Is Your Region Website Searchable?

When a family decides it’s time for their kid(s) to play sports, some parents are familiar with AYSO and are out there actively searching for your Region on the web. But, there are plenty of other parents that aren’t acquainted with AYSO – and may not be sure that there is any local soccer program in their area.

This is why it’s important to be sure that your Region website is “searchable” or in other words, uses positive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices. For those of you not familiar, here’s a handy SEO beginners guide.

In a nutshell, focusing on improving SEO will ensure that your Region website ranks highly in Google search results – making it easy to find for those unfamiliar parents I mentioned. Here’s a quick trick to find out where you stand: Google “youth soccer (your city name here)” and see if your website appears on the first page of results. Yes? That‘s a good start. No? We’ve got some work to do!

SEO tip #1 – Include the city name prominently on your homepage. I’ve come across a lot of Region websites that only feature the Region # and not the city name. If parents aren’t familiar with AYSO, they definitely won’t know the Region number (or what a Region number is, for that matter).

Headers on web pages carry more value than regular text, making it prime real estate. Be sure to use it wisely and include words that you think hold a big SEO punch. A good example of a homepage title would be: “AYSO Long Beach – World-Class Youth Soccer Program” That way, you've included AYSO, the city name and the most important point - youth soccer! (Need help editing/adding headers? Send Jen Kaye an email)

More SEO tips will come in future posts. Any SEO questions or suggestions, leave a comment.