Use Metadata to Jumpstart Your SEO
You may have heard the term metadata bouncing off the tongues of SEOs and web developers and immediately put it in the back of your mind. After all, in the ever-evolving world of SEO, there always seems to be new techno-jargon to try to keep up with. Still, you know you need to improve your online presence. After all, there are 63,000 search queries performed every second! That’s 5.5 billion searches per day, according to Internet Live Stats, 2019. Let’s break down exactly what this bit of techy lingo means, and why your website needs it if it wants to climb to page one of Google.
What Is Metadata?
Metadata is all the background information hidden in your website’s code. While your customers may never see it, Google’s search engine will. That’s why metadata is a crucial component of SEO 101.
Think of metadata as the information that’s stored when you make a phone call. You can view the date and time of the phone call, the length of the call, and even the GPS coordinates of the place you made the phone call. However, the callers rarely view this information. It simply gets stored.
Why Is Metadata So Important For SEO?
Unlike your phone call, Google does view the metadata stored on your website. This data is used by Google to learn what your website is all about, how often its updated, and whether it’s a valuable website in your niche.
In other words, Google doesn’t just read the words you post on your website. It reads all the technical information stored in the background – information you might not know is there. That information can be updated by our Arvada SEO agency to reflect the front-facing content of your website. By updating the metadata, our developers can help your message be seen by Google. In return, Google will serve up links to your website more often to potential customers.
An Example of How Google Uses Metadata
Let’s say you’ve recently experienced a leak in your roof. You start to solve the problem by searching for “roofers in Denver metro.”
As you can see from this image, Google returned 2.8 million results for Denver roofers. Denver is a big city, but it’s certainly not big enough to warrant 2.8 million roofers!
This is an example of Google searching the content and metadata of websites to find all the sites that mention roofers in Denver.
It is important to note that Google doesn’t discriminate when it comes to metadata. These 2.8 million results are the result of Google finding all the sites that mention roofing, Denver, metro, or any combination of those keywords, and then ranking all of them. So if a site for an actual Denver roofing company has poor SEO, it’s entirely possible it could be ranked below a restaurant with rooftop seating in Denver!
In order for a roofing company to compete with those 2.8 million results, it would have to employ an SEO agency in Arvada like MediaWorks to get behind the scenes and leverage metadata.
Don’t Leave Your Metadata Blank!
By default, metadata is a blank field. The designers who made your original website may not have a thorough understanding of SEO. That’s why an Arvada SEO agency like MediaWorks is so important. We take the blank fields where metadata belongs and maximize it, making it easy for Google to read and understand.
SEO 101 states that search engine optimization is a competitive and technical field. There’s so much more to SEO than having a nice-looking website. Be sure to capitalize on all the components of your website, especially the ones you can’t see.
Amazing results come from incredible SEO knowledge. Let the experts help you grow your business so you can get back to managing it. After all, you have enough on your plate. We’ll take care of your online presence.
MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.