The SEO Firehose

I’m at my son’s summer slip and slide party. In everyone’s hand is a loaded squirt gun. In thirty seconds, the music will start blaring and the teams will begin to soak one another. In my right hand is a loaded squirt gun, but out of the corner of my eye, I notice a hose with a sprayer connected.

“5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1” 

[ queue music ] 

[ queue fight scene ] 

I pocket the squirt gun and reach for the hose. In the twinkling of an eye, in what seems like slow motion, I reach for the nozzle, only to be fully saturated by my son, who got to the hose right before me. In what seemed like world record time, the game is over and his team wins. And the crowd goes wild.

This is such an improbable scene. Why would there be an errant hose? Who left the hose out and connected, ready to be used by a bunch of six year olds (probably me)? It doesn’t matter, because that’s not the problem. The problem is, when given a choice in a water war, would you rather have a squirt gun or a hose?

10/10 times, you’re going to choose the hose. 

SEO (search engine optimization) allows you to choose from these two options. When properly dialed in, your SEO will be a dynamic tool that absolutely drenches your audience. When not working to maximum efficiency, your SEO will work like a squirt gun running low on water, not showing up in search engine results at all.

Here’s how you can choose the hose for your website: 

1. Choose a WordPress framework with built-in industry leading SEO tools. We use Genesis by StudioPress.
2. Leverage their built-in tools by completing the Homepage Document Title, Home Meta Description, and Home Meta Keywords.
   1. Keep your home meta description 140 characters or less. This allows it to fully show up in every search result without being cut off. If you have too many characters, your search engine results will not make sense to the reader.
   2. Keep your home meta keywords under 15. Too many terms tells search engines you don’t know who your audience is and you’ll be ranked lower. And while you’re at it, narrow your focus. If you are targeting a city, target a specific neighborhood within that city. If you are targeting families, target specific types of families. If ever possible, get as specific as possible.
   3. Repeat this for every page and post on your site.
3. Want more specific SEO results? Yoast has a great suite that can up your SEO game, but we like to recommend the Local SEO plugin. This allows you to fully customize the SEO on your end and what your audience sees on their end. Not only will this help the user experience, it allows you to bring a more targeted SEO experience to your website. Remember, the more specific the better. Yoast local SEO plugin allows you to do just that.
4. Three more SEO tips:
   1. Share posts and pages on Social Media at 8am, 12pm, and 7pm.
   2. Engage your audience when they comment or share.
   3. Write daily blog posts.

10/10 times, choose the hose over the squirt gun. 

You don’t have to be the little kid in the corner holding an empty squirt gun. You can pick up the hose and drench your audience the right way. You can do it, and we can help.

Want us to dial in your SEO for you?