The “Dos” of SEO
In my most recent blog post I addressed some great tips and ideas when it comes to content marketing. This week I would like to follow up with some more great information regarding search engine optimization (SEO). There is much to be considered when tackling the task of implementing SEO, however this tool can be very simple to utilize while yielding vast results.
The simple definition of SEO is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to your website by ranking higher than your competition on search results of a search engine. The search engine that should obviously be focused on is Google, however it’s still beneficial to rank within Yahoo or even MSN (Google being the #1 search engine by a long-shot). All search engines work to provide the best-unbiased results due to not wanting to lose users. With this being said each search engines in existence constantly work to change their algorithms frequently to avoid search engine spammers and marketing schemes. This all comes into play when choosing a tactic to employ because if not chosen correctly, the search engine that you’re wishing to rank in could hate your tactic!
SO, here are a few “Dos” of SEO that all internet sites should be considering and implementing into their website management.
Asking relevant sites to link to your site can be HUGE. Search engines focus on the number of sites that currently link to yours, and in this case quality is just as important as quantity. Whenever there is content that can be found common between your site and others than this increases your chances for those top spots on search result pages. Another factor that plays into this is how important your linking sites are. If your not finding your site linked to other well-known pages than your chances decrease for a top SEO spot.
Keywords have always been important, and in some cases the sole determining factor for a site’s ranking. The most useful places to include them are in your domain name, title tags in source codes, and in the meta description of your site. Whenever placing your keyword in your domain name, make sure to include it in the beginning of your URL, not the stem. Another tip is to stray away from using keywords that have nothing to do with the content of your site- while this may drive some traffic it won’t be for the right reason and search engines will pick up on this type of scheme.
As I discussed in my last post, content marketing can be huge within the SEO world. Whenever a content-rich page is created than the likelihood of someone finding this through a search engine increases. Any content pages you create can be a direct link to your site as long as they have sufficient content and don’t appear to be just “pointer pages”. Creating content can be rather lengthy, but the payoff is worth the effort. Content doesn’t necessarily always have to be extremely in-depth or revolutionary- just packed full of enough key words and beneficial to the reader.
Another extremely easy SEO trick is to submit your site to important directories such as Yahoo!, the Open Directory Project, and About.com. The listing on these directories will help aid in ensuring your ranking on the major search engines. Easy as that- simply submit your site!
Lastly, the multiply and conquer theory should be pursued as you build your site up. Creating a community of related informational sites can take time but through linking these pages you can increase your odds for top search results as well as overall traffic. It’s really simple- why stop at one information page when the ability to create ten is right at your finger tips. An easy “hack” is to divide your content site into several separate sites that all link to each other. This can work extremely well if your company sells varying products or services. Look at categorizing products and services with the coinciding content page that you wish to create. By doing so, you open up the opportunity to have many content pages that all point back to your site. Wow!
All-in-all SEO is changing by the day and there are constantly new tactics being used, as well as old methods being extinguished. The greatest benefit to any new site manager is to look at what is current in SEO and working. The tips in this blog are just the bare bones to SEO, and there is always something new to learn. “Top search results=more customers”