When it comes to websites, it seems like the biggest questions revolve around SEO rankings on Google and not the design itself, am I right?!
After all, what’s the point in a pretty website if people aren’t seeing it and you’re not getting purchases or bookings?
Totally get it.
So, in this blog post, we’re going to dive into:
First things first, what’s SEO?
Moz tell us that SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a set of practices designed to improve the appearance and positioning of website pages in organic search results.
Typically when people reach out, they tell us: “I just want to be on the first page of Google.” Well, yes, don’t we all?! But first, we have to understand two things:
Your entire website does not 'rank one on Google.' A website page can rank one on Google. It's by page, not website. That means every page on your website can be an opportunity to rank on Google.
Being able to do this depends on several factors, some of which could involve paid advertising and hiring an SEO expert. However, there are plenty of things you can do on your own to help in this effort. Just know that SEO can and does take time and effort to set up (not to mention regularly sprucing content on your site moving forward - **cough cough** blogging!).
What a lot of SEO experts don’t take into account is that a well-designed website can make a big impact when it comes to rankings.
Why is this?
Because SEO isn’t just the technical data. The design of your website can cause people to leave your site or stay longer. If they’re leaving your site quickly, it tells Google the website doesn’t answer what people are searching for and therefore it won’t show up as high in the results. That means the placement of information and the branding and all of that really does play a role in how successful your website is, even when it comes to SEO!
So, what does this mean for your pet business?
It means that it’s worth it to find a well-designed website that’s specifically designed for either your type of business or you’re finding a great designer who can do that for you!
In this blog post specifically, we’re going to focus on some quick and easy things you can do on each page of your site, also known as on-page SEO.
These items are:
Page title tags and meta descriptions
Slugs
Alt-text
Linking & Back-linking
Accessibility structure
Title tags and meta descriptions are the titles and short page summaries that show up on Google (see the example pictured below). Inside your website platform, you should be able to go into the settings for each page and write your title tag and meta description for that page. You want to make sure the title and description are organic and clearly describes what the page is all about, while also naturally including keywords so you can show up in the search results for what you do!
Slugs are the short words that come after your page’s URL. You want to keep the information in your slug to only the most important keywords so that it’s short, to the point, and describes what’s inside the page. This is also something you should be able to customize within the page’s settings of your website platform.
An example of a slug is the following bolded information within the URL:
https://www.petmarketingunleashed.com/post/customizing-your-website-template
Alt-text is the text you would use to describe images on each page of your website. This is put in place because Google can’t read your images like they can the text on your site, so this is your opportunity to describe the images on your page and help with your SEO that way! Be sure to properly describe what’s inside the image for accessibility reasons, but if you can also add in some applicable and organic keywords into play in the description, that’s awesome, too!
Linking and Back-linking are the links you’re linking to and from in your text on your website. Inbound links are when you’re linking to other pages on your website. Outbound links are when you’re linking to other reputable websites from your site. Back-linking is when your website is linked to other people’s websites. All of these things are LOVED by Google!
The Accessibility Structure of your site is also essential! Having a backend structure of your website allows people who perhaps cannot see your site visually use an e-reader to know the order of your site and what’s written on your site. You should be able to go into your site and edit the backend header structure of your site to customize this properly!
Those are a few big things that you should ensure you’re doing on each page of your website. Other than that, most website platforms have complete SEO checklists to assist you in completing the SEO settings for your site.
And, one more crucial step to your SEO...
Connect your website to Search Engine Console.
A key final essential component of your SEO is connecting your website to Search Engine Console as this is what tells Google that your site exists and that they can start indexing it and showing it in the search results.
What happens when I switch platforms? Do your website templates help us with SEO, too?
This is one of the most popular questions we get about our website templates, and it’s a 100% valid question to ask!
Our website templates are strategically built to boost the user experience, which ultimately helps keep people on your website longer and positive impacts your SEO right there alone.
The course that comes with your template, Unleashed Website Academy, has a whole module on how to set up proper SEO settings for your blog, your pages, your photos, etc. so you’re not left in the dark and you can make sure everything is properly optimized before launching your new site.
When it comes to the Wix platform SEO capabilities specifically:
Wix has tons of built-in SEO features, including the Wix SEO Wiz that gives you a complete checklist to follow to help you rank in Google.
If you want more info on Wix’s SEO capabilities, check out an article to explain it all!
Honestly, it doesn’t matter so much the platform you’re using so much as it does the quality of your content on the site itself (as Google tells us!), so we have plenty of copywriting strategies and education in our course as well to help you with just that.
Will my current rankings be affected?
We know many people have concerns regarding whether their current rank will drop once switching to a new website. This depends on many factors!
Here are some general thoughts recommended by the Breakthrough Brand Podcast!
Here's a summary:
If your website has been ranking consistently for an extended period, you will likely stay in place especially if you set everything up properly in terms of your SEO settings and you set up any necessary 301 Redirects.
If you weren’t active with your SEO and weren’t increasing or haven't been as stable in terms of ranking results, you may go down but back up quickly!
If you don't properly implement SEO settings quickly, you can also go down. You need to keep things consistent from your old website to your new website in terms of page links in order to not lose SEO traction (i.e. setting up 301 Redirects). This is something we teach on in the course that comes with our website templates as well as in our Pet Business SEO Unleashed Course.
The moral of the story - We haven’t had any issues with any students' SEO results. In fact, most students seem to increase in rankings immediately (but again, it depends on where they were before purchase).
For some further SEO resources for pet businesses, check out some of our resources:
And, of course, if you want to upgrade your website to a strategically, designed site for your specific type of pet business and learn all about SEO for your website, check out our Wix website templates for pet sitters, dog trainers, and pet photographers.
