Do you get frustrated with website SEO? It’s okay, everyone does. The fine line between being found and not being found on Google search is a bit of an oddity for content marketers, web designers, and business owners alike. Despite SEO being an extremely important element in both web design and digital marketing, it often feels like we know very little about SEO and the Google algorithms that determine what pages your potential customers will or will not see.

But, while we don’t know everything there is to know about what makes Google tick, there are very important factors about SEO that we do know. Unfortunately, all of these things may not be common knowledge. But, that’s where a guy like me comes in handy!

Here are 4 things you may not have known about SEO, but you probably should.

You are never done with your SEO

Once you’ve launched your website, or ideally before it launches, you’ve likely done at least basic website SEO, hitting your main pages. This is a really great start! However, despite what you may think your SEO efforts are not done. In fact, following good SEO practices and strategy means your website’s SEO is never done.

After you’ve launched your website, you should continue to expand through blogs and additional landing pages. These new pages don’t just increase the size of your website and provide additional avenues back to it but these pages, when optimized, help expand your SEO to new keywords you want to expand into or grow.

YOU can do SEO

Yes, I’m talking to you, dear lovely reader who has graciously taken a couple minutes out of their day to read this blog (#pandering, anyone?). Like blogging, you don’t have to be some great writer, wordsmith, or experienced web designer or content marketer to do basic website SEO.

Don’t believe me? Here, I’ll even help you get started, what a nice boy I am. Start by brewing up a list of the keywords you want to focus on in search. Once you’ve got them, either as you are writing landing page or blog post copy or when you are reviewing that content before launch, read it through and attempt to find places where those keywords can be used naturally. You never want your web copy to sound forced. As long as you have your keywords and the ability to articulate your services, you are on your way!

Secure websites get better placement

As if you needed another reason to have a secure website, websites that have been reinforced with proper security measures and are deemed “secure” by Google and other search engines will get better placement on search results. Unsecured websites, as you can imagine, can ultimately get buried or at least pushed down the list.

If you are going through the web design and SEO process, make sure your website has an SSL certificate. You can tell if a site is secured with an SSL certificate through a couple different methods. First, next to the URL, there should be a closed off area to the left. If it says “Not Secure,” you guessed it, the website isn’t secure. You can also look at the URL itself. If the site starts with “https” as opposed to the once common “http” you know the site has an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate can often be acquired through your hosting company.

Your images factor into website SEO

As you optimize the written content on your blogs and landing pages, don’t forget to optimize your images too. Image file names as well as the description or alternate text attached to it factor into your website SEO, particularly in image searches.

Even if you don’t have many images on your landing pages, make sure you take care of the ones you do have. If you have lots of images or even a gallery page, this is especially important. Let’s say you are a landscaping company. Optimizing images for your landscaping images can help you be found by someone both looking for landscaping services or just pictures of landscapes.

Need help identifying the gaps in your website SEO? Not only can you do SEO yourself, you can start the process yourself too. Check out our SEO checklist and if you have more questions, then let’s have a conversation about how we can help you.