Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Explained

Still not 100% sure about what SEO is?  This quick video from Common Craft is a good introduction.

Of course, your chances of ranking highly for a general search phrase like Pinot Noir are low.  But you probably want to rank highly for searches that associate your winery (e.g. Kosta Browne Pinot Noir) and/or region (e.g. Russian River Pinot Noir) with a particular varietal.

Another example: V. Sattui recognizes that they are a popular picnic spot, and has optimized their site for searches relating to winery picnic.

If you don't know the top 3-5 search terms that bring visitors to your winery, talk to your Webmaster.  Then take a look for yourself at where your site appears in the results when you type those phrases into Google.  If you're not happy with the outcome, it's time to tackle SEO for your winery website.

Comments

[Mike]

not a bad video but it's rather basic. in reality there's a good deal more to SEO than that, especially after recent Google changes.

[Torrado]

Nice tut but there are lot more things to do to rank high in google. One tip which i will give is check keyword difficulty, go for keywords which have less difficulty, you can cover 10 keywords of less difficulty in time required by one difficult keyword.

[wine ecommerce]

Good little article on SEO. I am offering SEO services to the wineries through eWinery Solutions and have written a good amount of winery-specific posts on my personal site. Check it out if you get a chance.

[Gary Fisher]

I have to agree with the other comments on here but may I add my 2 cents worth on this topic. The biggest mistake I often see in my profession are clients trusting their webmasters with SEO. SEO is a totally different animal to web design. If you needed your tonsils removing you wouldnt go to a foot specialist would you? The same applies to SEO vs web design they are totally different skill sets and require different approaches and beware of anyone calling themselves "SEO experts". SEO is a costantly evolving learning process and after 14 years as an SEO specialist I do do not class myself as an expert merely a SEO professional.