How Can I Increase SEO With Pages in SoCast?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, helps search engines like Google crawl your website and gather the information needed to include your site in their search results. Optimizing your pages is essential for improving your station’s online visibility. Below are some key steps to get started:

Step 1: Page Titles

Having a strong page title is crucial for SEO. The title tag is the first thing that appears in search results and is a major factor search engines use to determine the topic of a page. Be specific and descriptive. For example, instead of “Morning Show,” use “Morning Show with Jim Bob & Jill Smith.” Keep titles concise to avoid them being cut off in search results, and consider revisiting older pages to optimize their titles.

Step 2: Internal Linking

Internal linking means adding links to other relevant content within your site. For example, on a sports page, link to related blog posts, program schedules, or local sports event calendars. This helps search engines understand the structure of your site and keeps visitors engaged.

Step 3: Media

How you add, label, and organize media on your website has a significant impact on SEO. Use descriptive file names and add alternative text (alt text) to images. For more details, refer to our article on media best practices. Pay special attention to file names and alt text for all images and media files.

Step 4: Page Excerpt

The page excerpt controls what is displayed in search engine results and social media previews. Generally, the excerpt should be a short paragraph. If the excerpt box is left empty, SoCast will automatically generate one from the first few sentences of your page, which may not be ideal for SEO. Always write a custom excerpt for better results.

Step 5: Page Tags

Adding tags helps search engines understand how your pages are connected. Tags describe your content in more detail. WordPress recommends using no more than 15 tags per page. Use both broad and specific tags. For example, for an events page, use a broad tag like “events” and a specific tag like “Toronto Mother’s Day Events.”

Step 6: SEO-Friendly Page Permalinks

Edit page permalinks from the page edit screen in the content editor. For new pages, save your page as a draft first. Then, click ‘edit’ beside the permalink and change it to something unique and descriptive. This helps search engines and users understand the page’s content at a glance.

Step 7: Headings

Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) provide structure to your page and help search engines understand the importance of each section. Use headings to highlight key topics and include relevant keywords. In SoCast, you can style your headings under Website > Website Settings > Headings, or use the headings widget on your page.

Step 8: Clean Up Outdated Content & Update Evergreen Content

If a page is no longer relevant, not getting traffic, or contains outdated information (such as a DJ who is no longer with the station), consider deleting, hiding, or setting the page to draft mode. This prevents search engines from crawling irrelevant content and helps them focus on your most valuable pages.

For evergreen content (content that remains valuable over time), periodically review and update it to ensure all links, social content, and media are current and working. Remove or update broken links, outdated videos, or non-functioning widgets.