Businesses
are growing more aware of the necessity to understand & implement
at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). But in the
event you read a variety of blogs & sites, you'll quickly see
that there's plenty of uncertainty over what makes up the
fundamentals.Without access to high-level consulting & without
plenty of experience knowing what SEO resources can be trusted,
there's also plenty of misinformation about SEO strategies &
tactics.
Commit
yourself to the technique: SEO isn't a one-time event. Search
engine algorithms modify regularly, so the tactics that worked last
year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook &
dedication. Change your tactic according to the google webmaster
guidelines.
Be
patient: SEO isn't about instant gratification. Results often
take months to see, and this is true the smaller you are, and the
newer you are to doing business online.
Ask
questions when hiring an SEO company: It's your job to know what
kind of tactics the company makes use of. Ask for specifics. Ask if
there's any risks involved. Then get online yourself and do your own
research about the company, about the tactics they follows, and so
forth.
Become
a student of SEO: If you're taking the do-it-yourself route, you
must learn about SEO as much as you can. Fortunately for you, there's
plenty of great web resources and many books on serach engine
optimization which you can read.
Have
web analytics in place at the beginning: You ought to have
clearly defined goals for your SEO efforts, and you'll need web
analytics program in place so you can track what's working and what's
not.
Build
a great & attractive website: Definitly you
want to show up on the first page of search engine results pages. Ask
yourself, Is my site of the ten best sites in the world on this
topic? Be honest. If it's not, make it better.
Include
a site map page: Spiders can't index pages that can't be crawled.
A site map will help spiders find all the important pages on your
site, & help the spider understand your site's hierarchy. This is
helpful if your site has a hard-to-crawl navigation menu. If your
site is large, make several site map pages. Keep each to less than
100 links. I tell clients 75 is the max to be safe.
Make
SEO-friendly URLs: Use keywords in your URLs & file names. A
file with 3+ hyphens tends to look spammy & users may be hesitant
to click on it. Related bonus tip: Use hyphens in URLs & file
names, not underscores. Hyphens are treated as a space, while
underscores are not.
Do
keyword research at the beginning of the project: If you're on a
tight budget, use the free versions of Keyword Discovery or
WordTracker, both of which also have more powerful paid versions.
Ignore the numbers these tools show; what's important is the relative
volume of keyword to another. Another lovely free tool is Google's
AdWords Keyword Tool, which doesn't show exact numbers.
Open
up a PPC account: Whether it's Google's AdWords, Microsoft
adCenter or something else, this is a great way to get actual search
volume for your keywords. Yes, it costs money, but in case you have
the budget it's worth the investment. It's also the solution in case
you didn't like the Be patientâ suggestion above and are looking for
instant visibility.
Use
a unique & relevant title & meta description on every page:
The page title is the single most important on-page SEO factor. It's
rare to rank highly for a primary term (2-3 words) without that term
being part of the page title. The meta description tag won't help you
rank, but it will often appear as the text snippet below your
listing, so it ought to include the relevant keyword(s) & be
written so as to encourage searchers to click on your listing.
Related bonus tip: You can ignore the Keywords meta tag, as no major
search engine today supports it.
Write
for users first: Google, Yahoo, etc., have powerful bots crawling
the net, but to my knowledge these bots have never bought anything
online, signed up for a newsletter, or picked up the phone to call
about your services. Humans do those things, so write your page copy
with humans in mind. Yes, you require keywords in the text, but don't
stuff each page like a Thanksgiving turkey. Keep it readable.
Create
great, matchless content: This is important for everyone, but
it's a specific challenge for online retailers. If you're selling the
same widget that 50 other retailers are selling, & everybody is
using the boilerplate descriptions from the manufacturer, this is a
great opportunity. Write your own product descriptions, using the
keyword research you did earlier to target actual words searchers
use, & make product pages that blow the competition away. And,
retailer or not, great content is a great way to get inbound links.
Use
your keywords as anchor text when linking internally: Anchor text
helps tells spiders what the linked-to page is about. Links that say
click here do nothing for your search engine visibility.
Build
links intelligently: Start with foundational links like trusted
directories. (Yahoo & DMOZ are often cited as examples, but don't
waste time worrying about DMOZ submission. Submit it & forget
it.) Seek links from authority sites in your industry. If local
search matters to you (more on that coming up), seek links from
trusted sites in your geographic area the Chamber of Commerce, local
business directories, etc. Analyze the inbound links to your
competitors to find links you can acquire, . Generate great content
on a consistent basis & use social media to build awareness &
links.
Use
press releases wisely: Developing a relationship with media
covering your industry or your local region can be a great source of
exposure, including getting links from trusted media net sites.
Distributing releases online can be an effective link building
tactic, & opens the door for exposure in news search sites.
Related bonus tip: Only issue a release when you have something
newsworthy to document. Don't waste journalists time.
Start
a weblog and participate with other related blogs: Search
engines, Google , love blogs for the fresh content and
highly-structured information. Beyond that, there's no better way to
join the conversations that are already taking place about your
industry and/or company. Reading and commenting on other blogs can
also increase your exposure and help you acquire new links. Related
bonus tip: Put your weblog at yourdomain.com/blog so your main domain
gets the benefit of any links to your weblog posts. If that's
impossible, use weblog.yourdomain.com.
Use
social media marketing wisely: If your business has a visual
element, join the appropriate communities on Flickr and post
high-quality images there. If you're a service-oriented business, use
Quora and/or Yahoo Answers to position yourself as an specialist in
your industry. Any business ought to even be looking to make use of
Twitter and Facebook, as social information and signals from these
are being used as part of search engine rankings for Google and Bing.
With any social media site you use, the first rule is don spam! Be an
active, contributing member of the site. The idea is to interact with
potential customers, not anger them.
Take
advantage of local search opportunities: Online research for
offline purchasing is a growing trend. Optimize your site to catch
local traffic by showing your address and local phone number
prominently. Write a detailed Directions/Location page using
neighborhoods and landmarks in the page text. Submit your site to the
free local listings services that the major search engines offer.
Make sure your site is listed in local/social directories such as
CitySearch, Yelp, Local.com, etc., and encourage customers to leave
reviews of your business on these sites, .
Take
advantage of the tools the search engines give you: Sign up for
Google Webmaster Central, Bing Webmaster Tools & Yahoo Site
Explorer to learn more about how the search engines see your site,
including how lots of inbound links they're aware of.
Diversify
your traffic sources: Google may bring you 70% of your traffic
today, but what if the next giant algorithm update hits you hard?
What if your Google visibility goes away tomorrow? Newsletters and
other subscriber-based content can help you hold on to
traffic/customers no matter what the search engines do. In fact,
plenty of of the DOs on this list creating great content, beginning a
weblog, using social media and local search, etc. will help you grow
an audience of loyal prospects and customers that may help you
survive the whims of search engines.
About
The Author:
Neha
Sharma
is a
SEO Expert in Xantatech Pvt Ltd, Noida.
Neha
Sharma
can be found on Twitter at @Nehaseoxanta
and/or on Google
Plus.
Connect with the author
via: Email
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