What You Need to Know
We're not going to say, here's how to make your website #1 on Google. It's hardly practical, and not likely feasible for a small business owner. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a constantly changing field, and there is no right answer for arriving and staying at the top. However, the following SEO recommendations will allow search engines to find and index your site, and help put you in front of prospective clients. Please note: Changes may take a while to have an effect—up to several weeks—so be patient and know that better ranking takes time and investment.
- Establish a Baseline
- Check Your Content
- Add Meta Tags and Alt Text
- Add Your Site to Directories
- Get Incoming Links
- Submit Your Site to Search Engines
- Explore Paid Search
1. Establish a Baseline
Your first step should be to set up a free Google Analytics account to establish a baseline of your website traffic and see where your visitors are coming from. Use it to monitor your search engine ranking while you work your way through the recommendations below. After a few weeks, check again and make adjustments based on what you learn.
2. Check Your Content
Content is king when it comes to SEO, because search engines read your entire website.
Be Specific
Ensure each page has specific, detailed information about what you do and the services you offer. The default content that comes with the ABMP Web Builder is a good place to start, but customize it to make it specific to your practice. Example: Rather than say, “I do massage,” say, “I offer Swedish massage, relaxation therapy, and hot stone massage in Wheat Ridge, Arvada, and Golden, Colorado.”
Add Links Within Your Site
Link keywords to other pages/content on your website. Search engines primarily look for unique, meaningful keywords. Linking keywords to other pages on your site (or even to external websites) will help search engines understand the relevance of your content. Example: If your homepage says, “The benefits of massage are physical and psychological,” link the words benefits of massage to your “Benefits of Massage” page that includes the full list.
Have a Target Audience
Decide exactly who your target market is, and make sure the information on your website speaks directly to those people. Consider the location, demographics, pain points, and needs of your current and potential clients. Example: If your forte is sports massage in Denver, you may single out skiers in the fall: Ski season is just around the corner! Make sure your body is ready going into the season, and maintains strength and stays injury-free throughout the season, with sports massage twice a month.
Update Often
Search engines like seeing that a website is regularly updated. You can do small things, like add monthly specials, announce community events, or write a blog with weekly health tips. (Blog entries don’t have to be long. In fact, they’re easier to read if they’re just a couple of paragraphs.) Set a recurring reminder in your calendar to change or add content on your website every two weeks.
3. Add Meta Tags and Alt Text
Meta tags are words in your website’s source code that summarize, and are specific to, each page on your website. Search engines catalog this information, so it’s important to include meta tags. In the Website Builder, for each page you will see fields for the following meta tags.
Title Tags
This is the information listed in the browser window, and it becomes the title on your search engine listing. It's especially important for your homepage. Use Title Case for your title tags, and keep the description concise, as search engines only display a certain number of characters (Google cuts off titles after 66 characters). Example of homepage title tag: Jane’s Massage Company in Denver, Colorado, Certified Massage Therapist Jane Doe. Example of “Benefits of Massage” page title tag: Benefits of Massage at Jane’s Massage Company, Denver, Colorado.
Keyword Tags
Keywords should be 10–15 words or phrases, separated by commas. These don't show up on your page, but are used by search engines. For best results, keywords must be an accurate reflection of the content on that page. When you choose keywords, include your city and state and your most popular services. Then add other relevant terms specific to that particular page. Examples of keywords for a “Services & Rates” page: Jane’s Massage Company, Denver, Colorado, Jane Smith, Swedish massage, hot stone massage, sports massage, deep tissue massage, competitive prices, therapeutic massage services. You can find more advice for building your keyword list at https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453981.
Description Tags
This is the sentence that will appear with your page’s listing in a search engine result. It should be limited to about 200 characters. Example of a homepage description tag: Jane’s Massage Company provides hot stone massage, deep tissue massage, sports massage, and relaxation massage. Addressing back pain, stress management, migraine relief, and muscle soreness. Feel better today!
Alt Text
Short for alternative text, alt text is a description of a photo or other image on your page. Search engines read alt text. To add alt text: In the Website Builder, once you’ve added your image, right-click on the image and select Insert/Edit Image. Then, in the “Image Description” field, type in a short description of what this image shows.
Examples:
- Jane Smith gives a client a Swedish massage.
- Hot stone therapy is one of the specialties at Jane’s Massage Company.
- Jane’s Massage Company logo.
4. Add Your Site to Directories
There are many free, local online directories where you can add your business information. These include Google Places, Yelp, Bing, Yahoo Local, Angie’s List, Yellow Pages, Citysearch, and more. Take the time to set up a listing on some of them, with a link to your website.
Make sure the link you provide in your listing begins with https (not http), and does not include www. For example, use https://lakeside.massagetherapy.com, rather than http://www.lakeside.massagetherapy.com. This is important, due to changes in recent years to the way search engines and browsers decide whether a site is secure or not. If you added your site to directories several years ago, it is worth checking this and updating it if necessary.
5. Get Incoming Links
Incoming links (when other sites link to your site, or people share your site on social media) indicate to search engines that your website is relevant for a specific topic. The more of these you can get, the better, as long as they are relevant and legitimate. One thing you should NOT do is spam your website link all over the Internet to artificially raise the number of visits. Search engines can tell when this is being done and it will hurt your search ranking, not help it.
Things to do:
- Add social media sharing buttons to every page of your website. With one click, readers can share your site on their own Facebook, Twitter, or other social media page. Visit the Web Builder Help for details on how to add sharing buttons.
- Add your website address to your listing on Massagetherapy.com’s Referral Service (and check your other contact details are correct).
- Reach out to other local business and ask if they will provide a link to your site on their resources page. Consider real estate agents, chiropractors, business associations, your local Chamber of Commerce, etc.
- Create short videos about the benefits of massage, health tips, and client testimonials. Post on YouTube (and your website), and include links back to your website.
6. Submit Your Site to Search Engines
To help search engines find you faster, submit your site and your sitemap. The Web Builder automatically creates your sitemap for you, but you still need to submit it.
The website address for your site should begin with https (not http), and should not include www. For example, use https://lakeside.massagetherapy.com, rather than http://www.lakeside.massagetherapy.com. This is important, due to changes in recent years to the way search engines and browsers decide whether a site is secure or not. If you submitted your site to search engines several years ago, it is worth checking this and updating it if necessary.
The website address for your sitemap will be your website name with /sitemap.xml added to the end; for example, https://lakeside.massagetherapy.com/sitemap.xml. If you visit this page yourself, it may look strange. Don’t worry. It’s for search engines, not people.
Things to do:
- Submit your site to Google: https://search.google.com/search-console. You will need to sign up for Google Search Console if you haven't already. Once signed up, follow the instructions to submit your sitemap, and to set up as many of the other Search Console functions as you wish to use.
- Submit your site to Bing and Yahoo: www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url
- Submit your sitemap to Bing and Yahoo: Sign in to www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster. You will need to create a Bing account if you don’t already have one, go to the Dashboard, and look for the “Sitemaps” widget.
7. Explore Paid Search
Don't try this until you have completed all the previous steps and waited to see results from them. Once you have the basics in place, paid search can be a great next step. Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines offer paid keyword advertising, which guarantees your ad will appear near the top of the results (clearly marked as a sponsored link) whenever someone searches for your chosen keyword(s).
One big advantage is that you can target just your local area. If you’re in Boston, clients in Honolulu aren’t useful to you, so you only want your ad to appear if the person searching for massage is also in Boston.
Keyword buying works on a bidding system. When you create your ad, you’ll choose the wording you want searchers to see, then place bids on 10–20 keywords that will trigger your ad to appear when someone searches for one or more of them. You’re competing for those keywords with any other business that has placed a bid to use them. A bid that’s too low might mean your ad never gets a chance to appear. The prices involved can be small, ranging from cents to a couple of dollars, and there are online tools available at the links below to help you decide which keywords to try and how much you should bid for them. Be sure to set a maximum amount, say $100, so you’re never in danger of accidentally spending more than you intended. Once you’ve spent that amount, the ad expires.
Like all online advertising, trial and error is the way to go. Start with two or three different versions of your ad. Use the monitoring tools provided by the service to analyze how well each performs for a few days, and adjust your keywords or ad wording based on the results. For more information on Google advertising, visit https://www.google.com/adwords/. For more information on Yahoo and Bing advertising, visit http://advertising.microsoft.com/small-business/home.