Have you ever heard the phrase “begin with the end in mind”? This bit of wisdom can apply to many areas: parenting, education, project management, financial planning, personal development, and, of course, your new website project!

So, what does “the end” look like for your new website? Ideally, it means launching a beautifully designed, incredibly user-friendly site that clearly conveys your company’s brand and mission. But that’s just the beginning. Once your website is live, you’ll face the next challenge: how do you get people to see it?

At Torrch, we want to be upfront with you, our website build packages don’t include ongoing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services. (But you can check out our growth plans here!) However, we know that waiting until after your website launches to think about SEO is too late. That’s why we’ve taken the liberty of beginning with the end in mind for you, incorporating SEO best practices throughout the entire website creation process.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by SEO? You’re not alone—many business owners feel the same way. Consider this your crash course in SEO. We’ll give you an overview of how SEO works and explain how Torrch websites are designed with SEO-friendly features right from the start.

Let’s get started!

What is SEO?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is all about making your website more attractive to search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The main goal of SEO is to help your website show up higher in search results so that more people can find it without you having to pay for ads. By optimizing your site, you can get more visitors naturally, which means more potential customers checking out what you have to offer.

The amount of traffic your website should get can vary depending on what it’s for. If you have a small, niche business, getting a few hundred views a month might be just fine. But if you’re a larger or more established organization, you could expect thousands, or even tens of thousands, of visitors. While sharing your website on social media and other platforms helps, the real key to getting more traffic is showing up in search engines. And when it comes to search engines, Google is the big one you need to focus on.

Google handles about 92% of all search traffic. So, if your website traffic is low and not improving, it’s likely because your site isn’t optimized for search engines, or “SEO.” The good news is that this is something you can fix!

How do Search Engines Work?

Search engines like Google use automated programs called “bots” or “crawlers” to find websites, explore their content, and bring that information back to the search engine’s databases. This process is called indexing.

Search engines then use complex algorithms to analyze the collected data to figure out what your site is about and if it has quality, original content. Based on this, they decide where your pages should show up in search results. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Sometimes, though, the crawlers can’t find or understand the content on your website. Even worse, sometimes they miss your website entirely. To make sure your site gets noticed, it needs to be “search engine friendly.”

What Does it Mean to be Search Engine Friendly?

A search engine-friendly website is designed to make it easy for search engines to crawl and understand. From how the pages are linked together to how the content is displayed and even the URLs used, everything is set up to help search engines navigate the site and know what it’s about.

A search engine-friendly website incorporates several design and development features to ensure it can be easily discovered, crawled, and indexed by search engines like Google. Here are some key features:

Design Features

Responsive Design:
A responsive website automatically adjusts so it looks great on any device—whether someone’s viewing it on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. With more people using phones to browse the web, Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher. So, making sure your site works well on all devices is key to helping it show up in searches.

Fast Loading Speed:
Nobody likes waiting for a website to load, and search engines don’t either! By optimizing images and making sure your website’s code is efficient, we can make sure it loads quickly. This not only keeps visitors happy but also boosts your search rankings since Google prefers sites that load fast.

Clean and Simple Navigation:
Imagine visiting a website with menus that are hard to find or confusing to use—it’s frustrating, right? Clean, intuitive navigation helps both users and search engines find what they need. When your website’s layout is straightforward, search engines can better understand how your content is organized, which helps you rank higher.

Accessible Design:
A website should be usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. This means following accessibility guidelines, like adding alternative text (alt text) to images so screen readers can describe them to visually impaired users. It also includes special coding techniques to make dynamic content accessible. Google values accessibility and may give a slight ranking boost to websites that prioritize it.

Development Features

Proper Use of HTML Tags:
HTML tags are like the building blocks of your website. Using specific tags like <header>, <nav>, and <article> helps search engines understand the structure of your content. It’s like giving them a map so they can see what’s most important on each page, which helps them rank your site appropriately.

Meta Tags:
Meta tags are little snippets of text that describe the content of a page. Think of them like book summaries. When you include relevant meta titles and descriptions for each page, search engines can better match your content with people searching for it. This can lead to more clicks from search results.

XML Sitemap:
An XML sitemap is a list of all the important pages on your website. It’s like handing Google a map that shows exactly where to find the most crucial content. Submitting this map helps search engines crawl your site more effectively, ensuring nothing important gets missed.

URL Structure:
A clean, descriptive URL is easier for both people and search engines to understand. For example, a URL like “www.yoursite.com/about-us” is much better than “www.yoursite.com/page?=12&fgh” because it tells both the user and search engines what the page is about. This small detail can improve your site’s visibility in search results.

SSL Certificate:
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption helps protect your website by ensuring data transfers are secure. When your site is secure (using HTTPS instead of HTTP), Google gives you a little ranking boost, and it also makes visitors feel safer when browsing your site.

These features might sound a bit technical, but they’re all crucial to making sure search engines can find, understand, and rank your website properly. Implementing these can help you grow your site’s visibility and make it easier for people to discover your business!

The Difference Between Search Engine Friendly & Search Engine Optimized

Even with a search engine-friendly website, you might find that you’re not showing up in relevant searches. Why? Because a search-friendly site is just step one in the journey of search engine optimization (SEO).

Search Engine Friendly means your website is designed to be easily discovered and indexed by search engines like Google. This includes having clean code, fast loading times, responsive design, and proper use of HTML tags. Torrch websites are built to be search engine friendly right from the start, giving you a solid foundation for SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), on the other hand, is an ongoing marketing process that involves much more than just having a search engine-friendly site. SEO typically starts with developing a strategy for keywords, phrases, and understanding your target audience. 

A Search Engine-Friendly Website You Can Afford

At Torrch, we understand that having a search engine-friendly website is the crucial first step to successful SEO. Our websites are designed with SEO best practices in mind from the very beginning. This means you get a site that’s easy for search engines to crawl, index, and understand, giving you a solid foundation to build your SEO strategy on.

Remember, having a search engine-friendly website is just the beginning. To truly maximize your online visibility and attract organic traffic, you need to commit to the ongoing process of SEO through our growth plans. With Torrch, you have the perfect platform to launch your SEO efforts and achieve long-term success.

By choosing a Torrch website, you’re not just getting a beautifully designed, user-friendly site; you’re also taking the first crucial step towards effective SEO. Let us help you build a strong online presence from the ground up, starting with a search engine-friendly website that sets you up for success. Ready to take the next step?