As a business owner, how do you check to see if any search engine optimization was done to your web site? For a small business, not being found in a search engine is crucial in today’s competitive market. It can also seem like a waste if you have put a lot of money into your web site and you are not seeing any impact from the web site on your business. Here are a couple simple steps that anyone can do to check their web site.
Checking your web site for Meta Tags
Meta Tags are sections of code on a web site which provide details to search engines about your web site. The only way to view this is by looking at the code of your web site. Don’t worry, you only need to look at the top of the page and you will not have to translate any strange alien scripture. To do this, go to your web site and then right-click on the page, select “View Source” or “View Page Source”.
The most important one you want to look for is the Meta Description.
‹meta name=”description” content=”TEXT ABOUT YOUR SITE”›
All web sites should have a Meta Description and it should be unique on every page.
Next is the Meta Keywords. This is an optional tag but should still be considered when building web sites.
‹meta name=”keywords” content=”KEY PHRASES FOR YOUR SITE”›
Checking for a Custom Error Page
An error page is displayed when a page cannot be found or has moved. These pages are also referred to 404 pages. By default, every web site has a basic error page is provided at all times. The downside to these pages is that it does not provide a link back to your web site. The browser’s back button has to be used in order to return to the web site. This hurts your web site because only a human can click on the back button, a search engine has no way of returning to your web site in order to index additional pages. By creating a custom error page, you can provide links back to your web site. This may also help save a potential customer because when most people see an error page, they move on to a different web site. To check this, simply add “/Q” at the end of your web address, for example: http://www.youraddress.com/Q and see what comes up.
Now these are very basic search engine optimization techniques and just because your web site has them does not mean they are done properly. There are several different items to take into consideration and if you are concerned about the performance of your web site, contact a professional to get a second opinion.
