Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, as a concept is pretty simple: Write content using a proven structure filled with targeted keywords, and people will be able to find you online. Actually putting your SEO plan into action is another story; the process can be tricky and rife with costly trial and error.
This two-part series will help you master the techniques SEO pros use to draw targeted online traffic to their sites like a magnet. The first article will provide a refresher on SEO as well as the tactics for mastering on-page SEO. The second article will cover tactics for creating off-page SEO plus reveal tips for recognizing poor SEO. Practice these methods yourself, and you can become a pro, too.
The Nuts and Bolts of a Solid SEO Strategy
SEO Review
When you use SEO, you are literally making your website more visible to potential customers and clients. As search engines consider which pages to display, and in what order, they use two criteria: relevance of the content on your website and who’s linking to you. These criteria help the search engines understand what your site is all about and who will find it useful, as well as how many other people out there have already found it useful and relevant enough to link to.
To rank high in search results, build your content around long-tail keywords. This concept refers to steering clear of generic terms many people will be searching and competing on, and instead focusing on specific search terms that will produce qualified leads.
For example, when someone types “winery packages” into a search engine, they are likely to be bombarded with results, and your website will be lost in the mess if you used those broad keywords. But if they type “holiday winery getaway packages in Northern Virginia,” their results will be much more targeted. So, if those long-tail keywords are yours, the user will find you easily–and probably be more inclined to become a customer since you have exactly what they’re searching for.
Keywords Count
Before I get into the elements of on-page SEO, let’s discuss keywords. As I mentioned, you want to be thinking about the long-tail keywords that are likely to drive specific traffic to your site, while not having to compete with too many other websites.
Don’t just think of keywords that use the language of your industry. What you call “SEO,” your customers might call “getting a higher Google rank.” Think of how your customers would search for you, including the phrases they would use.
To get the most keyword bang for your keyword buck, try to come up with a set of related keywords that will cover the variations users are likely to search with. The real challenge is using your keywords in variations so they sound natural. For example, if your keywords are “first novel,” “publish book,” and “write a book,” you can wrangle all these keywords into a naturally flowing title: “Your first novel: How to write and publish your book.”
Sometimes it helps to write the first draft of your web copy without worrying too much about SEO. Then, as you edit, bring in variations of your keywords to get the page SEO-worthy. This method can help you write more naturally while still utilizing good SEO techniques.
Types of SEO
Basically, there are two types of SEO: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Both are important for a thorough SEO strategy.
On-page SEO refers to the elements of your SEO strategy that are employed directly on your website. These elements are completely within your control, so you should do everything you can to optimize them. There are six areas to optimize for on-page SEO to be sure you have all your bases covered.
- Content: Creating engaging and relevant content is a must, but you should also consider the way you format your web pages so the search engine crawlers can digest your content. Give each web page a thought-provoking headline that grabs the reader’s attention and includes the keywords the page covers. Bolding certain keywords is another way to emphasize the phrases your page is optimized for.
- URL: The structuring of your URL affects the search engine’s ability to index and rank your website. Aim for an organized URL structure by editing it to include the title of your web page rather than settling for the random string of letters and numbers most web creation software generates.
- Images: To help search bots see the photos on your website, use their file names to describe the image. Consider adding Alt tags to your images as well, to tag each photo on your site for easier indexing.
- Tags: Tags are little text snippets that provide information to the search engines. I already mentioned Alt tags, but you also need to use title tags, meta tags and headline tags to let the search engine’s crawlers know exactly what your web pages are all about.
- Title tags appear in the upper left corner of your browser and appear as a blue link on a search engine results page. You are limited to about 75 characters here, so choose your words carefully.
- Meta tags come in two forms. Meta description tags literally describe your web page to viewers on a search results page, and you’re limited to about 150 characters here. Though not used as much as they once were, it’s still a good idea to include variations of your keywords as meta keywords within your HTML code.
- Headline tags show search engine crawlers the outline of information covered on your web pages, so you should put important keywords within these tags.
- Links: Internal linking is a useful way to reference other pages within your website. Use anchor text around these links to help the search engines know what type of content you are linking to.
Now, you should have a good start in building a successful SEO strategy. In the next article, I’ll cover ways to implement your off-page SEO strategy, and I’ll give you some pointers on how to spot bad SEO.
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