There is a reason there is a booming industry of people offering SEO services; SEO is a mighty, many-headed, ever-evolving beast. And while most of us would love to be able to pay someone to constantly be working on our SEO, the truth is that it’s both expensive and doesn’t guarantee results. So, in an effort to help my fellow small business owners by sharing my own knowledge, here’s a startup SEO Checklist for Interior Designers.
Caveat – While the tips I’m sharing are true for any website, I’m sharing exactly how to implement these changes on the Showit website platform. If you’re already on Showit, proceed, dear designer. If you’re not on Showit or still deciding on having a website, let me do a quick hype for my favorite website host, Showit. It is hands-down the easiest to use, has the friendliest staff, and is comparable in price to all of the other hosting platforms. I have designed websites on all of the big name platforms (WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify, etc), and I chose Showit for my own site. Also, I love it because my clients feel empowered and capable of editing and updating their own website. It’s LITERALLY drag and drop to edit on Showit. Anywho, if you’re interested in Showit as your web host and want to get rolling, you can use my affiliate link HERE to get your first month free. AND you can look at my Showit Website Template Shop to see if one of my templates would fit your business needs (plus get 25% off your first purchase by signing up for my newsletter). The discounts just keep piling up! Plus, I have templates in the shop I specifically designed for interior designers!
SEO Checklist for Interior Designers
Add a Site Name.
For whatever reason, people forget this all the time. It takes about two seconds. From your website design portal in Showit, click Site Settings on the lefthand menu. Then, type in your site name. I recommend typing your business name and what you do (if it’s not in the title of your business).
Now, since most designers specifically serve a geographic area, I would also recommend you include that. So, ideally your site title is something like, “Poppy Interior Design – Palo Alto, CA.” Your SEO strategy should include prioritizing your location – state, region, and city.
However, if you are an interior designer who focuses solely on online consultations or teaching other interior designers across the country, you don’t need to focus on your location. Just want to make that clear!
Add your Title and Meta Description to Each Page of Your Website.
This is one of the biggest bang-for-your-buck elements of SEO, especially when it comes to search engine ranking. And yet, when I hop into many clients’ websites before they start their new site with me, I find that they have NO titles or meta descriptions! There’s no excuse to miss out on the low hanging SEO fruit.
When you click on a page from the left hand menu, you can then go to the right side menu and at the bottom click on SEO Settings. When that tab opens add a title and meta description for each page. Titles should explain what that page offers, like Poppy Interior Design or Luxury Interior Designer – Poppy Grey. Keep it direct.
For your meta descriptions we want to appeal to humans and website robots. So, write a short paragraph in complete sentences. This is what would pop up under your page name in a Google search. So you want to help convince people to click your page. And if you can add in one of your SEO keywords as well, then you’ve also made the robots happy.
Pro Tip: You’ll also see a spot on this tab to add a Share Image. This is the image that pops up if someone sends your link over a text or other method. Add a great photo that draws people in or your brand logo.
Add a Title and Alt Text to Your Website Photos.
Okay, if adding Page Titles and Meta Descriptions was fast, this is the opposite. But it’s just as important for your search engine ranking. For every photo on your website, you want to give it an SEO friendly title and clear meta description. To do this click on Showit, click on an image. Then on the right hand side, right under where you can see the picture in the Image tab, you’ll see the fields for Title and Alt Text.
The title will automatically show up as whatever you named your photo when you saved it to your computer. Too often that means it’ll say something along the lines of IMG_555. What a waste! Instead, give it a title of one of your SEO keywords, like Palo-Alto-Interior-Design.
Alt Text is slightly different. We don’t want to stuff it full of keywords because it’s more about helping humans and robots know the content of the photo and how it’s relevant to your website. It’s best to do a short description of the photo, like “Renovated living in blue and neutral colors”. The alt text is used by blind website visitors; their screen readers will read the alt text to them. Similarly, web crawlers will read the alt text to know that your website has visual elements that relate to your site’s purpose.
To add the photo title and alt text for your blog photos (accessed through your WordPress – www.sitename.com/wp-admin – backend), you’ll need to go to your Media Library. Then, you can individually add each photos’ title and description.
Y’all, I get it, this is massively time-consuming. This is part of the service I offer for Custom Website Design and Template Customization, and whenever it’s time for this part I have to get a little coffee treat to get me through it. But the long term benefits are worth it!
Add One Internal and One External Link per Web Page.
This one gets missed a lot, and it’s such a fast one to do!
An internal link is a link to another page on your website. Odds are good that you’ve probably got this anyway! But take a moment to walk through every web page and make sure you do.
An external link is a link to any website that isn’t yours. So if you can add a link to an affiliate that counts. Or if you want to add a link to your LTK or Instagram page, that counts too!
Pro Tip: Adding an internal and external link is also a great thing to add to every blog post.
Set Up Your Google Analytics and Submit a Site Map.
I think a lot of people hear analytics and immediately feel out of their depth, but setting it up isn’t hard at all. And it means that when you are ready to delve into your traffic (whether to start a serious ad campaign or build a content strategy), you’ll have the back data to make more educated decisions.
To set up Google analytics, go to analytics.google.com and follow the set up instructions. It takes less than 5 minutes. When the set up is done you’ll get your Measurement ID. You’ll need to add this to your Showit site back end by going to Site Settings, then Integrations, and Google Analytics. Then, you just paste your Measurement ID into the box.
To submit a site map of your finished Showit website, simply follow this easy tutorial from Showit about submitting a site map.
These few things will set a solid foundation for on page SEO of your website, but, of course, it is by no means exhaustive. SEO is a long row to hoe, but the best way to handle it is by doing a little at a time. And, frankly, even by just doing these five things you’ll be doing more than many businesses ever do. If you’d like more SEO tips for interior designers, please let me know and I’ll add it to my to do list!
read the Most popular posts...
The Best Showit Website Templates for Interior Designers
entrepreneurship
DIY Scalloped Terra Cotta Flower Pot for Indoor Plants
DIY & crafts
A Hand Illustrated Brand Design With French Influence
ILLUSTRATION & Design
DIY Book Ornament Tree - Featuring My Love of Nancy Drew
Lifestyle
as seen in
see all press
Step into a joyful life fueled by your creativity.
I believe we are called to a life of creativity, and I’m trying to show up for that every day. When I’m not designing website templates, brands or illustrations, I’m getting my glitter shoes metaphorically muddy with my own artistic pursuits. I’m a maker, a quilter, a Christmas enthusiast, a baker, and a truly abysmal (but passionate) gardener.
Hi, I'm Emily.
join me in a life that is fun and fulfilling.
Check out my Creative Small Business Resource Library to access all of my favorite tools and programs that I use to run my business (and, let's be honest, my life). Just sign up for the newsletter below!
