I was recently asked the following question and realized that this is a little learning moment. I hope this article clears things up and you’re welcome to share this link with others!
Q: I’m a baker and in the process of getting a website put together, so as a new website owner what words or SEO phrases should I try to implement to help direct people to my website? THANKS
A: I recommend you modify your strategy. A combination of keywords and SEO phrases is not the recipe for having a successful web site that will rank well. If anything, it may have the opposite effect! Compelling and engaging content is what you want to focus on.
Since you are a baker, I’d suggest you focus on writing engaging content about what you make, why what you make is best, perhaps sharing tips and suggestions about baked goods, and so on. In other words, sell me why your baked goods are amazing, yummy, healthy, and so on!
Compelling and informative writing about your business will automatically include keywords that you want to focus on, will give your audience content that is easy to read (as opposed to being stuffed with uninteresting terms and phrases) and, most importantly, it will keep visitors glued to your site!
Let’s talk about how this will affect you in search engines. As an example, Google monitors how many minutes visitors spend reading your site’s content, how many pages they clicked on, as well as what other actions they took (maybe they added something to a shopping cart, signed up for a newsletter, filled out a form, downloaded a recipe sheet, and so on). If the search engine A.I. notices that a user who was looking for “best baked dark chocolate chip cookies” clicked on your site’s link AND spent 5 minutes on your site, looked at numerous pages, perhaps even ended up making a purchase (a conversion action) then the search engine’s confidence in you suddenly goes sky high! Suddenly the search engine starts to consider you a “dark chocolate chip cookies” expert!
This is the proper way to market your site, by writing great content for the end user, never for the search engine! Focus your copy for the human audience, not for search engines. Enjoy!
Advice from Other Agency Owners, and SEO Specialists
I had an opportunity to get a second opinion from other great industry pros. Here are some other opinions and advice on this matter.
A great piece of advice from Kara, with KLH Technology Solutions, Spokane Washington:
The best SEO tip for a new website is to research your keywords and phrases that relate to your business to find what people are searching on. You can use tools like Google Ads keyword planner, Google Search, Ubersuggest, and Google Trends. Next create valuable content using these keywords and share on all your social media platforms with links driving them to your website. Build an email list and send out any new content as part of your marketing campaign. You need to also make sure all new web page content is optimized.
– Kara runs a Spokane web design and SEO agency.
Keith Evans, CEO of UpHero recommends the following:
Put Keywords in Key Places. Quickly address the user’s main problem and how you solve it. And reassure the user they are in the right spot. Example search “water heater repair” for a plumber in Dallas:
A good H1 headline would be “Water Heater Repair in Dallas” followed by immediate supporting keyword phrases:
– Get the tank fixed fast
– Stop leaking
– Low costNext place related keywords in the H2 headlines:
“Dallas Water Heater Repair Services” with supporting sentences- Your family needs hot water now. Call a licensed plumber
Use H2 or H3 as additional sub topics that include:
prices, cost, replacement, troubleshooting, and tips. IMPORTANT- you don’t need to keep stating Water Heater. Google already knows your page is about Water heater repair due to the H1.
– Keith runs UpHero Marketing in Boise Idaho.
Ron, the Marketing Director at CyberOptik recommends the following:
As a baker, you’re most likely going to be serving a specific local area. You’ll want to be sure to determine what cities your customers are in (or perhaps it’s just the city you’re located in). Make sure you include these on the website and try to focus on one specific city as your main target.
From there, I would take a look at the types of searches you as a baker would use to find your products and then ask several customers what they would use to search for you as well. You can also go to Google, start searching, and see what Google auto-suggests as your search term. This is a quick way to do some keyword research without needing any extra software.
Be sure to work these terms (naturally, don’t force it) into your website’s content; this includes the actual text on your pages, as well as meta title and description tags. I’d also suggest a blog where you can post/promote what may be new at the bakery, any tips/tricks, etc., and keep the keywords you’re targeting in mind when writing this add’l content.
– Ron from CyberOptik, Chicago Web Design Agency
Ryan Crozier from Agency Boon recommends the following:
First, as a new website owner, don’t expect tons of traffic to your site either directly or through search engines. Google and human users have no brand awareness of your business. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t lay a strong SEO foundation with your new site.
Secondly, search engine optimization over the last 5-10 years has become less about keywords and phrases and more about intent. So, when developing your initial SEO strategy, it’s important to ask the question, “Why would someone be searching for my site or the products/services I offer?” Answering this question will allow you to be more intentional about what keywords you do ultimately select and the types of engaging content you create.
Keywords are important, however, as they let search engines know what your content is about and if it’s relative to a searchers query. As a rule, I like to have one page target one keyword initially. This makes keyword mapping and tracking much easier. I also like to have the home page target the brand name because your site will rank higher for its brand name than any product/service keywords you might try to rank for (with the home page). And nothing is more embarrassing than having another business rank higher for your brand name.
From there, I like to map one commercial-intent keyword to each product/service page and focus on long-tail keywords with blog writing.
Then it truly is about creating the best and most engaging content to answer a searcher’s query. With the right on-page and off-page optimizations, the content will rank well if you focus on creating content that is informative. Google will recognize this and begin to push your site higher in the SERPs.
Check out Ryan’s StoryBrand Guide to learn more.
Chris Costillo from Toronto Digital Marketing Agency, Propel Digital Media offers the following advice:
Business owners don’t always know about keywords research tools, Google trends, Keyword Planner, and other SEO tools. You can still be successful with your writing if you understand the basic process, even without those tools. The single most important thing you can do is to cover the topic as completely, but concisely as possible. Perform a search on Google that you think the average person would perform in order to find your article and look at what similar articles on page one have covered, and make sure to include those sub topics or talking points. From a user’s perspective think about what information those articles are missing which you think would help the user better understand the topic, or help solve an underlying question or problem that might be tied to the article’s topic, and include that information. Try to use terms that you think people might use to find the article, or which are descriptive of the topic in headings. Whenever you’re answering a question answer it directly and concisely, like it’s going in a dictionary. Lastly, avoid having very long blocks of text by breaking up larger blocks of text with subheadings that are descriptive. These tips make all make for a better user experience, which Google rewards heavily these days.
You may visit Chris’s Toronto digital agency Propel by clicking here.