An online presence is critical for any brand. It doesn’t matter what business you are in; you need visibility. Musicians operate in a competitive space. Getting and keeping fans is important for success.  

However, if your music is not discoverable, you may end up spending your career playing in local bars. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you want to go international if possible.  

There are different ways to create awareness. Advertising and social media are some of them. Some production companies also offer free music promotion to independent musicians. 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another perfect tool to generate awareness. You take steps to make it easy for search engine crawlers to find you. The result is higher rankings and better visibility.  

Our article will look at SEO for musicians and how to make your music more discoverable in 2021. Let’s dive into what you can do.  

1. Start By Having a Website 

A strong digital presence requires that you have a website. Your fans need a platform where they can access more information about you. You get to post everything relevant to your career. 

Such include ongoing and new projects. It is also a place to engage and interact with your fans. 

Determine what goals you have for the website. You must also know your audiences well because it determines everything you do on the site.

Factors that may affect SEO on your website include:

• Page loading speeds – the rankings will suffer if the page speeds are slow. Online visitors will also not hang around.  Remember, there is a lot of content in the online space. The choice allows online visitors to be very picky and impatient. Choose a web hosting provider that can provide sufficient bandwidth.  Your site should be able to handle any amount of traffic with the highest efficiency. 
•  Mobile optimization is critical. Almost 50% of online visitors browse the internet from their mobile devices. Ensure the UX on mobile is outstanding. 
• Hard to navigate websites resulting in a poor UX
• Lack of relevant Meta descriptions, title tags, and headers.  Whatever you have should be concise, unique, and appropriately describes your brand. 
• Backlinking to irrelevant sites or dead links. Google takes this very seriously, so be careful.  

Keep running relevant site tests to catch and rectify any problems proactively.  

2. Know What Your Competitors Are Up To

Take some time to check out what your competitors are up to. Learn from their successes and avoid their mistakes. Please take note of things like how their websites look. 

Also, see how they engage with fans and even how they promote themselves. Now, create something unique to you. Remember, the aim is to stand out, not blend in.  

3.  Focus On the Right Keywords

Your fans use particular words when searching for music content. Let’s say you offer free music promotion services. Your service offering should be part of the long and short-tail keywords you use on your site. 

Variations to use could include:

• Free music promotion software
• Free music promotion tips for beginners
• Free music promotion in California
• Free music promotion, etc. 

The point is to increase your chances of appearing in search results. It is, however, essential to be strategic in keyword use. Avoid keyword stuffing, hoping the search crawlers will notice you. Google is normally on the lookout for such and may penalize you.  

4. Take Advantage of Local SEO

Increase your fan base within your locality by utilizing local SEO. Enlisting in local or music directories or Google My Business increases your visibility in your geographic location. Adding a location in Meta tags is also important.

Let’s say your band’s location is Chicago. If anyone searches for music bands in Chicago, you increase your chances of appearing in the top results.

Also, enlist your band on the Google Search Console. It is as easy as setting up an account and providing the necessary details.

Go a step further and create a wiki profile. A cursory Google search will show you how important sites like Wikipedia and Wikidata are. Remember to link all these sites to your website.  

5. Put Careful Thought in Your Website Content

Researching your audience is essential. You know what your fans like and what they don’t.  From your interactions with them, you know what they are missing in terms of content. Unique, engaging content will have audiences flocking to your website. Share your musical journey through blogs.

Give them virtual experiences showing what goes into producing great content. Ensure high-quality videos for better engagement. You have many tools you can use to create such. Check out the Adobe Premiere Pro price for one such software.  

6. Optimize Your Images for SEO

As a musician, you probably have a lot of images on your website. However, if you do not optimize them, they could impact your web performance.  There are several steps for the best use of images:

• Make sure the images are not heavy. You have the option of resizing or compressing to make them smaller. Just ensure the action does not compromise on the quality of the pictures.
•  Avoid very heavy file formats. PNG has high-quality pictures, but they are heavy. JPG and GIF work well due to the smaller sizes. 
• When optimizing images, make sure they maintain the same quality on a mobile device.
•  Have appropriate file names and descriptors. Include relevant keywords for better SEO. 

7. You Cannot Ignore Social Media

Social media platforms allow you to reach millions of fans without paying a cent. You can, of course, advertise on the platforms, but that is a matter of choice. YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, and Twitter are some of them. But:

• Go where your fans are. You can focus better if you do not spread yourself too thin by being everywhere
• Be consistent in creating content. 
• Engage and interact with your audiences. If you do, they will like, share, retweet, and subscribe to your platforms. You effectively build an organic audience that way. 
• Link all your social media platforms to your website. Again, it provides an excellent way to build organic audiences. 

Final Thoughts

As a musician, the best way to make your music more discoverable in 2021 is to get aggressive about your SEO. Start by having a responsive, easy-to-navigate website. Use relevant keywords that best describe your music.   

Generate high-quality content that speaks directly to your fans because you understand what they need.