this post, I'm going to try my best and make it super easy for you.
Let's start at the beginning...
Q: What is SEO?
A: SEO stands for = Search Engine Optimization
So what does that mean? Search Engine Optimization is how you can increase traffic to your website. Ideally, organic traffic. You know, the people who do a Google search and find you on the first page?
Q: So what does SEO consist of?
A: SEO has many components such as keywords, metadata, URL links, and even social media
Let's break these down:
Keywords: are just that, key-words, that directly relate to your industry.
For example, some keywords for my industry as a web designer would be web designer, website designer, etc.
There are also Long-tail keywords which allow you to get a little more specific. These keywords include things like location, gender, and type.
For example, in my industry my long-tail keywords might be: wix web designer, wix designer denver, small business web designer
When I mentioned "type" and "gender" above, let's think of a business coach as an example. Many business coaches only work with men or women. So if a business coach only works with women and a woman is searching for a female business coach, she might search for something like "business coach for women".
"Type" for my industry applied to the keyword "Wix". I'm not just a web designer, I'm a Wix designer. Which can mean all the difference if someone is specifically looking for a Wix expert.
How to Use Keywords:
1. Use a mix of both short and long-tail keywords
2. RESEARCH your keywords - do not just guess what people are searching for!
3. Don't use a ton of high-competition keywords, you need to set yourself apart.
4. Use your keywords in your website copy - but don't just plug them in, make sure the copy flows (remember REAL people are reading this).
Let's talk tools...
Ok so now you know what SEO means and you know the difference between short and long keywords. Woohoo! See, I told you this would be easy.
Now we need to set you up with some tools that will help you pick the best keywords that are lower competition.
Research Your Keywords
One of my favorite tools to use is called Ubersuggest, this tool was created by Neil Patel (he's awesome). I like this tool because it shows me (in normal human language) 1) how often people search for my keyword, 2) how high or low the competition is, and it also 3) suggests other keywords to use that relate to my other keywords! OH, did I mention it's FREE? Yup, you're welcome. 👊
Here's a screenshot:
It shows me the search volume (which is suuuuuper high) you think that might be great until you read that the SEO Difficulty is Medium and below that he says the keyword is competitive and I'd only have a 49% chance to rank for it. Meaning, I'd have to work really really hard to try and rank for that keyword.
Or...I could keep searching and plug in some long-tail keywords and look at the suggestions and choose keywords that are far less competitive. AND not only that, they speak right to my people which are Wix people.
Take a test drive of this tool and see what you think!!
PRO TIP: You can also use Google to search for keyword ideas too. You know every time you start typing in the Google search bar and it drops down a list of recommendations? These are your keyword ideas, generally long-tail. These are things people have actually searched for which is why they appear in the search bar!
Use Wix's SEO Tools
Wix already has SEO tools built into it, how awesome is that?! Not only do I want to make SEO easy for you, so does Wix!
Alrighty, so there are a few places to add your keywords in your Wix website.
1. I already mentioned this previously, but make sure you add your keywords into your website copy.
2. The next place you'll enter them on each page in the SEO toolbar inside the Wix editor. These are referred to as your SEO Page Titles and Descriptions (meta tags).
You've probably heard the term meta tags or metadata, this is exactly what we're referring to. These are just the titles and descriptions for your pages that show up on a Google search result, it looks like this:
So here is where you enter these titles and descriptions in the Wix editor. You can also check out this Wix support article.
3. Last but not least is your alt. text.
alt. text means Alternative Text and refers to images on your website. Basically, when you submit your site to Google, Google reads through your site (or as they refer to it, "Crawls") as it reads through it looks at your titles, copy, and keywords and indexes them so they can appear in search results.
Obviously, Google cannot "read" an image. This is where your alt. text comes in. On every single one of your images, you will enter in alt. text in the Wix editor.
Your alt. text will be a combination of your keywords and business name and also keywords that relate and directly "tell" Google what the image is about. This is NOT a place for keyword stuffing - Google will realize this at some point and may penalize your SEO efforts because of it.
Here is where you enter alt. text in the Wix editor, you can also check out this Wix support article.
You'll separate your keywords with a comma so Google knows when there is a new keyword. For example 5 things every Wix website needs, Wix guide, etc. By the way - formal punctuation and capitalization do not matter with alt. text. 😉
Put it all together (your SEO plan)...
Let's summarize this to make sure you've got everything covered before jumping into Wix SEO Wiz.
First research your keywords and choose a mix of short and long-tail keywords that aren't high competition
Second add those words into your website copy in the Wix editor
Third add your page SEO Titles and Descriptions, and alt. text to your images
Finally open up Wix SEO Wiz
Wix SEO Wiz
What is the SEO Wiz you say? It's a FREE tool through Wix that helps you put the final touches on your SEO.
Once you've done all the SEO steps above, you'll initiate the Wix SEO Wiz and it will scan through your site and let you know if you have any errors. Then, it will walk you through a checklist of each page, step by step telling you what needs to be tweaked.
It looks like this:
You can access the Wix SEO Wiz inside of your Wix editor and in your Wix dashboard. Since Wix is constantly updating things I'm going to provide you with a couple of links to make sure you make it to the right place:
- Wix SEO Guide (if you want to dig into SEO even further)
Once you've completed all of the items on your checklist, then the Wix SEO Wiz will submit your site to Google for indexing! All you need is a gmail account, you sign in, and Wix does the rest. 🙌
See...easy right? You're just getting started, so don't go crazy thinking you have to know everything about SEO right now. These fundamentals will have you well on your way. Of course, I'll be sharing more posts about SEO in the future if you want to dig deeper and that Wix SEO Guide I mentioned is a great resource as well.
Until next time...Hang Loose! 🤙🏻
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