When you’ve invested time and money into building a new website for your therapy practice, it’s natural to think that your online presence is complete and ready to attract clients. However, many website owners fall into a common trap: believing that their web developer has taken care of all necessary search engine optimisation (SEO) during the site build. This misconception can significantly hinder your website’s performance and visibility in search engine results.
The Reality of “Built-In” SEO
Many web developers claim they’ll “do your SEO” as part of the website build. While this sounds appealing, it’s often an oversimplification of what SEO actually entails. In many cases, what they’re really offering is basic on-page optimisation, which is just one piece of a comprehensive SEO strategy.
The Yoast Plug-in Trap
One of the most common shortcuts developers use is simply installing and activating an SEO plugin like Yoast for WordPress sites. While Yoast is an excellent tool, it’s not a magic solution for SEO. Here’s why:
1. Default Settings: Many developers will activate Yoast but leave it on default settings, which may not be optimised for your specific needs.
2. Content Optimisation: Yoast provides suggestions for improving your content’s SEO, but it can’t write or optimise your content for you.
3. Technical SEO: While Yoast helps with some technical aspects, it doesn’t cover all the technical SEO elements that might be necessary for your site.
4. Keyword Research: Yoast doesn’t perform keyword research, which is crucial for effective SEO.
Other Developer Shortcuts
Besides relying solely on SEO plugins, developers might use other shortcuts that can limit your site’s SEO potential:
1. Generic Meta Descriptions: Instead of crafting unique, compelling meta descriptions for each page, they might use a site-wide generic description or leave it blank.
2. Ignoring Image Optimisation: Proper image naming, alt tags, and compression are often overlooked.
3. Neglecting Mobile Optimisation: With Google’s mobile-first indexing, ensuring your site is fully responsive is crucial.
4. Poor URL Structures: Creating SEO-friendly URLs that include relevant keywords is often overlooked.
5. Lack of Schema Markup: Structured data can significantly improve how your site appears in search results, but it’s often not implemented.
6. Inadequate Internal Linking: A strategic internal linking structure can boost SEO, but it’s frequently neglected.
The Importance of Ongoing On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is not a one-time task completed during website development. It’s an ongoing process that should evolve with your business and the ever-changing search engine algorithms. Here’s why it’s crucial to continue on-page SEO efforts after your site is built:
1. Content Freshness: Search engines favour websites that regularly update their content. Ongoing on-page SEO ensures your content remains relevant and fresh.
2. Keyword Optimisation: As your business grows and changes, the keywords you target should evolve too. Regular on-page SEO allows you to adapt to new keyword opportunities.
3. User Experience Improvement: On-page SEO isn’t just about pleasing search engines; it’s about creating a better user experience. Continuous improvement in this area can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
4. Competitive Edge: Your competitors are likely updating their SEO strategies regularly. Ongoing on-page SEO helps you stay competitive in search results.
5. Algorithm Updates: Search engines frequently update their algorithms. Ongoing SEO allows you to adapt to these changes and maintain or improve your rankings.
6. Performance Monitoring: Regular on-page SEO involves monitoring your site’s performance, allowing you to identify and fix issues promptly.
Steps for Effective On-Page SEO
To ensure your website is truly optimised, consider these steps:
1. Conduct Thorough Keyword Research: Identify the terms your potential clients are using to find services like yours.
2. Optimise Each Page: Every page on your site should be optimised for specific keywords, with attention to title tags, headers, meta descriptions, and content.
3. Create Quality Content: Regularly publish high-quality, relevant content that addresses your clients’ needs and questions.
4. Improve Site Speed: Optimise images, leverage browser caching and minimise code to improve loading times.
5. Enhance User Experience: Ensure your site is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and provides value to visitors.
6. Implement Schema Markup: Use structured data to help search engines better understand your content.
7. Build Quality Backlinks: While this is more off-page SEO, it’s crucial for improving your site’s authority and rankings.
8. Monitor and Adjust: Regularly check your site’s performance in search results and adjust as needed.
Conclusion
While it’s tempting to believe that SEO is complete once your website is built, the reality is that effective SEO requires ongoing effort and attention. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a plugin or a few basic optimisations during development are enough. Instead, view SEO as an ongoing process that evolves with your business and the digital landscape.
If you’re not comfortable handling SEO yourself, consider hiring an SEO specialist or agency that can provide comprehensive, ongoing optimisation. Remember, an optimised website isn’t just about ranking well in search results – it’s about creating a better online experience for your potential clients and ultimately growing your therapy practice. By investing time and resources into ongoing on-page SEO, you’ll be setting your website – and your practice – up for long-term success in the competitive online marketplace.Wednesday, 24 July
