SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Optimizing your website content for search engines can help you reach your potential clients on the internet. This article will help you learn some basic rules to help your web pages get listed on search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Bare in mind, search engines always change and improve the way they position pages in their result so it is very important to stay up to date with their current methods – read SEO magazines and blogs or hire someone to keep you up to date.
Define Your Goals
A good SEO campaign starts by defining your business goals and setting reasonable campaign goals. Once you defined your goals, try to think about keywords or phrases you feel your potential clients that browses the internet will probably look for. Google offers a free tool to help you select keyword, this tool may inspire you with some ideas for your business: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
For example: if you want to optimize a page for the keyword “Financial news” – start by searching for that keyword in the tool. It will show you related keywords and may inspire some ideas you did not think about. Pick the top 5 keywords which are substantially related to your page. These should be the keywords you believe your clients will search for, or keywords that looks to be the most popular search terms and prioritize them by whatever you feel is best for your business.
The Text on Your Pages <body>Text goes here</body>
The actual textual content on your pages is very important, not only for human visitors but also to support your SEO campaigns. Make sure to include your keywords on your pages. Consider repeating keywords in a logical manner on your pages when syntax calls for it, but do not write something like “financial news, financial news, financial news” this is considered spam and will blacklist your page or your whole site. A good strategy is to include main keywords in the tags <h1><h2> tags, start with <h1> and then move to <h2> <h3>.
Title Tag <title>The Title Goes Here</title>
You need to define a Title Tag For every page on your site. A title should include your top 1-3 keywords. For our “financial news” homepage example, it could be something like: “Financial News Portal – The Latest Information in Financial News Delivered Daily”
The Title Tag should not be more than 85 characters and should not have more than 3 “,” (commas) because some search engines might consider more than 3 commas as spam. A good strategy is to start your Title with your top keyword(s). The title will show up on Search Engines results in the first line and at the top of the browser window.
Description Meta Tag <META name=”description” content=”brief description about the site”>
Provide a short description for every page and include all the keywords mentioned in the title tag. Example: “The latest financial news information with in depth financial news analysis for today’s financial markets.”
The description should be around 160 characters. Avoid using more than 3 commas. The description is going to show up on Search Engines results as the second and/or third lines.
Keywords Meta Tag <META name=”keywords” content=”keyword1,keyword2,keyword3″>
The format: keyword1, keyword2, keyword3
This section should have your keywords inside, starting with the keyword that counts most. Keyword for our example could be:
“financial news, financial markets, financial advice” 5 keywords or phrases are enough. Don’t repeat keywords in this manner: “financial news, info on financial news, latest financial news” it is considered spam.
Images
When you use images in your pages you can add some tags to optimize each image in order to support your campagin. Example: if you added an image of a dollar bill to your page, set “financial news” or any of your top keywords as the Alternative Image Text Tag and/or the Title Image Tag. Naming the image file “financial-news.jpg” helps too.
The Permalink – SEO Friendly URL
The permalink is the permanent link or URL to your page. Example: www.yoursite.com/the-keyword. In many cases, search engines will rank a page higher in search results if the keyword is in the permalink. The Permalink also show up in search engine results, usually after the page description.
DO NOT USE DUPLICATE CONTENT
Duplicate content will blacklist your site and prevent it from showing up on search engines. Examples of duplicate content are: copy text from other websites, repeating content twice on your site and repeating keywords in illogical manner with the intention of tilting search engine ranking in your favor. If you must use duplicate content make sure it is not accessible to search engines – consult a professional about the best method to do this on your site.
Free Tools to Test Your SEO
1. You can test your SEO with this free tool: http://www.instantposition.com/seotest.php
2. Free tool to check your position on multiple search engines: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/ranking-reports/
3. Additional free SEO tools for Firefox browser:
Research tool that shows advanced information with Google Search results: http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html
A tool to help check your site’s ranking: http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/
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