In the brutally competitive environment of the World Wide Web, it all boils down to SERPS (Search Engine Results Placements).
Simply stated, when a random person surfing the net, types in a specific key word or phrase (that relates to your website) into a major search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Bing, you would love for the search engine to place your site on the first page of their results, preferably near the top of the page.
SERPS Up! Ride the SEO wave to page #1
Getting there isn’t easy, unless you shell out big bucks to surpass the organic search results and compete in the Pay Per Click world.
SEO, commonly know as Search Engine Optimization is an art and a science. But now is not the time to write a a dissertation about SEO. This post is for readers who may be new to SEO and are looking for a few tips to get their sites on the right track.
Keep in mind that SEO is not a one time thing. The SEO landscape is forever changing and savvy web masters work on SEO every week. But you need not despair. Once you handle the basics, you are well on your way to getting your site noticed by more people.
If you have been ignoring SEO, you may have been ignoring thousands of potential site visitors who have been trying to find you. This may be the time for you to begin riding the wave to the top of page #1 on Google. Serps UP!
Here are 15 tips to get you started:
1: Don’t guess at the keywords and phrases you wish to target. There are tools available and strategies for selecting keywords that will be most effective for you. For starters, check out keywords targeted by your competitors in the top Google spots by looking at their Meta Tags.
2: Complete the Meta-Tags for every page on your site, treating each page as a unique site. A well-optimized site will attract visitors to land on many of your internal pages as well as your home page.
3: Keep the Title Tag under 60 characters and include your targeted keywords. Note: Your title tag shows up in your placement.
4: Use your keywords twice in your description, but make sure writing flows naturally. Note: Your description also shows up in your placement, following the title.
5: Robot tags: Make sure your robot tags = ALL This encourages those search engine spiders to crawl through all of your pages and index each one.
6: If possible, include keywords in your URL.
7: Content is King! Include keywords and phrases within your content. Use them twice per page, in the first and last 30 words.
8: Use Bold and Italics formatting on your keywords.
9: Place keywords on the footer of every page
10: Use internal links throughout your site. Use your pages to promote other pages on your site.
11: Implement a strategy for acquiring backlinks to your site. The higher the quality of the sites that are linking to yours, the better. Quality sites are those with high Google Page Ranks, have many backlinks of their own and have related content and similar Meta Tags as your own.
12: Create an XML site map. Spiders love these.
13: Complete ALT tags for every graphic and photo and include your keywords along with the image description. Adding captions is a plus too.
14: Use Press Releases, Blogs and Social Media as an ongoing strategy of keeping content fresh and driving site traffic.
15: SEO is meaningless if your website is weak. If necessary, create a fresh new site that has clean navigation and is content rich. No point in driving people to a site that does not engage them.
There is a lot more to it than that but handling the SEO basics will keep you busy for a little while.
Surf in Peace!
John Urogdy
For more information about SEO or if your need a new website, feel free to contact me at Black Ink for a free Think Tank Consultation.
