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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is the science behind how to rank better in search engine results. Generally search engines like content rich websites. The more relevant information pertaining to your topic and keywords the more likely your site will get indexed by the search engine.
The copy (text on your pages) needs to be legible by the search engine crawler which is an automated program that “crawls” your web page for links and keywords. This means your text should not be in Flash or in an image if you want the search engines to index your keywords.
Generally Google looks for good quality content throughout your webpages that includes your search terms/keywords and it’s valuable to make certain these keywords are also included in the metadata (page title and descriptions) for those individual pages.
Some tips on improving ranking:
- Target no more than two keywords or phrases per page
- Use unique <title> tags on each page
- Use unique <meta> description tags on each page
- Use H1 tags for page headings
- Use text navigation links
- Create content for your human visitors, not the search engine web crawler
- Incorporate keywords into URL strings - these are your page file names
- Image Alt tags should also contain keywords
- Page file names should contain keywords separated with dashes - character
- Read this blog to learn the essentials about Metadata
Other Important Considerations to help improve your search engine campaign:
- Add your own Blog and update it frequently - search engines love plenty of regularly updated content
- Implement Social Media strategy which is a great way to expand your audience ie Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube - download CMO's Guide to Social Media Landscape for a good analysis of what sites are most effective.
- Add Google analytics. Its free just sign-up here www.google.com/analytics
- Use Google webmaster and Bing webmaster to create and submit xml sitemaps
- Submit your site to relevant directories and listicles. IE Web Design Agency
Using a Content Management System?
Most CMS admin panels provide you the ability to create and modify metadata and urls for each page but of course they all do it differently. Read your CMS user guide to learn how to modify page titles and descriptions. When inserting the metadata page properties please take into consideration the above recommendations.
Author
Tony
Director and Founder
Inorbital founder and digital solution architect with over 20 years’ experience planning and directing dynamic web presence and web applications for all types of savvy organizations. When not directing Inorbital you can find him actively trying something completely new.