Who knew 3 letters could mean so much? Once you start digging deep into SEO, you'll quickly discover how much of a powerful/positive impact it can have on businesses. Are you ready? Let's start digging!
SEO: "Search Engine Optimization." Simply the process of transferring traffic from the "free," "organic," "editorial" or "natural" search results on any search engine.
Major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are known to have primary search results. Web pages and content such as local listings or videos are displayed and ranked depending on what the search engines identifies as being most relevant to its users. Here, payment is exempt. In paid Search Ads it is not!
TIPS. TIPS. TIPS
12 ADDITIONAL TIPS:
1. Display 1 Primary Topic
Websites can be about so much stuff, but it is best if you stick to only one primary topic that is of the most importance to the message that you are trying to get across to your intended consumer.
This step is crucial! Keyword Research before choosing a topic is a smart idea!
2. Mention Keywords
Including your "one thing" in your site title, description, domain name, tagline, page titles, keywords, and page content is highly recommended.
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Know how? If you are on WordPress, here, is where you will be able to change a lot of these things simply by locating the General Settings or through a plugin such as All in One SEO Pack.
3. Link Internal Pages
Many of the Content Management Systems already automatically do this for you, but if not, you will want to be intentional when it comes to linking your most crucial pages directly from the homepage and then cross-linking them with each other.
4. Use Permalink Structure + Keywords
I have noticed some sites that contain "ugly" permalink structures that use #'s to identify pages.
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Do not do this. I repeat! DO NOT DO THIS! It is simply bad for SEO and just doesn't look appealing to the eyes.
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You want to use URL structure that contains text. Make sure to include keywords in the URLs.
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Instead of a page's URL looking like this:
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- https://yoursite.com/?p=12
It should look something like this:
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- https://yoursite.com/coolpage/
5. Remove Anything That Slows Down Your Website
Page Load Times are extremely critical, so you may want to consider getting rid of any non-essentials that are doing nothing but bogging down your website.
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Such things include flash graphics, music players, large images, and unnecessary plugins.
6. Include Keywords In Images
Words in which reflect the topic of your site should always be included in the image title, alt attributes, and description.
Remember to re-title your file name if it doesn't seem to be reflecting the main keywords (e.g. readingtips.jpg instead of f3821.jpg).
7. Link To Websites With Relevant Content
How is this even a possibility? This is made possible by including a link list, blogroll, or resources page on your website.
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TAKE NOTE: Do this SPARINGLY. This is because each outbound link is known to be a "vote" for another site. If you end up doing an excellent job which in turn happens to drive more and more people to click on your links, this will eventually notify search engines that you are in fact a trusted authority on the particular topic.
8. Update Frequently
It is a well-known fact that dynamic content ranks much higher than those which only contain static content. This is why blogs and directories (like Wikipedia) seem to be doing so well on search engines. What is their secret? It's actually quite simple. They are constantly updating with new content. Smart, right?
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9. Index Website In Search Engines
Something that you may not want to count on is letting search engines automatically find and potentially index your content.
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Make sure that engines like Bing, Google, and Yahoo are crawling your website, so that you will know that people are well aware of your online presence. (You are able to add them directly, if they are not already. )
10. Make Other Websites Link To You
Let me tell you, this is EXTREMELY important when it comes to SEO! This is something that you may not necessarily be able to control. Oh, BUMMER, right? The only thing that you can do other than creating excellent content is to ask (which works occasionally).
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My advice to you would be to spend as much time as you can trying to convince people to link to you because of the great content you have. I would start guest posting on other blogs as well.
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No matter what you end up doing, just know that inbound links are necessary in SEO.
11. No Need To Change Domain Name
Your site's ranking depends on the age of your URL, so it is best that you remain patient.
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Launching a new blog post every 6 months? If so, it's possible that you'll never see your website get the value that it deserves.
12. Inscribe Like A Human Being
If you create content that ends up sounding like it was written by a robot, none of the above matters.
TAKE NOTE: Write great stuff, Follow Steps provided above, Be Patient, and you're very likely going to experience results in due time!
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I do realize that a lot of you may have already started blogging, but so many of these tips can be used retroactively. Once you are done doing this, you will be able to now write regular content. Want more information on writing SEO pages? A great article that I recommend you read is: 9 Secrets of Professional SEO Article Writers.
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Curious about how well your site has been ranking in search engines? If so, you may want to use this free website tool: Website Grader.
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Looking for even more SEO Tips, read this: The 10 Most Important SEO Tips You Need to Know.
LET'S TALK NERDY
Looking for more basic, in-depth advice? I have listed below a Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors. This should provide you with all of the key concepts you will need to know.
I recommend checking out Google's "Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide." You will be able to download this free PDF which covers common tips that Google gives to its employees on how they can get listed. CLICK HERE to check it out!
Moz's Beginner's nGuide To SEO" is another great guide worth checking out. You can find it HERE. The SEO Success Pyramid from Small Business Search Marketing is a must-read as well!
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"CONTENT is KING"
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I'm sure you have heard of the phrase: "Content is King." In 1996, Bill Gates made this prediction, and it still stands true today!
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Why is this so?
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Let's just put it this way, customers who are using Google's Search Engine are always much happier when they end up finding the results that are only meant to serve their needs in the best way possible.
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THAT'S A FACT!
By giving you the greatest content it can find, Google is trying its best to give you the greatest experience that you deserve!
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So you better do a fantastic job when you are in the process of distributing content. Make it GREAT!!!
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Great Content in Google's Eyes:
- Quality
Even though distributing the best-quality content usually makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd, rest assured, these times are long gone! Don't get me wrong, it is still a great starting point for any successful SEO effort (even any online business as well).
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Nobody ever said that coming up with great content was going to be easy. It basically forces you to become a teacher - and an excellent one at that!
Starting from scratch will not be necessary! A great way to start is by piggybacking off of content that others have created,​ then turning around and making the content even better, longer, and much more in-depth than before.
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You may even have ideas in mind already. If so, brainstorming for some time and coming up with a compelling headline would be a smart way to start.
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Once the writing has begun, remember to include every ​crucial ingredient of great content within your blog post.
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Newbie? If so, no need to worry! You will always have the option to take a professional approach to fantastic content by making it a commitment to write daily and continue to work your way up in increments from here on out.
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- Keyword Research
A critical part of excellent content is always remembering to do your keyword research up-front.
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It is common to put your targeted keyword in the headline of your post and throughout your article as well. Before you start writing, choose your keyword!
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Never done keyword research before? Go ahead and take a look at Hubspot's guide for beginners.
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This is most definitely the one in which you should spend most of your time in learning about all of the other one-page SEO factors. Backlinko's definitive guide to keyword research should help.
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Take it seriously when I tell you, "Don't Sleep On This." I MEAN IT! There was a very specific reason why there was time spent on compiling the top 40 posts on keyword research on Kissmetrics.
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- Why Keywords?
It should come to no surprise that Google has become much smarter over the years. It is always a good idea to use keywords throughout your content. Keep this in mind, if you decide to jam your keywords in your text more then it is necessary, you will only end up hurting your rankings instead of boosting them.
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Nowadays, keywordstuffing should be a total no-go!
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In today's era, the use of keywords is a lot more about semantics. One thing Google seems to have gotten extremely good at is being able to interpret the meaning of searchers' keywords. CREEPY, right?
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Not only does Google look at your keywords, but it also looks at the synonyms for it to have a better understanding of what exactly you mean when typing something like "five guys nyc."
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You're probably aware of the fact that Google will know that you are not actually looking for 5 random males as it may appear so, but instead, it assumes that you might be searching for a fast-food chain "Five Guys, Burgers & Fries" by simply taking a look at comparable searches that might involve keywords such as "burgers" and "fries."
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One thing that I would highly recommend is to make sure that your keywords are present in strategically-crucial places [like URL, meta description, and headlines], you really shouldn't make it a habit to mention it millions of times within your text.
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Keep your focus on your readers and seamlessly combine your keyword a couple of times.
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- Fresh Content
Does posting more frequently really skyrocket Google rankings? Well, according to Hubspot it does!
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Posting new content is just one way that seems to signal Google's freshness. There are so many things that can be done with content that has already been published in order to keep it up-to-date.
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An example I will be sharing with you comes from Brian Dean who is from Backlinko. He has only published about 30 posts in 2 years. Do you know what his secret to keeping all of his posts up to date is? He simply rewrites them and adds new information as he continually discovers it.
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It is extremely important to publish on a regular basis, but don't get me wrong, you will still be able to experience great results by only posting once a month as long as you keep your content thorough and in-depth.
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- Answer Directly
Lastly, there will be times where Google provides searches with undeviating answers directly on the SERP. Writing your content clearly allows Google to identify it as being an answer to a specific question, showing up right below the search bar.
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The former head of Google's spam team, Matt Cutts, last year announced that those who were cutting the jargon would be on the right track.
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This is why detailed guides as well as long how-to's continue to become even more popular as time passes by. Make sure to clear your writing. Buzzwords that are known as being "fancy" along with complex sentence constructions will not sound intelligent and will not help in your SEO game.
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Want to do well with direct answers? Check out Moz's listed critical aspects.
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CONCLUSION
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Hopefully this blog post was helpful in making you realize how Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doesn't seem to be an option anymore. The honest truth is....... it is a NECESSITY!
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Even though it may not take a whole lot of effort to get a handful of basics right, it might very well end up destroying your online presence if ignored.
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Everyone makes mistakes, so if you every find yourself making SEO decisions that were not in your best interest, don't worry about it!
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My ADVICE: Get started today! Yes, right now! It may take up to a year before you even begin seeing results. SO....... GET GOING!
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Before you even begin writing your next BLOG, remember to do keyword research. After you've done this, use this keyword data to enhance the basics, such things like your title tags and descriptions.
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Who knows - the next time you press publish, you might very likely stand out from the rest.
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After reading this BLOG, how has your attitude changed towards SEO?
Malinda Hostetler
Malinda is a Content Creator/Web Designer @ Troyer Websites, a full service Web Design & Marketing Firm located in Orrville, Ohio.
Hello,
Do you accept guestposts? Content could be written to fit your site’s theme. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Alan
At this time we don’t but we do offer backlink swaps at times. To those that qualify.
Hello,
If you accept guest posts, how much would you charge? What kind of content would you accept?
Stephen
Hey Stephen, thanks for asking. The only way we would allow a guest post is if we could do a swap and we approve it. Must be the right industry, great content, relevant and great site metrics. Send me an email if you think you would qualify.