Why Build a Website with SEO in mind?

Building a website is like building a car. SEO is the engine that gets you where you want to be.

Does internet marketing and SEO confuse you? You are certainly not alone. When a digital marketer starts throwing terms like “LSI Keywords” or “Google Algorithms” at you, your eyes may begin to glaze over!

Yes, website design, SEO and digital marketing can be some complex subjects to wrap your head around. In a recent conversation with a client of mine who owns an auto body shop, I decided to explain the process of what I do in a way that he could easily relate to: Building A Car. Here is the complete analogy:

Every type of car has a specific purpose or often multiple purposes.

Race Car > Go fast AND/OR gain sponsorships
Pickup Truck > Transport things AND/OR tow things
Classic Car > Fun to drive AND/OR money investment

Every type of website has a specific purpose or often multiple purposes.

E-Commerce > Sell products AND/OR promote a brand
Local Business > Bring in customers AND/OR educate customers
Hobby Blog > Just for fun AND/OR share stories with others

The FIRST step to building a car is to know what the purpose of the car will be.. just like The FIRST step of building a website is to know what its purpose will be!

If you have a local business, your website can be used to bring in foot traffic, book appointments, educate your customers, pre-qualify potential clients, and build an email list to re-market to in the future!

Once you determine the purpose of your website / car, then you can move forward with a goal in mind. This helps you choose the BEST components to design it from the ground up!

License Plate = Domain Name Registration (www.yourdomainhere.com)

Make and Model of the car = Branding / Logo Design

Material of Frame = Website Builder (Wix, WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace, Joomla etc.)

Style of Frame = Website Design (Scrolling, Modern, Classic etc.)

Interior = Content (Copy, Videos, Photos, etc.)

Tires = On-Site SEO i.e. optimizations done within your website that Google looks for when ranking a site (Keywords, Title Tags, URL Structure, Fast Load Speeds, Mobile Friendly etc.)

Engine = Off-site SEO i.e. actions taken outside of your website to increase Google search ranking (Link building, social media, directory listings)

These are the components of our CAR / WEBSITE. However, what good is a car with no road to drive on? Similarly, what good is a website, if it cannot be found on Google?

Road = Google (Puts you in front of customers/consumers; gets you to where you want to be!)

The Road has RULES!

If you run a lot of traffic lights, you will get kicked off of the road! If you build a ton of spammy links to get traffic to your site, Google will detect this, and can lower your ranking and even de-index (remove you from the search engine completely).

Just like the many traffic laws we have to keep everyone safe, Google wants to display the most relevant results to its users to create the best user experience possible. They are the number one search engine in the world, and they want to keep it that way! Google determines the most relevant results for a specific search word or phrase by using a complex point system, or algorithm. This system weighs over 200 different factors for each website that is listed within its index.

Some factors that Google looks at are worth more points than others. Relevant factors can also change on a regular basis as well. For example, having a mobile friendly website is a huge factor that Google now considers when assigning points to determine rank, but before smart phones were so popular, this wasn’t even on the list.

These algorithms are constantly being updated and changed, just like the traffic laws are constantly being modified to keep up with public safety issues, new zoning, etc. Many states now give tickets for texting while driving, as an example.

For a car, the engine must be maintained or it will not function. This is also true for Off-Site SEO, and why it is an ongoing process. If you do not stay on top of your maintenance, you will loose your rankings to other companies that are diligently maintaining their SEO!

For businesses that want to start 2020 off the right way, feel free to contact us for a FREE website evaluation.

Happy New Year!