Providing SEO Services

The first kind of service we are going to discuss is search engine optimization or SEO. When you do a search with one of the search engines it returns results relevant to the keyword that you entered. Each one of the search engines uses a complex algorithm to calculate the results. Many of these ranking factors are secret, but don't worry we will show you some of the important factors to help your clients.

One of the easiest factors to adjust is the website itself. There are special tags that you can insert into the html called meta tags. These meta tags contain information about the website, so that the search engine has an idea about what topic the website is about. The first tag is called the "title" tag and it is the title of the website that shows up in the top of your browser window. So, if the company is a named "Bob's Reliable Plumbing" then a great title would be "Bob's Reliable Plumbing - Atlanta, GA." Try to keep the title less than 100 characters long.

Next up is the "description" tag and just like the name implies, this is the description for the website. Many search engines use this to display the summary of your website in the search results. So, using the previous example, a good description would be "Bob's Reliable Plumbing offering 24 hour service in Atlanta, GA and surrounding areas. Call 555-555-5555 and schedule an appointment today." It is a really good idea for local businesses to put the phone number in the description so that it shows in the search results. The last meta tag is the keywords tag. This is a comma separated list of keywords for the website. A good example would be "Bob's Reliable Plumbing, plumber, plumber Atlanta, leaky faucet, slow drain, 24 hour plumber, cheap plumber."

After the website has been optimized for the search engines it is time to address one of the most important factors for search engine rankings. The most important factor is the external back links or the number of other websites that link back to the website. The search engines see these links as votes for the popularity of the website. The best kind of back links to have are from websites that are in the same type of niche. So, if you are a plumber then it would be best to get links from other similar websites that have to do with plumbing. For many local businesses, the best place to get links is from their local suppliers. Another good place to get links is from local business directories. These websites usually allow businesses to list for free and provide basic information about their company.

Now that you have an idea of SEO services that you can provide it is important to set expectations for your client. It is never a good idea to promise a particular ranking such as top 5 in Google. The search engines are always updating the results and it will take up all your time just to keep up with one client. Instead it is best to offer improvement in the clients and increase traffic from the search engines. The SEO services that you provide should be rolled up in your overall plan for the client.

Up next we will explore some more service offerings for you client.