I have found that SEO can sometimes feel like a very daunting task. There are so many rules to follow and best practices to memorize that few would label SEO as “fun.” However, SEO can be fun if you can feel comfortable and confident with the basics. I then decided to put “fun” and SEO together into one article, so hopefully this will help you memorize the most important aspects of SEO. After all, it works for 3rd graders, so why can’t it work for you?
Meta Data – Although Meta keywords are not crucial to SEO anymore, Titles & Descriptions are still very important. Both are viewed by consumers when performing a search for a particular keyword. This is your opportunity to tell not only the search engines what your page is about but it also to entice the consumer to click on your listing by writing compelling Titles & Descriptions.
Unique Content – As we have mentioned many, many times, unique content is one of the most important factors in getting your website to rank high. Google simply will not rank a site highly on their search engine if there is a bunch of scraped content. They want their users to find the highest quality sites so that they have a positive search experience. If you don’t think you can create enough quality, original content as fast as you’d like, it’s worth it to hire a writer (it’s that important!).
Social Media – With social media continuing to grow it has become very clear that to get a website to rank highly in the search engines you need to incorporate social media into your SEO strategy. Links being share through Twitter, Facebook, and Google + have a direct impact on rankings. The more great content or valuable advice you can offer, the more people will interact with you. Soon you’ll have a large audience checking your social media accounts for your latest information; thus sending them to your website. Also remember to use Skype, or other voip phone systems, to offer live chat for your viewers. This is about as connected as you can get!
Time – Ranking on a major search engine such as Google or Bing is going to take time and patience. Companies often forget that this is a must-have if you want to do SEO correctly. Many end up getting frustrated that they aren’t seeing results quick enough and abandon ship. Having the patience and consistency to make the necessary updates is half the battle.
Heading Tags – Heading Tags (H1 through H6) are typically given more weight by the search engines than regular on-page content. When writing website copy, each page ideally would be given a unique heading. It is one of the best ways to give your keywords prominence. It also provides the reader as well as the search engine a quick view of what your page is about.
Accessibility – Accessibility is extremely important when it comes to SEO. Remember, the search engines are essentially robots that crawl your websites content to understand what they are about. So if it can’t get to certain content then you are losing out on a lot of SEO benefits. You want to make sure there is a clear structure to your website so that all content and pages can be found easily.
NaVigation – This goes hand in hand with Accessibility. However there are two kinds of navigation to consider: user and spider. User navigation pretty much just asks that you make it easy for readers to move around your website. You can do this through breadcrumbs, linking, and an organized layout. It is the spider friendly navigation that sometimes throws companies off. You want to make sure that Google spiders, or computer programs, can crawl your website. They first need to be able to find it, then index it, and then look for quality content. To do this, you need to make sure you have properly structured HTML along with CSS design.
Ethical – When it comes to SEO there are generally two ways to perform it. There is a “White Hat” technique, and “Black Hat” technique. White Hat SEOs are those that perform updates within the search engines guidelines; whereas, Black Hat SEOs are those that are trying to manipulate the search engines by using deceptive techniques. Obviously we suggest you follow the White Hat standards because being banned from the search engines or even getting penalized is not worth it in the long run.
Many companies understand the basics of SEO and have everything set it place, but it’s important that all companies re-evaluate these basics. If you’re new to SEO, then the MUST HAVEs are a great place to start.
