4 Steps To Great On-Page SEO for Event Planners

Apart from referrals, a Google search is often the first step a potential client takes. Understanding the basics of On-page SEO for event planners will help your business stand out and rank higher in search results.

Like many creative geniuses, the idea of getting technical with search engine optimization ranks (SWIDT?) somewhere below going to the dentist. But I’ve got some tricks for you. And these won’t take you very long at all or be particularly tricky.

I quite enjoy the minutiae of search engine optimization, and I’d written about these ideas before. We’ll touch on this stuff below, but here are two articles that are worth a peruse if you’d like a narrower discussion on the topic:

On-Page SEO for Event Planners Helps You Compete

It might seem overwhelming, or perhaps too crowded, but I’m here to tell you that yes, you can compete for search results, no matter how small or new your business is. While you might see others rank way above you, there are scenarios in which your event planning business may indeed stand out.

Local search, especially when the searcher is using a mobile device, is a very different beast. Google tries hard to present accurate, local-centric results to potential customers. And that’s really the whole point here.

Search engine optimization is about giving Google the information it needs to know the searches for which you’d be a relevant result. So let’s get to it.

Let’s take it straight for the source, Google themselves:

“Search algorithms look at many factors, including the words of your query, relevance and usability of pages, expertise of sources, and your location and settings.”

Use Other Website’s SEO For Event Planners

When it comes to ranking, SEO for event planners begins with listings on other websites. I’m talking about sites like BizBash, Party Slate, The Knot, Wedding Wire, or even broader directories like Yelp.

These websites have done a vast amount of work when it comes to search engine optimization, backlink building, and all the grindingly strenuous long-term stuff. They’re trusted by search engines too. So if you’d like to get a piece of the search results pie, get listed.

In many cases, these websites even pay Google to rank in the top spots, as you’ll see in my articles linked above. Thus it’s worth working on a detailed profile within these directory websites and soliciting some positive reviews.

With that out of the way, let’s discuss some simple tricks you can do on your own website that can give you a boost too.

On-Page Keywords and Relevancy

Again, let’s quote Google, on how vital keyword relevance is:

“The most basic signal that information is relevant is when a webpage contains the same keywords as your search query. If those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the headings or body of the text, the information is more likely to be relevant.”

So what are you actually doing with on-page search engine optimization? Well, in a way, you’re teaching Google about your customers. Your website copy, title tag, and meta description provide information to Google about which web searches, or queries, you’re the answer to.

“These relevance signals help Search algorithms assess whether a webpage contains an answer to your search query, rather than just repeating the same question. Just think: when you search for “dogs”, you likely don’t want a page with the word “dogs” on it hundreds of times. With that in mind, algorithms assess if a page contains other relevant content beyond the keyword “dogs” — such as pictures of dogs, videos, or even a list of breeds.”

Now, we’re going to get somewhat technical at times but bear with me. I’ll explain how to make changes to your on-page SEO where needed. It may sound full of terms of art, but it’s easier than you’d imagine. I promise.

Step 1: Website Copy

Your website copy should explicitly answer the likeliest search query. For example, if I’m searching for an event planner in Austin, TX, your website should copy should have the words “event planner, Austin,” clearly stated.

It helps if you have those words repeated in a few different ways:

Your website’s heading should contain a variation of this, like “We Are Austin Event Planner Experts.” Do prioritize readability over stuffing in keywords, but it does help to have the main keyword in a position of importance. At the very least, in the first 100 words.

Then, the main keyword ought to be in one or two other places in the text copy. Again, don’t sacrifice good writing for Google’s sake, but see if you can add in the keywords elegantly and tastefully.

Step 2: Title Tags

Now we’re getting a little more technical. I’ll explain briefly. HTML is the language of the web. It’s the code that your website is built with. More importantly, it tells the structure of your website to both the web browser and to Google’s indexing bots.

HTML tags define which words are headings, what the links are, and more. And there are a few hidden gems that work behind the scenes. One of these tags is the title tag. It effectively tells Google what the title of each of your web pages is. It also lets Google know what you’d like your page’s name to be in the search results.

On-page SEO for event planners image of title and description

So, instead of having your title be just your name, rather add in the main keyword like “True Love Events – Austin Wedding & Event Planners.” That way, Google will know who you are and what you are. And can present your website in the right search results.

I’ll share below how common ways you can edit your title tags.

Step 3: Meta Description

Like title tags, the meta description informs Google about who you are and what you do. So, just like above, you want to make sure your description contains keywords.

Here’s an example I pulled from a top-ranking wedding planner.

<meta name="description" content="Custom wedding planning and design
 services from the award-winning team at [company] in Austin, TX will leave your guests speechless."/>

You see how the description contains the keywords of wedding planning as well as their location of Austin? That’s why Google ranks them for search queries about wedding planners in Austin. Pretty straightforward.

Step 4: Internal Linking

There’s one more signal you can give to Google – internal linking. Event planners often have multiple services. So the on-page SEO for event planners should help Google understand which web page is relevant for which service.

Let’s look at an example.

If you’re an event planning company in Austin that does corporate events and weddings, you’ll likely want three web pages:

Homepage – Focusing on the keywords of event planning in Austin.
Corporate Events page with keywords around corporate events in Austin.
Wedding Planning, with keywords about wedding planning in Austin.

On each page, the title tag, meta description, and website copy will be different. This will help Google know that you have multiple specialties and which page will be most relevant to the search query.

But you can help Google a bit more by linking between the pages. So on your homepage, you’ll have two links:

Austin Corporate Event Planning
Austin Wedding Planning

This, too, is a clear signal to Google that you consider these pages to be the authoritative results on those keywords.

One important note, though. Make each page’s title and description different. Don’t try to compete with yourself to rank. That means pick one page to rank for “event planning” and another for “wedding planning.” You don’t need to add these same keywords into your contact page and about pages etc.

At ThymeBase, we don’t try to rank the same pages for event timelines, and we do for event planning software.

Making Changes To Your On-Page SEO For Event Planners

You’re an event planner, not a web developer, and you may not feel entirely comfortable adjusting your HTML and adding meta descriptions.

If your website was hand-coded by a web developer, then you’ll probably need to chat with them and ask them to make a few adjustments. The good news is that this is a relatively minor tweak, and shouldn’t take them long at all. In fact, they ought to have already set this up. Tell ’em, I said so.

If like many event planners, you use a website builder like Wix, GoDaddy Website Builder or Squarespace, or a framework, like WordPress, then things are going to be pretty straightforward. Read on!

WordPress: I strongly recommend the Yoast SEO plug-in. It’s free, super easy to install, and often comes pre-installed anyways. They’ll handle the meta tags and title tags automatically! On each page, just add your keyword, and Yoast will walk you through optimizing the on-page SEO.

GoDaddy Website Builder: GoDaddy has an integrated SEO tool that will help you handle all of this. Your task will be to pick your keywords. That’s about it.

Wix: Wix also has internal SEO tools that make it somewhat seamless to handle on-page optimization.

Squarespace: Squarespace handles title tags automatically and also allows you to add and edit your descriptions.

It’s Worth The Effort And Requires Little Upkeep

On-Page SEO for event planners is not an ongoing task. It’s a small up-front investment requiring a little thought on the purpose of each page and then some action to add titles and descriptions to those pages. That’s it. Once it’s done… it’s done.