How Important is SEO to Your Golf Business?

Is SEO Relevant to Golf Industry Websites?

To answer the above question bluntly, SEO is absolutely crucial to your business as it increases your visibility online, which results in your website getting more traffic, thus resulting in more opportunities to increase revenue in your business.

Over the past 12 months, I have really tried to increase my understanding of SEO and whilst I won’t confess to be an expert, I do know, looking at golf industries websites, there are so many poor websites (and I’m not talking about the design of them as some are stunning…)

In this article, I will explain what I’ve learnt, what is SEO and a few simple tips to help you improve:

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

SEO stands for ‘search engine optimisation’.

It is the process of improving your website’s technical configuration, content relevance and link popularity which then produces quality and quantity of traffic to your website from search engines (e.g. Google). 

SEO doesn’t target the paid traffic (e.g. sponsored posts or pay per click) or direct traffic, it targets the unpaid traffic.

How do Search Engines Work?

SEO is determined by search engines. There are many search engines in the world, but the largest is Google, which makes up for 93% of the global search market. 

Through the search engines algorithms, they provide results based on the users’ questions. On Google alone, there are 30 to 50 billion web pages indexed, although only 200 million active websites. So to gather the ‘answer’ to the questions asked by the customer, they look at the following things as part of the algorithm:

• Relevant keywords in page titles
• Meta descriptions
• (H1) Headlines
• Top Quality Content
• Original Imagery / Video 
• Backlinking / Citations 
• Page Loading Speed

What are Relevant Keywords in Page Titles?

The title of pages on your website allows search engines to understand the topic of the webpage and differentiate one page from another.

For example, a user searches for ‘golf membership’ on a search engine. The search engine will firstly look for all websites with golf membership in the title of their webpages in order to answer the question asked.

What are Meta Descriptions?

A Meta Description provides a brief summary of a webpage. The Meta Description is displayed as part of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and is meant to give the user an idea of what content is on that page and how it relates to the search query. 

For example, if somebody is searching for ‘Flexible Points Based Membership’ then make sure your Meta Description includes just that.

What are (H1) Headlines?

Headlines (H1) should describe the main topic of the page (and be the largest font). From a visitor’s perspective the headline plays a huge role in whether or not they continue reading a page. From a search engine perspective, it looks at the headline for the relevancy of content. 

For example, if somebody is searching for anything ‘golf’ related, then make sure your homepage H1 includes the word golf – this is huge within the golf industry. Some many golf clubs I see do not indicate that they are related to golf.

• ‘XXX welcomes visitors’
• ‘XXX is the friendliest club’

How is a search engine supposed to know your business is in the golf industry without you mentioning the word ‘golf’?

What is Backlinking?

Backlinking is where another website links some of their content back to your website. Backlinks are important as they’re an indicator of how popular your website is but also demonstrates to search engines that your content offers value to third-party websites.

The better the quality and quantity of backlinks, the higher you will rank on search engines pages.

What Makes Top Quality Content?

You can publish whatever content you like onto your website, but always have your members / visitors in mind and ask yourself the below questions:

• Is it informative?
• Is it engaging?
• Is it current?

Below gives you an idea, from an SEO perspective, of the types of content which are best:

• Blogs
• Infographics
• Videos
• Trending News / Content
• How-to Guides
• Lists

How Quickly Should Your Webpages Load?

Your website, along with your social media channels, is your golf club or business shop window, so first impressions are key. 

As website users, we are very impatient, through research, the ideal load speed is from 1-2 seconds. 53% of website visits are cancelled if the load speed is longer than 3 seconds.

Should Your Website Focus on Design or SEO?

In all truth, you shouldn’t focus on SEO over design or vice versa. You can have the best looking website, but with poor SEO how will customers ever find your website? Similarly, you can have a well optimised website, but with poor design / user experience then your customers won’t stay on there.

Who Should You Write Your Website For, Google, Customers or Your Business?

The answer is somewhere in between. Your website needs to be written so Google (or search engines) can easily gather information for queries. Customers need to be able to understand what is on your website. Finally, from your own business perspective, it needs to be written in your tone and voice which represent your values.

Would You Like a Free SEO Website Audit?

Whilst this article is barely scratching the surface of how important SEO is to your business, if you’d like a free website audit, please get in touch and we can help you.