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While browsing the AllDoulas forum this morning I came across a post pleading for site optimization help for her website. I thought I’d share my thoughts and experience/experiments from that post here with you today.

Title Tags

Title tags are important to Google. When someone does a search in Google, the blue links that pop up are the titles of the pages of a website — the words you see in the top bar in your browser, above the menu bar. Here are some ways to optimize your title.

1. Add your name. If people do a search for your name in Google, it’s not likely they will find you, especially if your name is not listed often in your website.
2. Add a major city. If you live in St. Louis, and you add “doula in St. Louis”, it will show up in the search results.
3. Add the word “doula”/”birth doula” to your title tags. If you offer other services, also add those words. You can put different keywords on different pages.
4. Add the name of your webpage. Examples: “Darlene MacAuley – Birth Doula Services – Austin” on the Home Page, and “Meet Darlene MacAuley, Birth Doula” on the About Me Page.
5. If people recognize you by your business name, include it in the title tag. If they don’t, it’s optional in your title tag.
6. I’ve heard that words are ranked in the title by location, so the words in the first part of the title have more weight. Not sure about that, but you can experiment.

Meta Description
In Google search results, the text that shows up under the title is either the text in your meta description or the first 150 or so characters on your webpage itself. So, if you have rich keywords in the beginning text on your page, it will show up on the Google search result. Otherwise, you can add a meta description within your html that do not appear in the website itself, but includes key words that search engines see, which is a few sentences that describe the page or you. Add good keywords to your meta description.

Other Suggestions:

1. Do a couple Google searches and look at other people’s title tags and meta descriptions.
2. Go to some of these websites and in your web browser go to the “View” and select “Page Source” or “Source”. It will show you the html on their sites and you can see their meta tags.
3. Add your name and contact info on your homepage and other pages that make sense.
4. If you’re willing to use your street address on your site (I chose to get a box at Mailboxes Etc. so I have a street address near me but it’s not my home), you can add your site to the Google Local Business Center so your business is listed in Google Maps. Some of the directory services let you submit your site for free.
5. Find as many free places to list your website. Besides site optimization, relevant links from other sites also rank your site higher.
6. Add your website address and a statement of what you do in your email signature.
7. Ask other businesses to list you on their website in their resources and you can list theirs. Reciprocal links between businesses help both of you.
8. If you like to write, write articles and submit them to online article sites such as Ezine Articles. Your attribution on the bottom of each article will have your website and name, giving you more links. You’ll be seen as an expert women searching for birth information will find your article and then find you. You can also place the article on your website, giving your site more rich content with rich words.
9. Add Google Analytics on your website so you can see your traffic and see how people are finding you.

Site optimization is a game. It doesn’t replace word of mouth advertising, so make CONNECTIONS with real people. They will refer your name and website, and you’ll get more traffic that way too.

These posts may also inspire you:

1. Inexpensive Marketing Tip #2 – Website
2. Like to Write? Become an Online Author
3. Tell Your Past, Present and Future Clients About The Birth Survey
4. Where Are You On The Internet According to Google?
5. Article Writing as a Marketing Strategy