Okay, so you're an artist, creative, or handmade business owner and you want to figure out the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) so you can get more traffic to your website. If so, you're in the right place!
When I was a beginner and running my own handmade business in the early 2000s, I learned SEO through trial and error, plus reading lot of blog posts just like this one.
Now, I've spent more than a decade working professionally in digital marketing and SEO.
I've worked with hundreds of artists, creative entrepreneurs, and small businesses, teaching workshops on search engine optimization, e-commerce, blogging, social media & email marketing at events like Craftcation Conference and New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.
As Adjunct Professor at Tulane University's School of Professional Advancement, I even taught & developed classes on Digital Media Principles & Strategy and Creating Digital Content, which included teaching beginner SEO!
Is SEO hard to learn?
I get it. SEO can feel really overwhelming and complex when you’re first getting started.
And there CAN be a lot to learn, I’ll admit.
BUT, there are a lot of basic SEO tips and tricks that almost anyone can learn and start using to help your website get found by search engines.
I’ve got a full playlist on my YouTube channel called SEO for Beginner Handmade Businesses, Artists & Makers. Check it out, or keep reading for some of the basics of SEO that you need to know to get started.
What is SEO and why does your handmade business need it?
First off, what is SEO anyway? Why should you care?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.”
It's the process of optimizing your website to get traffic from the “free” or “organic” search results on search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing.
Many of the same SEO strategies that will help your website rank in those search engines will also benefit you if you sell on marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon Handmade and want to rank well within THEIR search engines.
(Check out this post & video on Etsy SEO if you want to learn more.)
So, as a small business owner or maker, understanding the basics of SEO is a crucial skill!
How does SEO work?
Search engines want to serve up the best, most relevant results to users.
They want to keep people using THEIR search engine, so they want to make sure people find exactly what they're looking for, as quickly as possible.
You could think of a search engine like a librarian.
The Internet is one GIANT library full of information.
When someone goes into that library looking for information (or in this case, opens up a search on their computer or phone) -- they need help to find the information they need in such a giant library.
Just like a friendly and knowledgeable librarian (shout-out to librarians everywhere!), the search engine's job is to help you find the most relevant and helpful information that matches what you're looking for.
Google and other search engines have "spiders," also known as web crawlers or bots.
There is SO MUCH information added to the vast library that is the Internet every day. These search engine "spiders" are constantly crawling around, discovering and cataloguing what's new.
How do search engines pick what goes first in search results?
Well, there’s 2 main factors that help search engines decide, and these are important to remember when it comes to optimizing your own website:
Relevance & Importance
When it comes to relevance, the search engines are looking at things like:
How relevant is your webpage to a user’s search?
Does your webpage answer the searcher’s questions?
Does the content on your website match the intent of the searcher’s question? Does your webpage match the problem the user is trying to solve or the question they’re trying to answer?
People have different reasons for searching. To understand if your website's content is matching the intention of someone's search - WHY they’re searching for what they’re searching for - it helps to understand the different ways that people might be searching online.
Watch this video to learn more about 3 ways that people search online:
For importance, search engines are comparing your website or webpage to other similar pages. They’re evaluating:
How does your webpage compare to other similar pages on the same topic?
How do people interact with your webpage? Do they immediately hit “back” on their browser, or do they spend time reading or interacting with your page?
Click-through rate (CTR) is one way they measure importance.
Basically, out of all the times that your webpage appears in a search result, what percentage of times does someone click on YOUR page, instead of all the other options?
Backlinks from other websites is another way search engines measure importance.
When it comes to backlinks, both quality and quantity can play a role.
Lots of backlinks can be potentially good, but not if they’re all from spammy, irrelevant sites. Getting backlinks from relevant websites that have a good reputation is better.
You can learn more about the basics of links and link building for SEO in this video:
Note: there are 2 types of links that are helpful for SEO: internal and external.
Internal links are links from one page to another on your own website.
Wikipedia is a great example of a website that knows the value of internal linking! Almost every Wikipedia page links to lots of other related Wikipedia pages.
Internal links can help search engines like Google explore and crawl your website. They also help customers explore more of your site and find the information they need.
External links are links to or from another website. Links to your website from another website are sometimes called backlinks.
Are search results the same for everyone?
When it comes to understanding how SEO works, it’s important to remember that no one sees exactly the same search results.
Search engines like Google and Bing take into account your country, location, personal search history and other factors.
SEO Keywords and Keyword Phrases
If you've explored SEO even a little bit, you may have heard of "keywords."
As a beginner, I really encourage you to think instead of keyword phrases.
This is one place where I see a lot of SEO beginners get stuck. As a beginner, you might think in terms of single words like "art."
But in a HUGE library like the Internet, a single word is so broad, and there is SO MUCH information to compete with.
I encourage you to get as specific as possible, and think in terms of "long tail keyword phrases" -- think about phrases around 3-4 words, sometimes even longer, that are super specific to what you make and sell or specific to the ideal customer you’re trying to attract.
You'll want to include these relevant keyword phrases throughout your website in places like your content, product descriptions, page titles, and URLs.
You can get ideas for keyword phrases by using the auto-suggest and “related searches” features built into different search engines.
Pay attention to the search phrases that are suggested to you in Google, Pinterest, YouTube, Amazon, and Etsy. Make a list of search phrases that might be relevant to YOUR products and include those phrases in your website content and product listings.
You can learn more SEO keyword tips for beginners including some free ways that you can get started with keyword research and how to find keywords for your ecommerce shop in this video:
What's the best way to have your website come up on search engines?
The best place to start with optimizing your website for search engines is with "on-page SEO."
On-page SEO basically covers all of the things YOU have the power to change on your website.
This includes the content on your website (think blog posts or product descriptions on an ecommerce site).
It also includes behind-the-scenes content like page titles, meta descriptions, and alt text for your images.
This is where you’ll want to include all of those keyword phrases.
Basically, when it comes to on-page SEO, you want to use words to be descriptive wherever possible.
Watch this video about On Page SEO for Beginners to learn how to optimize your website for search engines:
Essential Beginner SEO Tips for Creative Businesses
To sum it up, here's a few quick tips to remember:
1. Create keyword-rich content
Use descriptive words throughout your website.
Include keyword phrases that people are searching for related to your products, and use those keyword phrases in your product descriptions and blog posts as well as behind-the-scenes in your page titles and meta descriptions.
Ask yourself:
What questions do people have about your business or products?
What topics could you write about that are related to your keywords?
Create content and information on your website that is helpful for your users, and include descriptive keyword phrases in your content.
2. Create quality content like blog posts and "evergreen" resource pages
As you start thinking about those long-tail keyword phrases that are relevant to your products, you may find that some of them deserve a little more attention. Maybe they're a big topic that you have a lot to say about.
In this case, you can create helpful blog posts or resources pages that are "evergreen" -- meaning they will be useful for a long time to come.
Think about an evergreen tree that is beautifully green all year round. "Evergreen" content is the same way: it continues to be useful or interesting for a long time.
What are the questions your customers ask you over and over again? Make it a blog post!
As you create this helpful, evergreen content, weave in those long-tail keyword phrases.
3. Make your website as user-friendly as possible
You want to make it easy for your ideal customer to navigate your website.
You don't want them getting confused or stuck. You want a website that is well-organized and created with your CUSTOMER in mind.
Your website should be mobile-friendly and easy to use on an iPhone or Android device.
Make sure that it's both easy to navigate and use on mobile, but also that it loads quickly on both mobile devices and on desktop computers.
4. Don’t bury info in photos, videos or audio files only
Photos, videos and audio files can be awesome and add depth and personality to your website!
But you’ll want to fill out the alt text field whenever you upload photos to your site. Alt text is important for both SEO and for accessibility.
People who are blind or visually impaired often rely on the alt text to describe what is seen in an image. So write your alt text as if you were describing the image to someone who can’t see what you are seeing.
For videos or audio files, include written transcripts or descriptions of what is in the video or audio clip.
Adding captions, descriptions, and alt text helps your customers and it helps search engines understand the information on your website.
5. Remember, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint
It takes time for SEO updates to be “crawled” and indexed by those search engine spiders. So don’t expect to see an immediate change in your website traffic.
It could potentially take months to see your SEO efforts really pay off.
SEO takes patience, but little changes can make a BIG impact over time.
Keep going! You got this!
Want more help with learning SEO?
Check out my full YouTube playlist: SEO for Beginner Handmade Businesses, Artists & Makers
You can also check out my blog posts and videos about Etsy SEO for Beginners and Shopify SEO for Artists and Creatives.
I try to provide tons of valuable educational content here on my blog and on YouTube (for free!), but if you want to dive deeper, check out the Badass Creatives Marketing Accelerator. It's a mentorship and community for badass artists, creatives & small business owners just like you!
