The 5 SEO Tips for Craft Brewery Websites was designed by the Brewing Sites team after designing, maintaining, and improving over 100 brewery websites in the past 4 years.
First let’s talk about the basics. If you are well familiar with how to apply SEO and understand the 3 main modalities of how it works, feel free to skip to the last section to get straight to the tips!
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving the visibility of your website in search results. When your website ranks higher in search results, it becomes more visible to potential customers which can lead to increased traffic and sales.
But what exactly is involved in enhanced SEO? There are three main types of SEO: On-Page, Off-Page, and Technical.
On-Page SEO refers to the optimization of individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search results. This includes optimizing the content and HTML source code of a webpage. Some specific On-Page SEO techniques include keyword research and optimization, optimizing title and meta tags, and using header tags appropriately.
Off-Page SEO refers to the activities that you do outside of your own website to improve your search engine rankings. This includes building backlinks from other reputable websites, which can help to increase the authority and credibility of your own site. Some specific Off-Page SEO techniques include guest blogging, social media marketing, and local citations (e.g., listing your business on online directories like Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Bing Places for Business, and Apple Maps Connect).
Technical SEO refers to the optimization of the technical aspects of your website, such as the server, hosting, and coding. Some specific Technical SEO techniques include optimizing website speed and performance, creating a sitemap, and ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly.
- Increased visibility: As we mentioned earlier, one of the main benefits of SEO is increased visibility in search results. This is especially important for craft breweries, as the competition in the craft beer industry is fierce. By investing more in SEO, you can make sure that your brewery’s website stands out in search results and attracts more customers!
- Local search optimization: Naturally, many craft breweries rely on local customers for a significant portion of their business. Enhanced SEO can help you optimize your website for local search results, so that when someone searches for “craft breweries near me,” your brewery’s website is more likely to appear at the top of the search results.
- Improved user experience: A well-optimized website is not only more visible in search results, it’s also easier for users to navigate and use. This can lead to increased engagement, which can translate into more sales and customer loyalty.
Increased revenue: Ultimately, the goal of enhanced SEO is to drive more traffic and sales to your brewery. By investing in SEO, you can increase the chances that potential customers will find your website and learn more about your brewery, where it is, and even make online purchases if you also sell online. This can lead to a significant return on investment (ROI) for your brewery.
And now for the SEO TIPS! As we explained above since there are 3 main types of SEO: On-Page, Off-Page, and Technical we’re going to provide you with 5 SEO tips that we’ve seen make a difference on many of our Brewery websites.
Keyword research and optimization – Make sure your website’s content includes keywords related to your own brewery and the craft beer industry. Do you sell beer online? What about an online store or membership club? How about food or are dogs allowed? Think about what people may be searching for online and build a list of keywords to ensure you cover on the next tip. The right keywords will ultimately make it easier for search engines and customers to find you online. Great keywords also help to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Many times, breweries just focus on a few generic keywords and to really rank high you need to do better.
High-quality content, and lots of it – Take the time to write lots of high quality content that is relevant, informative, and engaging. This will help to establish your brewery as a reputable and trustworthy source of information both locally and nationally, which will drive customers to your website over and over again.
Get social and boost your online visibility – As you probably know, social media is a powerful tool for building a strong online presence. What you may not know is that integrating ALL of these platforms on your website such as Facebook (Events AND Timeline feed), Instagram, and Twitter will not just allow you to easily share and connect with customers, but drive people to other areas of your website and make them aware of information you want them to see. Bonus Tip: Integrating the way we do at Brewing Sites actually brings your social media content into your website as new organic content, automatically, so it helps you with Tip #2 above!
Be the local beer leader with accurate Citations – List and ensure your brewery’s information on the top 5 Citations (Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Bing Places for Business, and Apple Maps Connect) is up to date and accurate, then check the 5 aggregators (Data Axle, Foursquare, Neustar Localeze, Yellow Pages Network, and GPS Network). These have a huge impact on your Local SEO and will help improve your search engine visibility and make it easier for customers to find you in their local search results.
Technical SEO for a Better Online Experience – Optimizing the back-end of your brewery’s website to make it faster, more secure, and easier for search engines to crawl can be painstaking and time consuming although it is critical in the success of your website. You should make sure that the URLs of your pages are easy to read and describe what the page is about. For example, if you have a page that talks about about your brewery’s story, the URL could be something like “www.brewingsites.com/about-brewing-sites/“.
Group related content together in a logical and easy-to-use structure, such as creating separate pages for different beer styles, events, and news. Make sure the navigation of your website is intuitive and easy to use, so visitors can easily find what they are looking for. Consider using a drop-down menu for categories and subcategories, or a header navigation with links to important pages. Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) help to structure the content on your website, making it easier for both visitors and search engines to understand the hierarchy of the content. Use H1 tags for main headings, H2 tags for subheadings, and H3 tags for sub-subheadings.
By following these tips and best practices for craft brewery SEO, you can improve your website’s ranking in search engine results, enhance the user experience for your customers, and therefore increase the visibility of your brewery online to sell more beer!
Raise a glass to beer marketing success. Up next: How to Choose the Right Website Platform for Your Craft Brewery
