February 2021: My Guide to SEO Basics
This month’s edition of The Good Stuff is devoted to SEO basics. When I ask nonprofit and small business clients about their SEO strategies, I usually get a reaction something like this:
As with anything in digital marketing, once you come out from hiding and the fear dissipates, you will find that SEO basics aren’t all that complicated. You can fall in love—or at least in like—with improving your search rankings and boosting your organic traffic.
Let’s Start With the Best News: You Don’t Need Some Big, Hunky Budget to Make SEO Happen
There are a multitude of fancy, expensive SEO tools available for purchase if you intend to dive deep into your website’s SEO. They have salespeople who will court you with lavish demos and shower you with promotional emails. They will make you feel special.
For those of you just starting out, resist the temptation. You don’t need a bouquet of lilies and roses. A box of free Google tools will do. (If and when you’re ready for a paid tool, get in touch and I’ll be happy to recommend my favorites.)
Below are the 4 FREE steps every business and organization should take to get started with SEO:
Step 1: Set up a Google Search Console Account
Another Google tool? I feel you, but this one is important for SEO and it only takes a minute to create an account. Google Search Console can also connect with your Google Analytics to pull in some helpful SEO reports.
In Google Search Console, click “Performance” on the lefthand side. This will take you to a dynamic report where you will be able to see:
👉 which “queries” (AKA search terms AKA keywords) people are using most frequently when your website appears in Google Search Results
👉 which queries are driving people to actually click through from Google to your website
👉 where you currently rank in Google Search Results for each of these queries (lower is better—you’re aiming for Position 1!)
👉 how many overall impressions and clicks your website is receiving from Google searches
👉 which pages of your website are receiving the most—and the least—traffic from Google searches
You can set the timeframe in Google Search Console to look at a 3-month, 6-month, or custom window, to see how your SEO game is changing over time. You can also compare time periods to see, say, how your 2020 search traffic, clicks, and positioning compared to 2019. Use this data as a benchmark to work from and monitor your progress over time.
Step 2: Use Google Search Console to Determine Your Best (and Almost There) Queries
In the same Performance report, click on “Position” to filter for the queries you currently rank the highest for (closest to 1).
Any queries you’re ranking in Position 1-5 for are great; this means you’re ranking at or close to the top half of Page 1! Your business or organization’s name will likely be in Position 1 or close to it. If not, that’s a problem.
Now that you’ve determined your best queries, keep scrolling. Which keywords are you ranking between a 5 and a 20 for? These are big opportunities for you; you’re almost there. Select a handful of these queries that are most relevant to your work and make a plan to integrate them into select, highly relevant pages of your website—including your homepage if there’s a way to weave them in naturally.
Step 3: Use Google Keyword Planner to Research New Target Keywords
You’ve used Google Search Console to understand how your website is currently performing from an SEO perspective, as well as which queries are your current star and where some opportunities lie.
Are there also search queries that should be pointing people to your website that you didn’t see in Search Console? This is where you can have some fun doing keyword research.
The process goes a little something like this:
🤔Do a bunch of brainstorming in a spreadsheet. Try to get inside the minds of your target customers, clients, or donors. What might they be Googling that should lead them to you?
💻 Now, plug these ideas into the Keyword Planner tool within the Google Ads platform (or you can also use a free trial of a tool like Moz Keyword Explorer), to determine: A) whether people are searching for these keywords at all and B) if they are, how competitive they are.
💎 Select 10-20 keywords that have some search volume (ideally more than 100 searches/month on average) and a low competitiveness score. These are your sparkling diamonds—people are searching for these queries and you have an opportunity to show up in the #1 spot!
🗓️ Make a plan to incorporate these target keywords thoughtfully into your website. This may include creating new landing pages, updating existing pages, updating page titles and meta descriptions…
which brings us to the next and final step.
Step 4: Improve Your Meta Titles & Meta Descriptions
When people Google and you show up, what do they see? They see a clickable title with a brief description below. Google doesn’t just come up with these titles and descriptions, they’re pulled in from your website and you can edit them! Here’s what it looks like when you Google my name:
Meta Title = “Caroline Fothergill | Marketer on a Mission”
Meta Description = “Marketing and communications consultant for growing nonprofits and social impact organizations. Here to help with strategy, messaging, copywriting, …”
I wrote these to clearly describe what I do and to include specific, attainable keywords such as “marketing and communications consultant for nonprofits.”
It’s critical to give these titles and descriptions some love so they’re clear, inviting, and keyword-driven. When you do this, more people will click, which makes Google notice you and bump you up in search results.
Start with your homepage and work your way through the other pages of your site, beginning with those that receive the most organic search traffic—which you can find in Google Analytics or in your new Google Search Console account!
Depending on what platform your website is built on (WordPress, Squarespace, etc.) you will edit these in a slightly different place. Here’s a good explainer article with a lot more information on how to write meta titles and descriptions well.
At the Start of Your Relationship With SEO, Take it Slow
I know SEO can feel highly technical and therefore daunting, but the basics are as simple as this:
What are people Googling when your website pops up near the top of Page 1? How can you maintain these wins?
What do people Google that you want to rank highly for, but you aren’t there yet?
What do people see when your website shows up in search results? Do your meta titles and descriptions clearly explain your work and make people want to date you—I mean, click through?
If your head is still spinnin’, I can help. An SEO Starter Kit is a service package I offer that covers all of the steps described above. I do the research for you, develop a simple implementation plan for you to run with, and write meta titles and descriptions for your most important pages. You can’t buy love, but you can buy my support. 💝
Feel free to reach out with any questions, and may the rest of your month be filled with self loving & chocolate gorging.
P.S. Tomorrow, tune into the Accidental Techie Facebook page at 12:30 EST for a convo with me and the fabulous Maureen Wallbeoff about Facebook & Instagram advertising! It will be nonprofit focused with helpful tips for all. We’ll talk budgets, targeting, and hidden gem techniques to get great results.
P.P.S. If you haven't watched Bridgerton yet and need a V-Day weekend activity, I recommend it—if you couldn't tell from the email theme!
