For many businesses, and particularly e-commerce enterprises, their websites are their most powerful marketing tool and are unquestionably the key to success in the hotly contested digital space.
But remember, good website design is as much about satisfying the search engines as it is about satisfying the user. A website has to be properly structured with the right pages and the right content to get noticed where it counts – at the top of the search engine rankings. Good design is also important to make a site appealing to the user on a practical level. The website needs to be good to look at, engaging, quick and easy to navigate and simple for someone to transact on.
This article highlights which website pages are essential for SEO and provides some insights into the do’s and don’ts for each of these key pages.
Your home page should make your online audience feel….at home. It should reassure visitors that they are in the right place and it should establish credibility and trust. It should be sufficiently compelling and interesting so as to hold visitors’ attention, educate them if need be and encourage them to go deeper into your site.
Google and the other search engines will also be looking at your home page to see if it accurately reflects your business. Credibility and trust are as important to the search engines as they are to your online audience. In fact, Google has announced a heightened focus on E-A-T (Expertise, Authority and Trust) as a key ranking factor, so if you’re serious about SEO, you need to include elements that promote these qualities throughout your web pages.
Your about page establishes your business’s credentials as well as the credentials of your management team. It should reinforce your expertise and leadership, build your brand, show your authority and inspire trust. These are all crucial signals for the search engine rankings, so your “About Us Page’ is basically a CV for SEO!
Individual service or category (if you have an e-commerce website) pages are beneficial to your clients, but they’re also a must for SEO too. These are often some of the most important pages on the website from an SEO perspective.
It’s recommended to have a page dedicated to each service or product type that you offer (unless of course, you only have a single service offering). These pages give you the opportunity to talk to a niche audience and address any question you think customers may have in relation to the specific service.
Individual service pages also offer a great opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and authority in delivering that specific service. You can also strengthen your trust by including a review or testimonial relating directly to the service offered on that particular page.
We’ve talked about individual service pages, but it’s good for your SEO to have separate location landing pages. These are aimed at customers from the specific geographical areas that you service.
These pages should feature unique, relevant content aimed at attracting ultra local traffic. They can be particularly beneficial for businesses with bricks and mortar operations which want to promote their various locations.
Content is king for SEO. Helpful, informative and educational content that answers a user’s question (and which is a pleasure to read) is a key driver of SEO success – and you can capitalise on this with a great blog or news page.
These pages are an opportunity to showcase your industry leadership and demonstrate your E-A-T. A blog post, how-to guide or video tutorial, an article on troubleshooting or helpful tips are all ways that you can demonstrate expertise and authority to your users – and to the search engines for SEO.
These are just some of the essential pages on your website for SEO which you need in order to establish and maintain strong online visibility and a competitive business edge.
If you have an e-commerce website also check out my info-packed “Don’t Miss These Top 5 E-Commerce Tips For Successful Websites”
If you’d like to learn more about how to put SEO to work for your business, you’ll be interested in a new self-managed online DIY course, The SEO School. This course is ideal for business owners and website managers who want to learn and implement the key essentials of SEO as they progress through the modules. Find out more or book your course at The SEO School.
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