Search Engine Optimization Tips for the musicians:

There are several ways to find information or new material on the internet, but when people are looking for something unique, they typically use search engines.

Every day, almost everybody uses a search engine to find something, and some of those people are, or will be, your fans. The trick for you as an artist is to figure out what they're looking for in terms of music and then have excellent content that fulfils their needs. While the internet is already overflowing with content, optimizing your website to increase search engine traffic will help you carve out your own niche. As a consequence, search engine optimization (SEO) is more critical than ever, so let's discuss some strategies for getting your band's website to rank in those search results.

1. Identify your SEO objectives.

Take some time to determine what you want to get out of your website before you spend time and effort optimizing it for quest. Who do you want to reach out to through search engines, and what do you think they'll want? If you're having trouble with this, take a look at our post on The Fan Journey.

If you're like most artists, you'll want to reach out to people who are looking for your band name directly. Perhaps they heard your music somewhere and now want to learn more about you, listen to some of your other tracks, and see what else you have to offer. That's fantastic - this is where having a high search engine rating comes in handy.

2. Know what keywords you want to hit:

When you know what you want to achieve, you will figure out which keywords to target. Of course, your own band name is a good place to start when it comes to deciding which keywords to target.

If your name is truly special, this might be straightforward, but that isn't always the case. If your band name is similar to other popular words, for example, you may be better off attempting to rank for anything more unique. If your band's name is "Autumn Leaves," for example, you may want to target keywords like "autumn leaves band" or "autumn leaves music." Take the time to learn about the keywords you want to target, as they'll form the basis of any SEO work you do. Read our post on keyword research for musicians if you need further guidance finding it out. Have you tested to see if your website is already ranking for your target keywords, or if the correct page of your site is ranking? In any case, you can make it a habit to update your rankings on a regular basis. It will inform you if you have some more work to do.

3. Put excellent content on your website: All in SEO is built on the basis of content. You have no chance of ranking for anything if you don't have any material. As a result, simply creating a music website with some simple content is a great place to begin. In general, the more quality content you have, the better. So, put your material on your website. It must be excellent content that the fans would enjoy. It's a good idea to change up the types of material you use, making sure to have plenty of text where it makes sense. Include a well-written musician profile, for example. Be sure to title your photos and videos with text. Fill in as much detail as possible for all of your shows and activities.

Of course, don't forget to include your music and maybe even lyrics. Keep in mind the keywords you want to hit at all times. Whatever people are searching for with those keywords, your content should be the ultimate resource. There are a lot of small technical SEO specifics you might spend (and possibly waste) time on, but if you already have a fantastic website with a lot of great content, you'll be 90% of the way there.

4. Pick a memorable domain name:

Your domain name is your web address, and it’s how people - and, in this case, search engines - find you, much like a real-world address. It's easy to see why having a professional-looking address for your band's website is critical. Since your website is the only space on the internet that you completely own and manage, both humans and search engines will regard it as the sole source of reliable information about your band. So, for your website, choose a fantastic, official-looking domain name. A platform-specific subdomain, such as yourband.tumblr.com, would not suffice. The best option is normally to use your own.com domain. If yourband.com is already taken, try yourbandmusic.com or yourbandofficial.com.

5. Make your page tags more effective: This SEO tip is an oldie but a goodie. There are a lot of tags that go into the HTML code of your page that don't appear on your website but are relevant to search engines.

The title tag is first on the list. When people see your website in a search engine result, they can see and click on the text in this tag. When the page is up, it's also what you see in your browser tab. As a general rule, you want a straightforward, succinct, and descriptive title for your page that is no more than 60 characters long. Each page of your website should have its own title tag, which should read well for humans and include some of your most popular keywords, such as your band name. The meta definition tag comes next. Search engines use this one in their results pages as well. Again, you want a simple and succinct summary of your page's material, with a length of about 120 characters as a general rule of thumb. Consider uniqueness, human readable material, and keywords for each page.

6. Collect backlinks from other pages

Backlinks, or links to your website from other websites, are extremely necessary for SEO. That's because Google prefers trustworthy sites, and one way it can say if yours is trustworthy is if it links to other trustworthy sites. The more websites that connect to your site, the better. It's important to note the focus on "trustworthy" because no two backlinks are alike. Authentic backlinks from great content on great websites that are topically important to your band are ideal. For example, a review of your music on a reputable culture blog with a link to your website might be your perfect backlink. For you, that would be an A++ backlink. You also don't have to wait for the ideal backlink. Make sure that all of your social media accounts, as well as any other platforms where you have a presence, are linked to your website. Make every effort to provide a link to your website whenever your band is listed online, as much as possible and where it makes sense.

7. Create a Google Search Console account for your website.

Sign up or build an account with Google Search Console (you'll find it if you Google it), and then add your website. Be sure to use a https URL if your website has one. Then you'll need to prove that you own your site, which Search Console will walk you though. Adding a simple HTML tag to your website is usually enough. One of the benefits of taking this easy move is that it will assist you in obtaining an information panel in the Google search engine results pages.

Another important move is to include your xml sitemap, which is a computer-friendly map of your website that makes it easier for search engines to crawl. This will be automatically created for you if you use a website platform like Bandzoogle, and should be easy to find. You can need to set this up yourself if you use a CMS like WordPress.

8. Make a Wiki page for your band.

Google and other search engines use wiki sites as a reliable source of information for a variety of purposes, including creating knowledge panels and other rich information in search engine results pages.

Wikipedia, Wikidata.org, and MusicBrainz are three separate wiki pages where you can make an attempt to create entries for your band. Add as much relevant and detailed information as possible, including links to your website and social media accounts, and make sure it is consistent across all pages.

9. Make changes to your information panel:

As a musician or band, you are a public figure, and therefore, according to Google, you are a certain type of "entity" that some people are interested in learning more about. You might already have an information panel on the search results pages for your name if you're well-known enough. If not, the preceding measures will assist you in getting there. Since an information panel appears so prominently as people search for you, it's worth making it as comprehensive as possible. You can make changes to the details by first obtaining Google verification (hot tip: use the same Google account you used to verify your site in Search Console) and then suggesting changes