Welcome to the latest edition of my new weekly blog series, “Free Marketing Ideas”. Each week I will identify and explain a simple marketing idea that you can employ at low or no cost. Last week’s topic was Host a Contest.

This Week’s Topic = Alt Tags and Meta Data

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a term you hear a lot of in the digital marketing space. But depending on who you’re listening to, it means different things. At the highest level, it’s taking steps to improve your organic rankings in search engines so that you move to the top of the rankings for relevant search terms.

In theory, this is a no brainer. Statistics show that first page results (top 10) get nearly 90% of the clicks. And the top 3 results get over 50% of all traffic. So you naturally want to show up as close to the top spot as possible. That’s free traffic to your site, and people that are looking for something you offer.

It’s the “how” that’s the problem. There are a number of techniques, and most of them are free. They just take time.

The first step you should take is on your own site. Optimize your site so that it’s easy for search engines to “look at” and determine what it is all about.

That starts with Alt Tags and Meta Data. Images on your website are not easy for search engines to read. Search engines read text. So alt tags are the keywords (the text) behind your images that tell search engines what the image is.

For example, if you post a photo of your product, you can use an alt tag that describes what the product is. If someone manages your site for you, they will know how to add these tags. If not, here is a simple tutorial.

Meta data is similar, but its at a higher level. Your page title and description tell search engines what that page on your site is for. Why it’s there, why people will visit it, and what they will get out of it.

For example, the page title for your product page might be “Product Name – Company Name” and the description might be, “Product XYZ is the highest quality XYZ available online, made from the strongest materials on earth so it lasts longer than any other XYZ.”

For more information on how to add page titles and meta descriptions to your pages, click here.

When all your images have alt tags, and all your pages have unique titles and descriptions, your website will be much more likely to get ranked nearer the top of search results for those keywords that you use. And that means more free traffic to your site.

Share your thoughts on this idea, and other free marketing ideas in the comments section below and keep the conversation going!