When it comes to Search Engine Optimization you have to understand that there are two sides to search engine optimization (SEO). They are on-page SEO and off-page SEO and simply put the on-page SEO includes elements on your website or web page and the off-page has to do with back links that you will get to your site.
The following SEO tips will help you optimize your webpages for better rankings in major search engines.
Using the right keywords and phrases will affect your page’s ranking in the search engines and your overall SEO and social media marketing campaigns.
- Determine your keywords – Keyword research is a vitally integral element of SEO. Creating a list of keywords relevant to your business is absolutely crucial if you want to rank high in search engines. Think about which keywords or keyword phrases are the most likely users put into the search area when looking for your product or service. Once you have your list you will want to create a webpage that focuses on that keyword or phrase. Optimizing your site for the wrong keywords can lead to huge amounts of traffic and business loss. Oftentimes, websites are optimized for keywords that are perceived to be of high-value – however, perceived value and actual value can greatly vary.
- Create a web page with the right keyword density – The goal of every website owner (whether business or personal) is to get higher rankings in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. With this in mind you have to be careful to not get involved with duplicate content. Google robots are intelligent to find duplicate content.You also need to make sure you have valuable content. Content is king and search engine robots are looking for fresh and relevant content. With that in mind you should include the keyword that you want to rank for in the search engines in the page’s content at a percentage of 1-4%. For example, if you have 400 words on your page you should have the keyword present 4-16 times. Having the right keyword density is one of the most important tips for SEO.
- The first 50 words in the body – There are software that grades a page’s potential for ranking by determining a number of on-page values. One of my favorite tool grades your site’s SEO potential by making sure your keyword or phrase is mentioned once within the first 50 words of the body text. Incorporating you main keyword or keyword phrases in the first paragraph of the body is an important on-page SEO step.
- Include keywords in Page URL – Whenever is possible having the keyword in the page name of the website is valuable. Most search engines consider the text in the page name to determine what the web page is about. When you create your website is important to set up search engine friendly permalinks (often know as Search Engine Optimized permalinks) to improve your on-page SEO.
- Include keywords in Page Title – The Page Title is one of the most important things that Google and many major search engines evaluate to determine what is on a web page. Your keyword or keyword phrase must be in the title of the web page if you ever want to rank better in search engines.
- Keywords in the Meta Description – There are several “meta” tags in each of your web pages and they have their own importance. Part of your meta tags includes your website’s description. It’s a snippet of HTML code that belongs inside the section of a web page. It is usually placed after the Title tag and before the Meta keywords tag (if you use one), although the order is not important.
The proper syntax for this HTML tag is:
META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”Your descriptive sentence or two goes here.”
If you’re using a content management system (CMS), look for a field to fill out that’s called Meta Description, or possibly just “Description.” When it comes to on-site SEO tips this is another one that you need to follow. My recommendation is to always use description tags on every page where you get search engine visitors (or hope to get them). Make them very specific to the page they’re on by describing what someone will find when they click through to the page from the search results, while also using variations of your targeted keywords.
If you’re optimizing a page for 3 different keyword phrases, you could write a 3-sentence Meta description tag, with each sentence focusing on a different phrase. You could probably even insert more than 3 phrases in those sentences if you’re a good words. The idea, however, is not to stuff this tag full of keywords, but to write each sentence to be a compelling marketing statement – a statement that naturally uses the keywords people might be typing into Google to find your site.
Your Meta description tag can be as long as you want it to be, but keep in mind that Google will show only show around 20 to 25 words as your description.
- Keywords in your H1 tag -The H1 text is usually the title of an article or some larger bold text at the top of your page. Because many search engines will use the information from H1 tags, and give it more weight over normal page text, it is a valuable tool for improving search engine placement. Make sure your keyword or keyword phrase is there.
At Intact Marketing we tailor our keyword research to you and your needs, ensuring that you can optimize for the keywords that are most likely to bring you the valuable, targeted traffic that you want. Our On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO services can help you establish higher ranks in Google as well as other search engines.