Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a common practice and series of digital techniques that enable you to appear in a higher ranking on search engines like Google and Bing. You’ll commonly see SEO alongside website optimisation; however, can you do this without one?
Yes, you can. However, conducting SEO on a website will provide the most prominent benefit and give you control of the content and data. Without a site, you will need to look at other SEO opportunities such as social media, job profiles and Google my business.
SEO is a substantial field, with best practices altering consistently over time. Learning how to do SEO is a beneficial skill to have and can significantly impact a website’s success.
You can start practising and implementing SEO in other areas that could support your business or brand without using a website. Here’s how.
How to Do SEO Without a Website
Optimising for SEO does become pretty limited without a website, but depending on your goals, it can still be effective. If your goal is to become one of the go-to pages on the web for a specific industry or niche, you will find it challenging without a website.
Building up page authority, creating quality content and optimising on-page elements allow larger websites to get ahead in search engine results pages (SERPs), so without that, you can’t leverage these techniques.
Despite this, we can leverage social media searches, Google my business and more to get seen by searchers, albeit at a smaller scale. This is useful for local companies that may not need an online store or website, freelancers conducting their business through networking, and letting their name carry the weight of their skills.
Conducting SEO Through Social Media
If you search for your business name online, one of your social profiles will likely be one of the top search results. Optimising your social media pages can be an effective way to appear at the top of related searches for the services you offer.
Undoubtedly, LinkedIn is the best option for this. It is seen more as a business-oriented social media and often outperforms other social media in SERPs, assuming your followers are roughly the same.
Personal optimisation: You can optimise your personal account. If you are the business owner, you can tailor your profile headline and bio to reference the business name and the services you offer. You can also add an experience section and go into more detail about the services you provide in that business; making sure to touch upon keywords and phrases that a user needing those services might search.
Business optimisation: Creating a business page on LinkedIn is a step almost all businesses should complete, even if you don’t plan on keeping the page updated. Search engines index these pages and pull them as results when someone is searching for your business, which gives you a greater chance that a searcher will stumble upon the pages that matter with your contact information.
You can do the same with other social channels, such as a Facebook business page. However, platforms like Instagram don’t give many options for SEO optimise aside from building a profile for the business and then publishing content to grow.
SEO Through Google My Business
Google my business is a way for business owners to secure a listing on Google for their business. This directory is a free listing service and gives you the opportunity to outline your opening hours, pricing, contact information and more.
Having this information, and listing claimed, is crucial for local businesses that want to be the first on the list when a searcher is looking for something near them.
For instance, if a user searches “Digital marketing near me” and you aren’t listed, your competition will be the first to show up if the searcher is near their general location.
SEO through Google my business is much more than changing a few information fields. Focusing on Reviews is also an excellent strategy to garner more exposure and, thus, more attention from searchers. Similarly, Google will try and auto-populate relevant images. You can override this by uploading relevant, up-to-date images directly to this listing to ensure your business looks as professional as it can.
Similarly, keeping this content consistently updated will help Google make suitable recommendations to users. If you move headquarters location but don’t change your address on Google my business, you’re missing out on opportunities to capture customers near you.
Optimising YouTube Content for Search Engines
Youtube is a great platform for creative businesses that want to go further than other social channels. YouTube allows you to upload your high-quality video content, but it also gives you multiple options to optimise for SEO and, thus, appear in SERPs.
When searching for something on Google, you may find a YouTube video shown ahead of blog posts and other pages. This is due to Google perceiving that content as more valuable than the other pages.
You can take advantage of this by creating content that answers questions within your industry or niche and optimising the video’s metadata for positioning. Since there is no website to direct new viewers, ensure that you have a solid call to action (CTA) that you want the user to take once they have finished your video.
That call to action could be to get in touch, subscribe, or sign up to an email list that you can build without a website.
Use a free blog posting sites for Search engine positioning
Blog content is one of the best ways to get your site seen in searches. Blog posts allow you to answer some of the most burning questions in your industry and provide value, actionable content to your audience.
Search engines see this content and, if they deem it more valuable than the content already available, will place your post higher in the SERPs.
Without the site, you can’t make use of a blog, right?
Not exactly. You can use free sites like Medium to start writing online. You can use a similar method as you would with your own blog to begin writing out content that answers questions searchers are likely searching for.
If you rank for one of these topics, you may see more traffic hitting that blog post.
While this might be good for growing your medium account, there are some setbacks:
– You don’t own the host site like you would a dedicated website. Meaning your options for monetization or control are pretty limited
– You will need a strong call to action to get users from the blog post to a page, list or location that matters to you
– There is no guarantee that your pages will rank, meaning you may not see success from your efforts.
It can still be an effective strategy, but we wouldn’t put it at the top of our list.
Conducting SEO With a Free Templated Website
If you’re holding off on building a website due to not having the available budget, using a page builder could be the saving grace. Page builders like Wix and Squarespace offer free packages to get a website up in a few minutes.
While we don’t suggest you use these builders forever, they make a good substitute when you’re out of options. The only thing you’ll need to pay for is a domain name, which you should either already have as your business (for your emails) or you should purchase, as securing your business domain is crucial.
Then, once on these sites, look for one of their pre-built templates. Sure, this may not be a unique looking site, but it’s also one that you haven’t paid anything for. Once you’re ready to take the next leap and have a bespoke site built, then you can worry about looks.
At this stage, we’re looking to get something live so you can start working on the site SEO and get it ranking.
Moving Forward With Your SEO
SEO is a complex and expansive topic, but one that has untold potential when done correctly. There is no better place to learn than on your own website, but if you don’t have one, we hope that the above tips will help you get started and allow you to dip your toes in the SEO waters.
If, after reading, you’re starting to think it might be best to get a website done after all, then look no further. Our dedicated web development team has you covered; whether you want a small site you can work on or an expansive site to help your business grow.
Get in touch with us, and we can chat about your business, goals and future direction.
