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SEO Tips
When you are ready to start optimizing your own site, there are
some SEO tips that can really help point you in the right
direction. Although at first SEO techniques may seem to be
very difficult, once you get used to it, it’s really not all that
complicated. These tips will help you optimize your own site just
like a pro and they’ll greatly increase your chances of getting a
much higher ranking with search engines.
We’ll divide up these tips into categories to make it easier
to implement on your own site. You can look at this list as a road
map for your own needs and use it as you see fit.
The Technical Side
1. Meta Tags – For our first search engine optimization
tip, we’re going to focus on meta tags. While they may not be as
popular as they once were, they are still quite useful. If you are
not familiar with meta tags, they are keywords that are hidden in
the code of your page. Search engines can see and read them, but
your visitors cannot. By choosing the right keywords for your meta
tags, you can increase your ranking on search results and help a
search engine index your site more appropriately.
Get together a list of ten to fifteen meta tags that accurately
represent your site. Check them for popularity and weed out any that
simply aren’t used a lot. Steer clear of adding popular keywords
that have no bearing to your site. It may work at first, but you
won’t be getting targeted visitors and that is the name of the game.
2. Page Titles – The title of each page on your site is vital
to your SEO efforts. Each page will need to have a unique title that
accurately describes the content contained in that page. It is a
good idea to use your company or site name in the title as well. For
example, you can use: My Company Name – Discount Athletic Shoes, if
you are a shoe store.
The reason that page titles are so important is the fact that this
is what will be displayed in the results section of a search. For
example, let’s look at two possible page titles that would be
displayed for the above mentioned shoe store.
My Company Name – Discount Athletic Shoes
&
Page2
If you were a search engine user looking for discount athletic
shoes, which one would you be most likely to click? Put yourself in
the shoes of your searchers and name your pages so that they
describe what you have to offer. This will increase not only your
ranking but it will deliver very targeted results.
3. Site Maps – Search engines need a site map to help index
your site properly. This will tell them what content you have and
how it is organized. The spider will also be able to find new
content much more quickly when you are utilizing a site map. Since
this needs to be written in XML for a spider to understand it, we
recommend using a site map generator. There are numerous free tools
for this purpose and Google also offers one. By using a site map you
are making your site much more search engine friendly and
increasing the chances of more frequent indexing.
4. Your Robots.txt file. This is a file that is not used as
often as it should be. If you have duplicate content that you don’t
want indexed, or you want to create a no follow rule for specific
areas of your site, you need one of these files. If you are using a
CMS, one should already be generated for you. If not, there are
generators online that will walk you through each step of creating
your file.
The Creative Side
1. Keyword Optimization – It took awhile, but we’re finally
here. Keyword optimization is the single most effective tool for
getting a better ranking. You’ll need to pick keywords that are
popular, related to your content and effective. Avoid the practice
of overusing or “stuffing” your keywords. Stick to a density of 3 to
4% per page on your top keywords for the best effect. By adding
these words into your content, you’re telling the search engine what
is listed there.
2. Selecting the Right URL – It is important to pick a URL
for your site that uses keywords that are relevant to your content.
If you already have a URL that is not optimized, don’t worry. You
can always buy a second one and have it point to your existing URL.
This is a very effective way of increasing your chances of being
ranked in the top 30 results for any search engine.
3. Updating Your Content on a Regular Basis – This is a
crucial SEO tip. The more content you add, the greater your chances
are of being included in a search engine directory. The more often
you publish it, the higher your chances are of getting a very good
ranking. Search engine spiders are sent out on a regular basis, but
they don’t index every single site on every single pass. They focus
first on the sites that are already known to add content regularly
on their first pass. By updating your site on a regular basis, you
are literally training the spider to come by and index your content
more frequently.
If you have a catalog site or your products really aren’t well
suited to adding new content every day or every week, consider
starting a blog to discuss your products and your company. This is
something you can publish frequently.
These seven simple search engine optimization tips are the
keys that you need to get a better ranking in any search engine. By
combining all of them into one plan for your site, you can be
assured that you will be indexed regularly, your content will be
included and you’ll be ranked higher than sites that fail to
implement these strategies.
