We all want to rule Google and Bing, right? We all want to be in the Top 3 results for all of our desired KeyWords, right? Well, in order to do that, you’re going to know some essential basics about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This post will give you a mile-high overview of SEO, and get you moving in the right direction. Think of this as a Top 10 Best Practices for how to begin to get those search engine rankings you (and all of your competitors) desire.

1. Write Great Content

If your pages contain great, relevant, useful content, search engines will be more likely to rank you higher for what you’re writing about. Visitors like fresh content, so they will visit your site more often. Content written both for search engine keywords and for humans to find interesting, then you’re going in the right direction.

2. Do Your Keyword Research

A KeyWord is basically anything you type into a search field on a search engine. Whether it’s literally just one word, or a string of words (KeyWord Phrase), it’s technically all still a “KeyWord.” When you want to rank “first in Google,” you want to rank first for the KeyWord most of your highly-interested targeted users will be using to search for your product and/or service. Don’t target a KeyWord just because it sounds right to you, or because it gets a lot of searches.

You want to target as specific as possible for Search Engine Optimization, because you want to be able to rank as high as possible as quickly as possible, and a realistically as possible. A shoe store in Houston will never beat out Zappos, Shoes.com or DSW, for example. However, you may be able to rank a lot easier for “Shoe Store in Houston” or “High Heel Store in Houston” for example.

Use tools such as Wordtracker and the AdWords Keyword Suggestion tool to find relevant niche keywords and estimate traffic based on research and not just guesses.

3. Use Your Keywords Wisely

Once you have a good list of KeyWords, deploy them sensibly throughout your site pages. To rank better for the KeyWords you are targeting, make sure they periodically and regularly appear in throughout the content of your pages. Use the KeyWords in the first and last paragraphs in the content of page. Strategically throughout the page content, but not stuffing throughout. Try the KeyWord Density ratio of about 2-3% of all content will contain the KeyWords you’re looking to rank for. Use KeyWords wisely, don’t stuff them all over the page, and make sure the KeyWords appear in strategic locations throughout your website.

4. Get Other Sites Linking To Yours

Most search engines rank sites higher if they’re linked to by other, well-respected sites. Writing good content is one of the best long-term strategies. The better the content, the more valuable the content, and therefore the more likely it is that another site will want to refer to yours as valuable to their readers and visitors.

A “link to this page” (or “share this”) function on each page of your site makes it easy for others to link to your content. Sharing your pages and posts on Social Networks doesn’t have a direct effect on your rankings, because of the way that the large Social Networks manage their links (search for DoFollow vs NoFollow for full explanation). Whether the site linking to your content directly passes through search ranking help to your site isn’t as important as getting as many links as possible, and spreading your content around to as many different places as possible. You want exposure and traffic. Over time, your rankings will rise the more exposure and traffic you get.

Get in touch with the site owner of the websites which rank in the Top 10 results for your desired KeyWord, and strike up a friendship. Don’t ask for links right away. Just compliment them on their awesomeness and nurture the relationship to eventually be in a possible to ask for a guest blog opportunity, or a link, depending on the situation as to what’s best for both parties.

NOTE: Do not take an article which is already on your website or blog and use that as a guest blog post. That will be seen as duplicate content by search engines and it will not be counted, at best. Yes, it’s more work, but the more original content that’s out there linking back to your site and content, the better rankings you’ll get over time.

5. Structure Your Site For SEO

A site map can really help here, as it lists all your site content on one, easy-to-use page. If you’re using a Content Management System like WordPress, then this is really easy. There are a number of free and pay plugins which can help you generate a Site Map automatically, and even give you links to submit it to Google and Bing to start the process of indexing your site and starting your rise. Make sure your website structure is developed to allow your KeyWords in the following areas of each of your website’s pages:

– The Title Tag
– H1 and H2 Tags
– Anchor Link Text
– Page URL (aka Permalink)
– Image ALT Text

6. Analyze Your Site

– It’s important to track your site’s performance to see if your efforts are paying off. Here are a few ways to use different metrics analysis tools. See which one/s you prefer:

– Google Webmaster Tools
– Google Analytics
– Alexa.com
– Bing Webmaster Tools

Pretty much all of these will give you useful information about how your site is faring in the search results. Obviously Google and Bing are the largest search engines, so sign-up for their Webmaster Tools areas to help get you on their radar in a more efficient manner than just waiting around and hoping everything will work itself out.

Also, install Google Analytics on every single page of your website and learn how to use every bit of it. Google is starting to use Analytics metrics more and more to determine relevancy, and knowing everything that’s going on with your site (traffic, referring sites, links, etc) will not only assist you with search engine rankings, but also with ensuring your website is delivering for you.

7. Keep Abreast of the Latest SEO News

Search engine algorithms change constantly. It pays to keep up to date with the latest changes. Subscribe to some of the biggest SEO Newsletters and blogs to keep up with the latest. Here are some sites, blogs, and newsletters which we have found to be helpful:

– SEO Moz
– Search Engine News
– Search Engine Land

8. Avoid Black Hat Techniques

SEO techniques and strategies come in 2 forms:

– White Hat techniques play by the rules of search engines, and aim to create high-quality, relevant content.
– Black Hat techniques try to “game” the search engines by using techniques such as keyword stuffing, back linking from “link farms,” etc.

When working on any search engine optimization strategies, make sure you’re always playing by the rules. Playing by the rules also means not just doing what Google and Bing recommend, but not over doing it, as well. If Google instructs you to do something for better SEO, and you go ahead and do that over and over and over again 50 times on each page, then you can bet that any possible search engine results you receive from that will eventually be removed with future algorithm updates. It’s always best to do what’s recommended, avoid what’s not recommended, and use sensible control when it comes to what’s recommended. If you play by the rules, and don’t over-do it, your rankings will be permanent and fruitful.

9. Watch Out For Duplicate Content

We touched on this above, but it’s important after the recent algorithm updates of the past couple years. Many factors can result in a search engine seeing 2 URL’s as duplicates of each other. Here are just a few of the most common culprits

– Articles and Content republished from other websites
– Print-friendly versions of pages
– Similar product info pages that contain unchanged content
– Displaying your site at multiple domains.

If you copy-paste the same Content from one place to another, the modern search engine will recognize this, and classify you as someone who’s trying to cheat the system. Whether the website which contains the original content, or the newer off-site posting of that content gets the negative hit depends on a few different factors. It’s important to know that when you control the Content distribution to external channels, make sure it’s all original Content everywhere and you’ll be OK.

10. Don’t Forget the Description and KeyWords Tags.

The description tag should be a useful, compelling summary of your page content. Don’t use the same description you use on your home page. Again, if you’re using WordPress for your website, then you can use any number of free or pay SEO plugins.

Most modern search engines don’t use the KeyWords tag like they used to (or at all), because the search engine algorithms are much more advanced to prevent cheating, so this is totally optional. There are some minor search engines which still use the KeyWords tag, so it’s not horrible to have that in your header, but these days is strictly optional.

However, the search engines will display your page when it ranks for what someone is searching for and will use the Description tag first. If there is no description tag, then the search engine will display the first couple lines of text it can read. The first two sentences of your blog post or page content might be a well-written lead-in, but not a very good description for usage on a search engine results page. Therefore, use a unique and well-written description for each page and you’ll get better click results from search engines when you do rank.

There you go! Yes, there’s a lot of information here, but also a lot of information we couldn’t get to. We do have a full Marketing Course you can sign-up for and learn many many more details and how to actually do all this great stuff, but this should get you started and familiar with the proper strategy for how to start to use the most effective SEO strategies to rank higher and higher in those Search Engine results pages!

Your Keyword Density Ratio would be the ratio of keywords-to-“normal” words in any particular page or post on your website. The lower the density, the less search engines will feel you adequately address the desired topic and search terms. The higher the density, and you could be down-graded or penalize for what is called “keyword stuffing.”

The bad effects of very low Keyword Density, or pretty obvious. If you don’t talk enough about the search terms your potential customers are searching for, then you won’t be helped in your SEO via your on-page content (which is paramount).

“Keyword Stuffing” is just as bad, because the search engines will know that you’re trying to fool them. It’s basically search engine spam. You might remember the older sites from the 90’s which featured, say, a white background, and after you reached the bottom of the page, you could scroll and scroll, but couldn’t see anything, then noticed one day that there were a whole bunch of seemingly random words at the bottom of the page in white type over the white background. This used to be a trick (bad SEO tricks are called “Black Hat Tactics) that website developers used to try to trick the less-advanced search engine algorithms of the day.

These days, search engine algorithms are highly advanced, and will easily recognize more Black Hat tactics and penalize a site’s ranking which uses these “tricks.”

A good rule of thumb for Keywords is around 3-5%. This is arguable, as some suggest keeping it between 1-3% of content, and other suggest going as high as 8%. So, we’ll take the middle road and recommend 3-5% keyword density. What does that look like for our auto mechanic friend? Take a look:

“ABC auto repair in Santa Monica is a family owned and operated domestic auto repair shop which specializes in fixing and maintaining all your domestic vehicle needs. No matter what issues or problems you’re having with your car, whether it’s low idling, or your check engine light suddenly comes on, or even if you just need a quick oil change, just come on in to our Santa Monica shop on Washington Blvd, and we’ll treat you like family! Our domestic auto mechanics are here six days a week to take care of all your repair needs. See you soon!”

That paragraph has a real keyword density of about 3%. You might read that and think “there’s 101 words, but 16 keywords, so isn’t it around 16%?” Good thinking, but when you group search terms together, they count as one instance, not individual words. Example, “Auto Repair” is one search term, so that will factor in the keyword density ratio. Likewise, so will “domestic auto repair” and “santa monica” which is individual search terms, at least in this case, and not three different keywords.

Now, all that being said, does it really truly matter? Only the geniuses who programmed the algorithm of the best search engines like Google will know for sure (even though they’ll tell you even they can’t predict 100% search result accuracy), but the results have suggested that when you keep the suggested keyword density for desired search phrases and keywords at 3-5%, your SEO will be helped out.

One last thing which is important to note. Yes, we’re mathematically trying to achieve an optimal keyword density for top rankings, but notice that the copy still read very well for humans. This is extremely important, because even if you rank number one on all the search engines, but have horrible content/copy which isn’t written for a human to read and be affected by, then you still aren’t going to see much improvement on the bottom line.

To summarize, always research your optimal keywords, and make sure above all else your content is written for humans first and foremost, then tweak the sentences and paragraphs slightly to achieve the optimal keyword density of 3-5%. Then, hope that you have many reputable backlinks pointing to your site for even better results.

Happy content writing! Please enter your thoughts in the comments below, or check out one of our other articles in the list immediately following this article, and as always feel free to contact us or download our free marketing ebook to help you out even more.

Scam Artist 1: The Web Designer
Most of the time a small business looks to hire a single “web designer,” it’s because there’s a perceived lack of budget available to spend on a larger and more expensive company. Even the middle companies who might charge a few thousand dollars for a website, or some online graphic/development work, seems too much. So, the business owner, or manager, looks to hire off of an outsourcing website by placing an advertisement asking for samples and rates. Most of the time, the business owner will get to choose from awful to horrible. And when they do find an aesthetically-pleasing website, then it was usually designed with the web designer’s goals in mind, not the client’s.

A common problem is a general lack of marketing knowledge. A designer doesn’t understand ROI, Conversion rates, usability (for the most part), Search Engine Optimization, or content creation. The web designer may also not be adept at developing efficient code, and may even use a template or CMS Theme “out-of-the-box” and hackingly tweak only what the client needs for the site/project to look like the clients’.

SOLUTION:
You should look for a company which has a small staff of experts, and whose work is consistent. Also, ask for references and follow up on those references. Asking to see links only tells you a small part of the story. You’re most likely not a marketing expert, either, so knowing how to break-down the effectiveness of each site given to you as links usually isn’t a tool in your toolshed as a business owner. And if you do work in the marketing department of your company, are you informed on the latest and most effective strategies and techniques out there? If you are aware that Google just changed their algorithm almost a year back to counter act link farms and aggregate websites, then you’re more informed than most.

Scam Artist 2: The Social Media “Expert”
When you meed a “Social Media Expert” then you probably have met someone who spends a lot of their time on Facebook and Twitter, and they feel that the hours they’ve logged in gives them enough usage hours and peripheral knowledge of how things works for them to try to get paid for it. Worse yet, if you ever meet a self-professed “guru” then run, don’t walk…and…if you ever meet someone who specifically claims NOT to be a “guru” without you even bringing it up, then run away even FASTER!

A common problem with Social Media consultants is that they aren’t familiar with PR/Publicity, Marketing and Advertising. Having a knowledge in these areas will help your Social Media message be more effective. Social Media is marketing your product, but it walks the fine line between pure marketing and pure publicity/PR. You’re essentially going to be starting a conversation with potential customers, and cultivating a strong relationship with them. You have to strategize your message effectively for your target market and understand who your customers are…from the type of income they make right down to the types of shoes they are likely to wear. You have to know your customers’ mindsets if you’re going to communicate how your brand, company, and/or product is going to help improve their lives in some way.

SOLUTION:
A honest to goodness true expert (or guru) will have case studies, metrics, and examples of what they’ve done for others. You should also ask your expert how they envision your company or brand being able to harness the power of social media, and what ideas they have for you, and how they will strategize your social media road map. When you begin working with them, after you’ve agreed to work together, then ask for specifics and documentation on how they will work for you, what results to expect, and how you can check their work periodically to chart the progress.

One note, though, to be fair, Social Media is the quintessential real life example of the old saying, “Good, Fast, Cheap…Pick Any Two.” If you’re going to get some Good results Fast, then it’s going to cost you in media buys, hourly charges, and affiliate partnerships just to name a few. If you’re expecting something to work Fast and Cheap, then the results are not going to be very good. For example, if you want 5,000 fans in three months for your Facebook Page, then expect a lot of fillers and unqualified fans usually gotten through trading “Likes.” Depending on the kind of business you have, this might be a decent tactic depending on the overall strategy. Finally, if you’re looking for something Good and for Cheap, then the great results will not come quickly. It will take time to cultivate good relationships while being frugal. Why? Because you’re going to have to keep the hours spend on the social networks down, or you’re going to have to invest a lot of time yourself if you don’t wan to pay others to spend the time doing it, just to name a couple reasons.

Scam Artist 3: The “SEO” Promise
This could be the biggest scam out there. The promise of “I’ll get you on the first page of Google in two weeks!” Anyone who says that, just tell them to politely leave you alone, because you know their game. They know that NO ONE knows the algorithm Google uses, much less be able to guarantee positioning on an on-going basis. There are billions of “first pages of Google,” and you can reach quite a few just with a specific-enough search.

For example, if you search for your own name, or your business’ name then you better be the first entry on Google, or you’ve got some work to do. Being first for your exact name should be easily achievable. The trick, however, is being first for an actual KeyWord and search phrase your customers will be typing into the search engine box to find you.

SOLUTION:
When looking for better search engine rankings listen to the “experts'” pitch. If they promise first page and first spot rankings for any KeyWord you wish, then they are not being honest. If they want to work with you to find the perfect and achievable “long tail” KeyWords which will help your customers actually find you by what you do and where you are, then you’re on the right track.

Also, you shouldn’t have to pay one penny more for organic search engine optimization. That means developing your website so that it’s optimized for prime display in the search engines, and ready for great rankings. Many scam artist developers, and one-person-shops will grab a WordPress theme, install it for you, and tweak some logos, colors, and text and send you on your way. That’s not going to help you. There are a certain base number of customizations which will need to be done on every site, by an expert, to help you achieve those amazing search engine result rankings you’re looking for.

In Conclusion:
There has been a lot of information here. As a courtesy to you for reading all of this, please give us a call with any questions and we’d be happy to help walk you through a few things which would help you out, and NOT give you a used car salesman pitch for your troubles. It’s our mission to help out, and make businesses more successful however we can, so just Contact Us today! Talk to you soon!

Search engines want to make sure that the pages they refer their searchers to is the most relevant result with the most relevant content to the searchers’ inquiries. Here is a quick list of some of the biggest things you can do on your website to improve rankings in addition to the steps which must be taken off-site:

Page Title Names
– These help the search engines know what you page is about

Header Tags
– Different header tags allocate different levels of importance for the content and keywords inside these tags

Keyword content throughout each page
– The more times a searcher’s Keywords appear in your content the better your rankings would be. However, putting too many Keywords will cause your site to lose it’s rankings for “Keyword Stacking.”

PermaLink structure
– Most CMS (WordPress, Drupal, etc) take care of this for you, but make sure the pages on your site aren’t labeled “blog34.html” instead of something like “www.yoursite.com/products/great-keyword-product-here-keyword” (consult your web developer to help you set that one up).

How long your site has been live
– If your site just launches, you will need time to build up a track record of regular relevant content updates.

How many times your site is updated
– If you site is created, then never changes, the search engine spiders will eventually assume that the site is dormant or dead and not rank it as highly as site with daily updates for the same relevant content.

ALT Tags (placed in the code for images on a web page)
– Alternative Tags, or ALT Tags, are short and quick descriptive lines which help provide more information about an image (which search engines can’t see) and links (i.e. what the link represents, where the link takes you, etc).

Accessibility Compatible (coding to help those who are visually-disabled)
– Search Engines and Google especially love site which are coded in accordance to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines. Consult with your web developer to learn more.

Set up Analytics code on your site.
– Knowing who’s coming to the site, where they are coming from, and what they are doing on your site will help you optimize your site and it’s content to keep generating more and more traffic.

Conduct proper Keyword research to know what are your best Keywords, and use them throughout your site and pages. There’s a whole lot more to cover, so keep coming back to our blog and download our free eBook for more!

Action Item: Does your site have all of the improvements listed above? Are you tech-savvy enough to do all the necessary changes yourself, or do you have a web developer, or do you need the help of an expert to make all the necessary changes and walk you through everything?