WHAT SEO IS, AND SOME 10 BASIC TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR WEBSITE WITH THIS Simple Search Engine Optimization CHEAT SHEET.
The SEO Cheat Sheet, will help you jump in and get started with search engine optimization!
Everybody wants be on the “exclusive”first page of Google…
An old saying says, “if you can’t find it on the first page of Google’s search results, it probably doesn’t exist.”, That may be true, especially with the information overload that is available today.
BUT……
The misconception of SEO is that it is a one time thing, that is not the case. There are a few fundamentals that need to be done religiously and they are listed below, these give you the starting blocks of a campaign. The rest is down to you to make people aware of your content via social media or email campaign’s and finally tweaking as time goes on.
I guess the second and third pages of results are a bit like the Titanic, we know that it exists but few have ever ventured their. You don’t want your website to be buried in the bottom pages of the internet. So, how do you keep it out of the deep depths of the pages past 3?
SEO- SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Search Engine Optimization lets people on the internet know that you exist.
When something is googled, Google pulls up a list of articles and websites relevant to what has just been searched. It uses the keywords/phrases of your article/post/page and best matches them with the keywords/phrases that are being searched. When you have good SEO, you are helping the search engine find your content and place it high on the list of results. The more Refined your SEO then the better your chances are of being seen.
MY Tips and Resources
- Get a WordPress SEO plugin. Many people use Yoast (You can see I use Yoast here. This plugin guides you and prompts you on what you should do to boost your Search Engine Optimization. It rates your SEO per post so that you know when and what you need to improve by using a “Traffic Light” system, when its Green – you’re good to go!.
- Think about the person who needs what you are offering. What would they put into that search bar? If your website is focused on food, they might be wondering “How to make a rissotto?” or “What are the ingredients for?” Working in reverse from what that person needs help with, you can decide on titles for blog posts as well as key words.
- Key words. Every post should have a key word. This word or short phrase should be relevant to your article and consider what people who need your services might be searching for. Keep an eye on the competition here- what is their Search Engine Optimization ranking and what keywords are they using?
- Title. Your title should include your key word.
- Content. The key word should appear a few times in your content, especially in the first paragraph.
- Content is king. It has been proven again and again that the longer your posts are, the more valuable they seem both to the search engine and to the person browsing your website. The more text you have, the more opportunity you have to organically use your keyword or phrase.
- Responsiveness. Google loves and rewards a responsive website that is mobile friendly, so ensure it converts easily and quickly and the best way is to make sure you are using a responsive template. You will also need to keep your database clean! The more unnecessary data you have bogging your website down, the longer it takes to load a page. Google doesn’t like slow pages and neither do visitors to your website. Site speed is one of the ways the Google’s algorithm ranks pages. Having a cluttered database (and a slow page!) can damage your Search Engine Optimization and decrease your overall user experience. There are plugins you can download to assist with database optimization. Regenerate your images using this handy plugin, it will allow smaller images to be served for smaller devices, your customers will thank you for saving money on their data charges!
- Social Signals and Links. This is all about networking. Claiming all of the social accounts with your business/website name will make sure that they are linked to your website in some way. Interact with people in your community. The more that is on the internet that links you to others, the easier it is for google to categorize you.
- Blog. The best way of generating content relevant to your subject is by writing about it, use a blog to convey more relevant content on a regular basis and don’t forget to optimize the content. the more you do the more authority it gives to you and your subject.
- Measure and Experiment. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Webmasters to see how much traffic you are getting and which keywords are the most effective in driving this traffic.
For a better list and assistance check this Linkio SEO Tools list to pick the perfect SEO software.
My BONUS rule would be this ! Don’t despair, Don’t resort to “Black Hat” techniques to get to the top, the position will be short lived and damaging to your name, use Googles guidelines and these useful tools to help and guide you along this tricky road.
