Search Engine Optimization: Step-by-step
Step-by-step instructions of how I optimized my blogs.
The Beginner's Checklist for Small Business SEO
If you are a small bussiness owner, web master, SEO expert or just eager to learn something new then I recommend you read this really nice and usefull article written by Danny Dover. It is what its title says a Beginner's Checklist for Small Business SEO.
Short Summary of SEO
* Create a site with valuable content, products or services. I
know this seems obvious but I can't stress the importance of good
content. If you don't have good content now then keep adding to
your site.
* Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words
in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
Try and have it read like it would if you were talking with a friend
* Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target
customers. If you know what's important to your customers then you
would focus on those keywords.
* Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web
page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
* Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate
easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and
services. My point is that your pages should not lead to a dead-end.
Pages should have links to other pages.
* Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home
page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire
someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do
not engage an automated submission service.
o One point would be to use one of the tools from our
"Tools" page.
* Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and
accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking
remains high. See the tools page for tools to automate this process
* Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what
they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content,
keywords, etc. It is easier to copy then to try and figure it out on
your own.
* Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your
traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their
incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and
the keywords they used to find you.
* Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by
writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks
so you are perceived as an expert in your field. Plus, these will
lead to backlinks to your site!
* When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it
is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no
one visits. I could tell you story after story about how the right
person cost me a little but made me a lot.
* Don't look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a
dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real
store to which your customers with the same seriousness.
know this seems obvious but I can't stress the importance of good
content. If you don't have good content now then keep adding to
your site.
* Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words
in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
Try and have it read like it would if you were talking with a friend
* Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target
customers. If you know what's important to your customers then you
would focus on those keywords.
* Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web
page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
* Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate
easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and
services. My point is that your pages should not lead to a dead-end.
Pages should have links to other pages.
* Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home
page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire
someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do
not engage an automated submission service.
o One point would be to use one of the tools from our
"Tools" page.
* Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and
accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking
remains high. See the tools page for tools to automate this process
* Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what
they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content,
keywords, etc. It is easier to copy then to try and figure it out on
your own.
* Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your
traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their
incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and
the keywords they used to find you.
* Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by
writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks
so you are perceived as an expert in your field. Plus, these will
lead to backlinks to your site!
* When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it
is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no
one visits. I could tell you story after story about how the right
person cost me a little but made me a lot.
* Don't look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a
dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real
store to which your customers with the same seriousness.
SEO step 1: Basic methods of SEO
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings, and could be considered a subset of search engine marketing.
What are Keywords?
A "keyword" is whatever you type in when you search on Google. Although you may type in more than one word when searching many people still call it a keyword as opposed to a "keyword phrase" or "several keywords" for simplicity's sake.
When considering a search engine optimization strategy choosing the right keyword or keywords to optimize for is critical. You might say it's similar to choosing the right category in the phone book. Choose wrong, and nobody will be able to find you when they need to.
What are Meta tags?
Meta tags are bits of HTML code that are generally placed near the beginning of webpages. In the early day of the Internet, one could simply put their keywords in their meta tags and shoot straight to top rankings. But that was long ago and search engines don't weight meta tags as much as they once did. In fact, there's some speculation amongst SEO experts that meta tags don't affect rankings at all anymore.
Even if meta tags don't affect rankings, there is still one type of meta tag that can be important, and that's the meta description tag. The reason this tag can be important is because the content of this tag shows up on the search results pages in search engines like Google and is therefore visible to human beings. If that content is well-crafted it may influence someone to click on your link and therefore increase the amount of traffic driven to your website.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings, and could be considered a subset of search engine marketing.
What are Keywords?
A "keyword" is whatever you type in when you search on Google. Although you may type in more than one word when searching many people still call it a keyword as opposed to a "keyword phrase" or "several keywords" for simplicity's sake.
When considering a search engine optimization strategy choosing the right keyword or keywords to optimize for is critical. You might say it's similar to choosing the right category in the phone book. Choose wrong, and nobody will be able to find you when they need to.
What are Meta tags?
Meta tags are bits of HTML code that are generally placed near the beginning of webpages. In the early day of the Internet, one could simply put their keywords in their meta tags and shoot straight to top rankings. But that was long ago and search engines don't weight meta tags as much as they once did. In fact, there's some speculation amongst SEO experts that meta tags don't affect rankings at all anymore.
Even if meta tags don't affect rankings, there is still one type of meta tag that can be important, and that's the meta description tag. The reason this tag can be important is because the content of this tag shows up on the search results pages in search engines like Google and is therefore visible to human beings. If that content is well-crafted it may influence someone to click on your link and therefore increase the amount of traffic driven to your website.
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