Have you ever tried to fix something and have no one notice or give you feedback?
I understand. And that is why I have written this article.
These five tips will help you implement changes within your website, that will ultimately give you feedback from those pesky search engines you want so much to please. When diving into the intangible world of SEO, it’s important to remember one thing…the search engine knows all. These mega-computers know more about the intricacies and subtleties of your website that you might think. You can influence the ranking, but they are the ones that actually do the ranking. That being said, there are a few tips to think about when creating your website and the content surrounding it.
The Content on the Page:
The search engine is your high school English teacher. It recognizes poor writing, bad grammar, and even checks to see if the copy on the page is consistent throughout the page. The first and foremost piece of SEO is to write the copy so that the viewer will enjoy and understand what he or she is reading. After writing the copy, head over to Google AdWords and use the keyword tool to find out which terms are the most popular amongst searchers. Although this tool only checks Google keywords, know that nearly 80% of search engine queries are typed in through Google. Once you find out which keywords (or keyphrases) are popular, replace, or move some words around in order to implement them into your copy. However, you don’t want to become guilty of “keyword stuffing” (which search engines also recognize) within your copy, so make sure you only put in a few of each keyword.
The Title Tag and Meta-Description:
These are your first lines of attack against the SEO monsters (monsters not actually real). The title tag is the title of your link when a search finds you. This is the first thing a viewer reads when the search engine spits out the search results. You want your title to implement one or two of your most important keywords, yet at the same time remain legible to the searcher. The title must also be less than 70 characters.
E.g. For an independent plow driver:
Plows R’ Us | Snow Removal, Snow Plow Driver in Upstate New York
For this title, the relevant keywords involved are:
Snow Removal, Snow Plow Driver, Snow Plow Driver in Upstate New York
The meta-description is the small, less than 160-character blurb underneath the title tag explaining the site. The most important thing to remember is that the search engine does not rank the meta-description. The meta-description is solely there to aid the searcher. So be sure to write effectively and tersely when creating the description.
Link Juice:
Simply put, the more external links linking back to your site, the higher the rank. This extra boost to your site through external links is called “link juice”. In order to obtain more link juice, you need people to provide links that link back to your website. In the beginning, it’s good to have friends helping you out with these links. However, it’s also good to find other people or small businesses to make mention of you in a link format to help you out. The more links you have, the happier you will be!
Change Content Frequently:
Search engines can recognize when content goes stale. Even if you have tons of links pointing to you, and you have killer SEO keyword tactics, you will be constantly fighting yourself if your content remains unchanged for a long period of time. But what does “frequently” actually mean? The answer is not entirely clear, but to stay on the safe side, it’s good to change your site content at least once a year, and your title tag and meta-description two times a year.
Social Media:
Twitter nuts and Facebook fanatics rejoice! Search engines now take into account social media platforms and their successes. If you do not already have a Twitter or Facebook account for your small business, now is the time to get one. Once you have that established, try to create relationships with your friends and other small businesses. A good way to obtain new followers is to follow them first and let them see who you are and what you’re about. After that, the same principle with link building applies to Social Media sites. The more shares, tweets, or links you have directed towards your site, the higher of a rank you will receive.
Peopl with social media concept
So there you have it. Five simple ways to get your SEO ball rolling. And remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Understand that you won’t jump up in ranking overnight; it takes lots of hard work and determination. So go out there, optimize your website, and get that number one rank!
