A website isn’t helpful to your clients if visitors can’t find it easily.
Optimizing the site to help search engines find it easier is key to helping visitors discover a site to begin with. You can help your clients in this area more than you might realize.
SEO is more than just keywords. Google bases a site’s rank on a number of design and coding factors. These are the areas where you can help most.
Reduce Code
Too much excess code is bad for site performance. It increases page loading times which in turn increases bounce rates. This reduces a site’s rank. Reduce HTML by placing CSS and Javascript in external files. Plus, the less code Google’s spiders have to search through, the easier it is for Google to find relevant content on the site and list it in search results.
Encourage Unique Content
Guide your clients by recommending they place unique content on every single page. Google prefers unique content and it’s better for SEO. The more unique your client’s content is, the higher it will rank for its target keywords. You may suggest a copywriter for your client or provide the service yourself.
Use A Responsive Design
Google is placing more emphasis on mobile friendly sites than ever with a new algorithm update that hit in April. With millions using mobile devices to search and browse online, Google is ranking mobile friendly sites higher for mobile users. Don’t let your clients miss out on this SEO opportunity. Use a responsive design or create a mobile version of their site. This allows the site to rank higher on mobile devices and still perform well on desktops.
Incorporate Footer Links
Footer links are not only an easy way for visitors to find major areas of the site such as contact information, help or company details, but they’re ideal for targeting keywords. These plain text links are better than Flash or Javascript because search engines can actually see them. Anchor text is great for boosting a site’s rank, but many sites prefer a more graphical approach. Adding footer links to every page pleases visitors and search engines.
Add SEO Plugins
One of the easiest ways to help your clients is by installing SEO plugins. These make it easier for your clients to optimize their content without really thinking about it. Some of the most popular plugins include:
- WordPress SEO by Yoast
- All-In-One SEO Pack
- SEO Ultimate
- Scribe for WordPress
- SEO Friendly Images (ideal for optimizing images for search engines)
From basic to more advanced optimization, these plugins offer a wide range of options to help your clients get more from their site.
Focus On Site Layout And Design
If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for easily, they’ll leave. Visitors have short attention spans. Navigation should be obvious without overwhelming visitors with numerous menu options. Of course, you can’t forget about the layout itself. For instance, if a visitor is looking for a breaking story on a news site, they want to see it front and center. Clients don’t always have time to call their developer to change the layout. Plugins like Conductor make this easy so visitors find what they need and stay on the site.
Encourage Blogging
Adding fresh, unique content to a site on a regular basis keeps visitors coming back and gives search engines even more content to list in their results. Plus, search engines like sites that update regularly. Help your clients with their SEO by adding a blog area to their site and teaching them how to use it. This training could be an add-on service along with best practices advice such as keyword research and using sub-sections. You could provide blogging services yourself or through a third party if they’d prefer not to write the content themselves.
Conclusion
You have numerous ways to help with SEO. From development to adding new content to the existing site, you can help your clients every step of the way. The better their site performs, the more likely they’ll be to continue using your services and recommending you to others.
Help your clients start off right by installing the Conductor plugin today. It’s an excellent tool for boosting SEO.