Core Site Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is where the geeky, more technical bit starts. But it’s definitely worth understanding, as you must absolutely ensure your website incorporates basic SEO (search engine optimization) elements today. Don’t worry, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know.

What is Search Engine Optimization? You are likely using a search engine when you “look up” stuff online. Search engine optimization means your website is designed to show up when other people search on things that are relevant to your site. SEO Put Simply If you’re an alpaca rancher in Tennessee, wouldn’t you want your website to stand a chance of showing up on the first page of Google when someone types in “alpacas for sale TN”? That’s what search engine optimization does for your website.

Let’s start at square one. What’s a search engine? When you type in a word or phrase to find something on the Internet, you’re using a search engine. Maybe you use Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask… Even if you don’t know which one you’re using – if you just put what you want to find in the address bar at the top of the page that opens when you access the Internet – you’re using a search engine.

You, and millions of other people around the world, are using search engines to find things online every day.

But, what few people realize is that the websites that show up on the first couple pages of the search results pages are rarely there by accident. Those websites have usually been optimized so the search engines can find and access them easily. The first few listings may be sponsored advertising, but the rest of the listings shown to you are based on how well those sites match the words you typed in – and how well the search engines were able to access the information on those sites in order to tell that.

More and more alpaca websites are using SEO. We know, because we’ve been helping alpaca farmers with SEO since 2000! And those alpaca websites without it are sinking further and further down the listings on Google...

You see, the search engines want to show results that match very closely what you’re looking for. But search engines can’t always read everything on a web site. Certain structures make it difficult for them to tell what a site is about, so they favor sites that are developed with a structure that makes it easy for search engines to scan the content and determine that the site is a very good match for what the searcher is looking for.

The structures on which your website is built, including the page code, database integration, page URLs, and so on go a long way towards ensuring how well your website can show up in the search engines.

What’s a URL? URL - that’s just another term for web address. Every page on your site has its own address. (For example, your contact page’s URL may be www.youralpacas.com/contact). How these page URLs are structured can impact how well your site shows up online in searches.

But shouldn’t any web designer know about this, you ask? Many web developers simply don’t know that those elements or technologies they’re using on your site will prove detrimental in this way. SEO requires specialized knowledge. What may have been considered effective SEO two years ago is often no longer working – and developers and designers have their own specialties to stay up to speed with.

Unfortunately, many alpaca farmers end up with websites that contain structures that deter search engines, and thus don’t stand a chance in having their website returned in the first page of someone’s search. This is a huge missed opportunity.

To give you an idea, here are a few of the problems we see every day: important text contained in design images so the search engines can’t read it, content called up from a database that’s inaccessible to search engines, code that contains a lot of unnecessary items that deter search engines, and URLs that are not search engine friendly.

Every page within your website typically has its own URL, which is the specific location of that page on the Web. Even if you have a simple website, you need to be certain all the URLs throughout your site are supporting optimal online visibility for each page.

Our web designs are programmed to ensure your URL structures are search engine friendly. This means that Google and other search engines can readily access your website pages, increasing the chances of having your site returned in search results.

Where we typically see problems with URLs is on alpaca sales listing pages…

Next feature: Your Alpaca Sales Pages

 

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