Do you want your band, brand and music to be one of the first things people see when they search online? Then it’s time to learn about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
for Wes Walls from Bandzoogle
When you want to know something about anything, where do you turn? Currently, to a search engine. Almost everyone uses search engines every day to find information, big or small.
The Internet is saturated with content, and with technological advances, AI generative search is on the rise. But following the basics of SEO strategy is still your best bet for improving traffic flow to your website.
For you as a musician, the trick is to understand what people are searching for in terms of your music and then provide great content that answers their search.
Let’s talk about some ways to get your band’s website ranking in those search results. This is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
1. Know what your SEO goals are
Before you spend time and effort optimizing your website for search, take a moment to decide what you want to get out of it. Who do you want to reach through search engines and what will these people want? That’s what we call The fan journey.
For example, if you’re like most bands, you’ll want to reach people who specifically search for your band name. Maybe these people have heard your music somewhere (radio, TikTok, Spotify) and now want to learn more about you, listen to some other songs and see what else you have to offer.
And this is where getting your website ranked in the search results will really help you.
2. Know your target keywords
Once you know what your goals are, you can figure out what keywords you’ll want to try to rank for. The best place to start, when it comes to choosing keywords to target, is with your own group name.
This can be simple if your name is unique, but it’s not always that simple. For example, if your band’s name is the same as other common terms, you’re better off trying to rank for something more specific. Let’s say your group is called “Autumn Leaves”; you might want to target keywords like “fall leaf band” or “fall leaf music”.
Take the time to list which keywords you would like to target, because they will form the basis of any SEO work you do. If you need more help figuring this out, read our article on keyword research for musicians.
Along with this, you’ll want to check if your website is already ranking for your target keywords, and if so, which pages are showing up in the results. Get into the habit of checking your ranking regularly – this will tell you whether or not you have more work to do.
3. Fill your website with great content
Content is the absolute foundation of everything in SEO. Without content, you have no chance of ranking for any search term. So making a music website with some basic content is already a good start. Generally speaking, the better content you have, the better.
Fill your website with your strong content. It should be great content that your fans will appreciate. A mix of different types of content is good, making sure to include text where it makes sense.
For example, be sure to add at least a well written musician biography. Add your images and videos, making sure to title them with text. Add all your shows and events with as much detail as possible.
Everything you need to optimize your website for search engines
Create a responsive website for your music in minutes. The pages are mobile-friendly, so your website will rank better in search engines without any effort.
And of course, add your music, and maybe even your lyrics. Always keep your target keywords in mind. Your content should be the ultimate resource for anything people search for using those keywords.
There are a lot of small technical SEO details that you could spend (and maybe waste) time on, but if you have a great website with lots of great content, you’re 90% of the way there.
4. Choose a great domain name
Your domain name is your web address, and like a real-world address, it’s how humans, and in this case search engines, find you. So in that regard, it’s easy to see why it’s important to have an official address for your band’s website.
Both humans and search engines will see your website as the ultimate source of accurate information about your band, because it’s the only space on the Internet that you own and completely control.
So choose a great domain name for your website. A subdomain on a platform will not have the same value in search. Using your own .com domain is usually the best option. You can’t go wrong with something simple like yourband.com, or if you do, consider an alternative like yourbandmusic.com or yourbandofficial.com.
5. Optimize your page tags
This SEO tip is an oldie, but still a good one. There are a couple of tags that go into your page’s HTML code that don’t appear on your website, but are important to search engines.
The first is the title tag. The text in this tag is what people see and click when your website appears in a search result. It’s also what you see in your browser tab when the page is open. What you want here is a concise and descriptive title for your page that is up to 60 characters.
Each page on your site should have a unique title tag, read well for humans, and include some of your important keywords, such as your group name.
Next is the meta description tag. This is also used by search engines on results pages. Again, what you want here is a clear and concise description of the content of your page, in about 120 characters as a rule of thumb. Again, this should be unique on each page, human readable, and should include your keywords.
6. Get links from other websites
Links to your website from other websites are called “backlinks” and are extremely important for SEO. This is because Google likes sites that are trustworthy, and one way to tell if your site is trustworthy is if other trusted sites link to yours.
Note the emphasis on “reliable” here, because no two backlinks are the same. Ideally, what you want are genuine backlinks from great content on great websites that are relevant to your band.
For example, your ideal backlink might be from a review of your music on a reputable culture blog that points to your website. That would be an A++ backlink for you.
But you don’t have to wait for the perfect backlink either. Make sure all your social media and any platforms you have a presence on are linked to your website. Every time your band is mentioned online, see if you can make sure there is a link to your website as well.
7. Set up your site in Google Search Console
Go to Google Search Console (found by signing into Google) and sign up or create an account, then add your website. If your website is on an https URL, make sure to use it.
You’ll then need to prove that you own your site, and you’ll see instructions in Search Console. This is usually done by adding a simple HTML tag to your website.
One of the benefits of taking this simple step is that it will help you get a knowledge panel on Google search engine results pages.
The other key step here is add your xml sitemap, which is a kind of computer-friendly map of your site that makes it easier for search engines to crawl. If you use a website platform like Bandzoogle, this will be automatically generated and should be easy to find. If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, you may need to set this up yourself.
8. Create Wiki entries for your band
Search engines like Google use Wiki sites as a reliable source of information for certain things, especially for generating knowledge panels and other rich information on search engine results pages.
There are a few specific wiki sites where you should make an effort to create entries for your band: Wikipedia, Wikidata.org, and MusicBrainz. Add as much detailed and relevant information as you can, add links to your website and social media wherever possible, and make sure everything is consistent across all sites.
9. Edit your knowledge panel
As a musician or band you are a public figure and therefore by Google’s standards you are a certain type of “entity” that some people want to know. If you’re well-known enough, you may already have a knowledge panel that will appear on search results pages for your name. If not, the steps above will help you get there.
Because a knowledge board appears so prominently when people search for you, it’s worth trying to make it as comprehensive as possible. You can make edits to your information by using Google Verification (use the same Google Account you used to verify your site in Search Console) and then suggesting edits.
10. Use your social networks
The concept of “hub and spoke” is often used when describing the ideal online presence of a musician or band. When it comes to SEO in particular, your website is the center, but the spokes matter too.
Radios are, well, everything else about you on the internet other than your website, such as your social media, YouTube, event listings, crowdfunding campaigns, or any other platform you’re active on. Even your reviews and other press accounts count.
Search engines will reward you (your “hub” and your “spokes”) with more visibility if they see that you are active, engaged and prolific. And that’s what fans want to see, too: When people search for you, ideally they’ll find all kinds of recent and up-to-date things about you showing up in their search results.
Using all the online tools available to you and linking them through your website will give you the best chance to create a complete online presence to engage your followers.
Alana Bonilla on 05/09/2024 in DIY | Permalink | Comments (0)
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