SEO key words /search terms

[Elizabeth Trice]

It turns out our SEO hasn't been set up properly and we are going to be starting from scratch.

What are the top key words or search terms that bring people to your website?

[jflynn8]

SEO is tricky.  I'm a web developer and SEO and there's no real "right" way to do it.  There's the way that is closest to right and not wrong, and then there's the really wrong way that might boost for a few weeks, but then tank you.  If you're in a really competitive market then that could be a lot of prospective members that would never find you.

First, you need to write content for the reader, not the search engines.  Make sure that your target keywords are where they should be:  the <title> tags, the <meta description> tags, and the <h1> tag.  By adding keywords to your <meta keywords> tags you're not going to get a boost in search ranking, you're helping to classify your site.  If your market is saturated with coworking spaces and you want to differentiate yourself, maybe try including "office space" or "office rental" in your copy to try and help it show up for those searches.  Someone looking for office space may see coworking as a viable alternative and not have known about it otherwise.

There are also other avenues to take to boost rankings.  Backlinks help tremendously.  If you can get a few links from reputable sources, listing directories, newspapers, radio stations, etc., those will improve your ranking in the engines.  However, you are associated with the company you keep so if you get backlinks from less than reputable sources then your ranking can drop, so keep an eye on that.

It also helps to classify your data.  If you're not familiar with schema.org markup, get familiar with it.  It helps get you into the knowledge graph which gives you that little boost that you might see when you search for your business name or for your business type.  It can also get you into the Local Pack if done right.

If you'd like to chat some more about this I'd love to help out.  I'm jdflynn on the coworking leadership slack team.  Feel free to reach out!

[Jamie Russo]

Two resources that have helped me:

1) Upcity.com - it is a step by step guide to setting up your site for SEO, submitting to directories and working on organic SEO over time. There's a monthly fee but if you and your team can be consistent and even do a couple of things a week, it can be much more cost effective than outsourcing. I should note, you might still want to hire a professional to get the basics of your site set up correctly, but if you want to do some work on your own after this, it's a great tool.

2) Evan Oder from Findworkspaces.com shared some helpful SEO tips on a recent podcast interview: http://everythingcoworking.com/localseo/

[Marissa Ryan]

Knowing which keywords are most important for your business is tough, especially when you have to start from scratch. Luckily, a lot of SEO is stalking your competitors! 

Find your top 3 competitors (remember, someone who is your online competitor can be different than someone who is your brick-and-mortar competitor. Use different google searches to find the top players in your industry). Use a free version of tools like Open site explorer and spyfu to determine the top 3-5 keywords for each competitor. Once you have the top keywords of the top players in your sphere, run over to google adwords keyword tool to find the highest searched versions of these keywords. 

Remember, it will be easier to rank for local terms than general terms!

Good starter keywords:

Coworking <<City>>

best coworking space <<city>>

office space for rent <<city>>

co working spaces 

co working offices

Make a few variations of the keywords you find to determine the highest searched, lowest competition keywords. Keep an eye on your search analytics in WMT in the future to look for opportunities for new keywords or variations for expansion!

If you have any other questions about SEO keywords, feel free to tweet me at @GREENcellint or a contact form on my website, www.greencellinteractive.com! 

-Marissa

On Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 12:55:35 PM UTC-6, Elizabeth Trice wrote:

[Simon Anez]

There have been several updates in the past few years on how Google ranks websites now

No longer can you just jam a site with keywords and have it rank #1

Of course your site needs to have on-page optimization like correct title with your best targeted keywords "Coworking Space Toronto, CA"

Here's a very complete guide on the subject: https://moz.com/blog/visual-guide-to-keyword-targeting-onpage-optimization

But as a business owner i don't recommend obsessing about it TOO much, let me explain why..

As i've been learning about SEO i found that the best way to rank is to gain real backlinks from high quality sites (news media, government, popular sites)

You can spam business listing sites and submit your space everywhere but it's not going to get you anywhere

I found that the best links come from PR campaigns that managed to get published on high quality sites

So my advice is that, have something newsworthy about your space, and event, partnership or program and promote the hell out of it

Not only are these types of backlink going to help you tremendously in SEO ranking value, but it will be a great promotional opportunity for your space

My 2 cents,

https://citydeskmiami.com

-Simon

[ca...@getkisi.com]

Wanted to share an article we just published that I think fits this conversation pretty well. In it, we cover the who, what, where, why, and how of SEO for coworking space websites. It's a 101 level article, so we are covering a lot of the basics like keyword research, the importance of quality content, and backlinks/building authority. We will be publishing a 201 level article soon! "SEO for Coworking Space Websites 101" can be found here: https://blog.getkisi.com/seo-101-for-your-coworking-space-website/ 

On Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 1:55:35 PM UTC-5, Elizabeth Trice wrote: