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The application of SEO techniques can be mysterious and confusing. Fortunately I’m here to help demystify and give you my top 20 tips to boost your site up to the top of the search engines’ pages.
In a very basic nutshell, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making it easier for your website to be discovered by the search engines. You increase your presence on the web which also directs more traffic your way.
The main ingredients in the recipe for great SEO are quality content, good links and human appeal.
1. Don’t bore the search engines
Write original, interesting content (copying content is not only unethical, it will get you nowhere because the SEs have become extremely intelligent these days. In other words, relevant material is what matters the most to these smarties!)
2. Little and often
Give the search engines a regular diet of content by just adding a little bit on a regular basis (blogging two to three times a week works great).
3. Don’t overdo the keywords
Do not force feed the search engines with tons of keywords crammed into your text; this will backfire on you.
4. Inbound links
Use lots of inbound links; this is one of the ways search engines evaluate how good your website is.
5. Back links
Submit articles to article directories which will create back-links to your site.
6. Email links
Links in your newsletters and emails can be very valuable.
7. Lots of links
Add yourself to directories (options for submission are usually paid links which are expensive)
free links (take months for approval)
and reciprocal links (you scratch my back & I’ll scratch yours).
8. Get on twitter
Build back-links by tweeting and also retweeting other people’s stuff and making sincere informative comments on blogs.
9. Titles and tags
Optimize your post title tag separately from your blog title.
10. Quality over quantity
Think quality when building links because one link from a high-ranking, authoritative site can be “the bomb” for SEO juice.
11. Don’t ‘click here’
Use your keyword as the link instead of the words ‘CLICK HERE’.
12. Surround links with useful text
Surround your links with keyword anchor text and also descriptive text.
13. One word per page
Give each page on your website just one keyword instead of several.
14. Caption your pics
Use captions with your images including either the word “image” or “picture.”
15. Be succinct and concise
Your title, descriptions and keywords targeting your product or service show up on the search engines.
16. Help the ‘spiders’
Title tags on each page, meta keys and meta descriptions help the search engines spider to your advantage.
17. They’re not fussy
Search engines are not picky regarding RL file extensions so it doesn’t matter whether you use html, htm, asp, php, etc.
18. Avoid, avoid, avoid
Search engines are allergic to Flash, Frames and AJAX so don’t use them.
19. Get videos out and about
Submit your videos not only to YouTube, but also to MetaCafe, Vimeo, DailyMotion, AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc.
20. Analyse your traffic
Use search analytics to monitor your traffic and compare the results from your various strategies.
Do you have any hot SEO tips or techniques you use when writing your blog or designing your web pages? Is there anything that you get really stuck with, or just don’t understand? Please do get in touch using the comments section below.
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Author: Hope Ludeke, Hope Marketing. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned SEOer, CLICK on the link to see a FREE video and FREE webinar with 4 simple steps to successful online marketing that WILL make your life easier.Here’s the link: http://www.Hope-Marketing-Free-Webinar.com Thanks for reading.
Very interesting tips Julie – what is the difference between “inbound links” and “back links” – points 4 and 5?
thanks
Annie
Hi Annie – I think this article is using the phrase back links specifically applied to article site, however inbound links can refer to links on your own site – I call this being your own best friend
Use the resources you have to share your own content.
Excellent piece!
Thanks for breaking SEO down into a concise, step-by-step strategy.
Very useful!
Keep up the good work.
Interesting piece on SEO Hope and I am glad to see that I can tick most of the boxes. However, still confused as to how I can change the wording in that appears when you Google my company (which happens to be a website!). Do I have any control over what is printed? Still very much an SEO ‘virgin’ so would be grateful for any advice.