SEO 101 for Musicians and Bands
If you want to be found on the net with your band website, you should pay attention to some basics of search engine optimization.
Having your own website can be a really good basis for online marketing – not only for companies but also for musicians and bands. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a useful measure so that the band website is also found by search engines and best displayed within the top results. But the basics have to be right, because, for example, technically outdated websites are classified as less qualitative and displayed further down in the search results.
Does your website have a strategy such as a blogger outreach campaign and a modern infrastructure? Then it can continue with SEO and content.
1. Strategy: Keyword research for musicians.
In my previous article on band websites, I wrote that every good website has a marketing strategy and goals. These goals determine the keywords, the main components of search engine optimization. Thus, these keywords are not only your band name but e.g. combinations of it with the relevant music genre, if you want to become better known in the genre. Another combination would result from the name, music genre, and the place name where you want to perform.
The keywords of a party band, for example, that wants to gain notoriety and be booked in a region, could be:
- Band name
- Band Name +”Party Band”+ Location
- Band Name + Music Genre + Location
At best, these keywords are also taken into account when choosing the domain and integrated into it, e.g.:
- www.bandname-ort.de
This type of localization is important for promoters who are looking for a specific type of band. Also, it is relevant for bookers looking for regional support for an upcoming tour.
2. SEO-basics: The hierarchy of links.
Search engines rank linked keywords higher than plain text. Even more highly rated are prominently linked keywords, for example as menu items in the navigation bar or in buttons. The navigation bar should not contain more than five menu items.
Further subpages can be linked in the footer at the bottom of the website – the “SEO footer” known in online marketing circles.
ALSO READ: How Music Therapy can Help Positivity in Your Life?
3. Content: Content of the Band’s website.
Once the structure of the website is in place, it goes to the content of the various subpages, such as biography, discography, tour dates, information for the press, etc.
To make it easy to read, the texts should be enriched with lists, photos, and other media, as well as divided by subheadings. Headings are marked as h1 and h2 in HTML and are perceived as important by search engines. The headings marked as h1 are of greater importance and should accurately describe the content of the respective page with the keywords. A long text should contain a subheading every 2-3 paragraphs and keywords as well.
In addition, there is the metadata, which additionally describes the contents of a website for search engines and contributes significantly to the ranking of the search results. Metadata is, on the one hand, the names of image files and other attachments and on the other hand the titles and descriptions that Google shows, for example, as a preview of the search results. The latter is located in the HTML code of the website and can be added via specific text fields in the respective content management system, in WordPress, for example, via an SEO plugin. And of course, metadata should also contain keywords.
Your keywords should also appear in the rest of the text, but it is no longer the case that an additional paragraph with a list of keywords makes the website rank higher. This is now even punished by Google. Because the most widely used search engine worldwide now relies on a qualitative analysis when indexing the websites.
In addition, regular, qualitative updates such as news reports or a blog contribute much more to the ranking.
4. Off-Page SEO for Bands and Musicians
Search engines classify websites as high-quality and in turn, rank them higher in search results if they are “recommended” by other websites. The recommendation takes the form of a link on these external websites, the so-called “back-links”, as they lead back to your own website.
For bands, the task of external link building is much easier than for entrepreneurs, as they can get much more press and request themselves. Online magazines, fan blogs, genre directories but also lyrics libraries are excellent sources of backlinks for bands. Ask the journalists, and you’ll surely get a link for every album review and for every concert report. With your own band profiles on the net, never forget to specify your website there. The same applies to social media: write your news on the website and then spread it on Facebook etc. always with a link to the website.
With these basics, you cover the most important aspects of search engine optimization.
As I said, the website is a good basis for online marketing and so fans, journalists, and other interested parties should be guided there – through links. With a good website and the right strategy, you’ll be well-positioned to achieve your marketing goals.
