search engine optimization for the wedding industry

Seo for the wedding industry can be very complex.  With many search engines changing their algorithms on a constant basis its hard to know what trends to stay on top of.  Although your website might have great page rankings (PR) today, those ranks tomorrow can drop drastically.  So how can we, as wedding professionals make sure that we’re doing the right things to obtain better rankings? or, how can we make sure we aren’t doing the wrong things that will get us penalized or banned from certain directories? The only people that could give you that exact information, are those who work developing the algorithms (and they will not divulge that information).  So, if we remember to stick with the basics, in the long run, your wedding site will gain better (PR) rankings and could potentially outrank those who are ranked on page one for any key word or phrase dealing with the wedding industry.

Lets face it, we all want to dominate search engines for key words such as “wedding” or “wedding dresses” (or whatever your area is within the wedding industry), and if we looked closely at the few wedding websites on those search terms we can note one thing – SOME DO NOT DEAL WITH THE EXACT SEARCH TERM – If you actually sold wedding dresses, or in fact owned a venue wouldn’t you feel more confident knowing you can be ranked for your actual key word terms, more so then companies that only offer a website that offer other websites? Wouldn’t it be nice to find those types of sites only when you search for terms like “many wedding websites” or “wedding website directory” or “best wedding website for one stop shopping” or something along those lines? This way if someone typed in the term “wedding dress” they would find a list of designers, or manufacturers, or individuals who are selling bridal gowns. Well according to some, that’s exactly what’s going to start happening.

We are in a unique position as many of those larger companies implemented tactics that are starting to be recognized as “black hat” techniques.  In their defense, most website owners and technical staff did what they could to climb the ranks by finding weaknesses and shortcuts not knowing that it would set a trend that would keep directories forever changing how they seek out relevant information.  Not only do algorithms change constantly to help the directories find relevant information, but they are able to find the weaknesses other tech-savvy individuals like to exploit – and once found, those “top ranked” sites, wind up paying a penalty in the long run, either by loosing page rank, or getting dropped from a directory (like google, or yahoo). How is this beneficial to you? this means if you start working on your seo and do it the right way by sticking to the basics, your website could start gaining more visibility for key words or phrases in the wedding industry.  You will begin to notice the companies that dominated key words or phrases that did not directly relate to them will start to loose credibility and therefore page rank.  These ever changing algorithms are trying to find YOU!

So, what can be done, and what should you do to capitalize on this now?

lets go over …

Wedding seo basics

• Wedding seo

  Make sure each page in your website is optimized for search engines.  For example, if you own a website that deals with wedding shoes and only have a one page website, then that first page title, meta tags and data should reflect exactly what can be found on that first page. If that is done properly then its optimized. If your website has multiple pages you must use the above system to optimize each page, making sure all pages have the right (title, meta, and data) pertaining to the content of each individual page.

• Directory submissions for wedding websites

  Once you have completed your wedding Optimization, focus your attention on submitting your link to directories. First target the larger well known directories like Google, Yahoo, and Dmoz.  After submitting to those, you can focus on directories in other countries, or specify your search criteria for directories just within your niche.  You will begin to notice there are many directories you can add your link to. Some directories are free, and others charge a fee or ask you to endorse them by giving them a link within your site. Research the best direction for you and your website and submit your link.

• Wedding links and linking with wedding related sites

  In this next step there are a few ways you can go about getting links to your website. The above method not only helps you obtain links, but it places your website within directories. Also you can speak with other website owners within your niche and ask them if they would like to share links – or – you can ask if they have a wedding links page, and if they do ask them if they would be willing to add your site.  Once you’ve completed that step, you can move onto submitting comments on blog posts that also pertains to your niche. Make sure when you seek blogs to comment on, that they are DOFOLLOW blogs so that when you post your comment you can also attach your websites url.  This tells the spiders/crawlers that your site is within the same industry/topic and over a period of time will start to help your rankings. (example: finding a blog post about wedding dresses, and reading the post and making a comment within the line/scope of the topic with your wedding dress company web site attached – gives your site credibility) Building links the right way, will not only encourage others to be active with you and your brand – but it will help your website climb in rankings.

• New wedding content developed regularly

  In order to keep your page rank moving upwards you need new content. The best way to not only help your self but others is to create a DoFollow blog so that each time you write new content others will be able to comment on your site. This actually helps your website much more then it can hurt – not only will you be building fresh new content for the spiders to find, it will also help you develop key words and phrases that will attract the attention of individuals searching for those key terms.

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  Following the basics of “wedding industry search engine optimization” will help you increase your page rank, and help those who are searching for you be able to locate you amongst the crowd of unrelated websites. Try not to fall for the “next” big shortcut, or “tech-savvy” way of getting around the basics, because that could hurt your rankings at some-point in the near future.