Launching a new non-search engine optimized website is as good as placing a flier for your lawn mowing business on your local cafe’s bulletin board – you may get a few untargeted leads who stumble on your site, but you won’t help those people actually seeking your services.
If you’re like a lot of people, you aren’t sure where to start with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This quick SEO guide will help you get started evaluating new and existing websites.
HOW SEO WORKS
Search engine optimization is all about structuring your website and content to make it easier for search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN) to determine what topics are most relevant to your site. This helps them determine what websites to offer searchers in search results for specific terms and keyword phrases.
The following checklist won’t make you an SEO expert, but if you use it, you will instantly get a leg up on the majority of websites on the web, and likely many in your market. You can take your search engine education to the next level with the excellent SEO online course by SEOBook. Believe us, there’s plenty to go beyond this list.
7 STEPS TO IMPROVED SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT
- Target Relevant Keywords: A keyword is a word that describes the content on your website and one that searchers may type into a search engine to find your website. For example, if your website sells flowers, a couple example keyword phrases may be “Buy Flowers” and “Cheap Roses.” Each content-filled page on your website should target a different keyword or keyword phrase to build traffic from search engines. Research words that searchers may use to find sites similar to yours to use those words in your website copy.
- Write Unique Page Titles: Each page on your website should include a unique page title, the text that appears in the title bar of a web browser. The title of each page should include keyword phrases related to that specific page. Avoid repeating page titles on multiple pages.
- Place Relevant Keywords in Headings: The most important text on a web page is the text found in the <H1> tag. Make sure you put a keyword or two in there. Search engines value words that you put value on. For example, big, bold words in section headings are weighed more heavily than a word found in regular paragraph text at the bottom of the page. WARNING: Don’t try to overload your page with the same keywords – search engines don’t like that and it won’t help you … it will probably hurt you. Include synonyms of your keywords and keyword phrases throughout your pages.
- Write Unique Meta Descriptions: Meta descriptions are the couple sentences that appear in search engine results pages below the title of web pages. These short texts often describe the contents of the web page or tease the searcher to click into the page. Page descriptions won’t give you a huge boost in search engine rankings, but it likely will increase the number of people who click into your site from search results pages.
- Create a Site Map: A site map is a single page on your website that outlines and links to all the pages within your site. This helps the search engines find all the pages within your site.
- Avoid Text in Images: Search engines don’t read text in images as well as they read plain text in your HTML. If you place keywords in images, it will likely be harder for search engines to figure those words out and apply their relevancy to your website.
- Include Keywords in Link Text: Whenever linking to another page on your site, include keywords about that page in your link text. For example, if linking to your website page about the different varieties of roses that you sell, write link the text “Types of Roses” instead of “Click Here”.
- BONUS!!! Split Up long Pages: If a page on your website takes a couple scrolls to view and includes a number of topics, break that page up into multiple pages. This will allow you to better target both pages to more specific keyword phrases and give you a better chances of ranking more pages in search engines.
SHARE YOUR SEO SECRETS
Remember, this quick checklist will give you an advantage over a large number of sites on the web, but it’s not the end of your SEO efforts. Search engine optimization is an ongoing and constant process. After getting started with these items, you should continue to expand your understanding of SEO or enlist the help of a professional firm.
In the meantime, share some of your organic search engine secrets with others here. We’d love to know what’s worked best for you to keep this list growing.
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