1. Keyword Research
It is essential when optimising your site, that the content is
keyword rich. However, there is little point in writing keyword dense
copy if the keywords are not commonly used in search terms.
It is advisable to keep keywords ambiguous when using any SEO tool,
e.g. KeywordDiscovery or Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This will allow
the SEO tool to return more suggestions, some of which may be
surprising, and ones you had not thought of.
SEO tools will also allow you to see the levels of competition for
the most popular keywords. This will allow you to optimise your campaign
for the most effective keyword use.
2. Link Building
A high Google PageRank is something most sites aim for, and while the
algorithm for determining page rank is constantly changing the number
and quality of links into your site always features.
We suggest
using reputable sites and niche directories to link back to your site.
With genuine, relevant content, links back to your site can really boost
your site’s PageRank.
Some SEO tools will also allow you to view
the number of links your competitor sites contain, this will enable you
to make sure you have more valid links therefore it is likely your page
rank will increase.
3. Deep Linking
While it is important to have as many good quality relevant links as
possible coming into your site, it is equality important that these go
to different pages across your site. This will allow you to target more
relevant links to each specific page. This will not only improve users
experience more but will allow search engines to see that your site has
lots of valid content, boosting PageRank. Sites that only have links
going to the homepage are often viewed as shallow by search engines, or
that the links are not genuine and generated by automation, reducing the
sites value.
4. Sitemaps
The site map is an important tool for increasing the ease of
navigation across your site. It allows web crawlers from search engines
(and users) to quickly and efficiently search every page of your
website. Every page of content is therefore easier to find, reducing the
number of clicks, both web crawlers and users have to make before
reaching the required content.
There is another version of the sitemap that is also used by search
engines. XML sitemaps consist of a list of all pages and include the
dates the pages were last modified. XML sitemaps are submitted to search
engines to help them find and link to all of the content on your site.
5. Relevant Content
The most important part of SEO is perhaps having content relevant to
your main page or site topic. The readable text on the page needs to be
relevant to the targeted keywords and information in the meta tags and
alt tags.
The content needs to read well, in addition to being keyword dense,
in order to be useful to a reader. All information needs to be explained
fully so it makes sense to the reader. The site content needs to be
relevant in order for the search engine to link it to the search term.
However some keyword stuffed copy can appear to be spam and put
potential users off.
6. Optimise Meta Tags
The Meta tags are in the code of the site. The two most important
meta tags are the description and keywords. Meta tags summarize what the
site is about and are still have a role in the search rankings.
The description tag is what users will read when your page comes up
in search listings and can make the difference between them clicking on
your site or not. The recommended length for the description meta tag is
150 – 200 characters. The description tag should have a few keywords
within it but should not be stuffed with keywords, this should read like
a sentence, not a list.
Many search engines hold little importance to the keyword meta tags
due to “keyword overstuffing”. However all search engines still
recommend adding them. When putting your list together, you need to
think of the terms people are likely to be searching for (see Keyword
Research), so they are led to your site with relevant content. It is not
useful to add too many duplicates to your site (e.g. SEO agency, SEO
agencies, London SEO agency, etc) as these are essentially the same, it
is better to pick one or two variations of each keyword.
7. Use Alt Tags for Images
The alt tags will help SEO as a brief, descriptive alt tag can add
relevant text to your source code, which search engines can see when
indexing your site. A higher search ranking can be obtained with more
relevant content, making these tags valuable.
The use of alt tags also helps the visually impaired who asses the
site using screen reader. Whilst they cannot see the image, the alt tag
describes what the image was off, so they do not miss any content from
the site.
8. Social media
Not technically SEO, Social Media is a fast growing factor in getting
your website noticed, and is an important element to include in plans.
Social Media is a term used to describe a variety of Web-based
platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially
interact with one another online. Some examples of social media sites
and applications include Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg,
blogs and other sites that have content based on user participation and
user-generated content (UGC).
To achieve the most form social media
it is important to have a give and take relationship. Helping members
out with retreats, or digs or giving helpful advice will increase the
effectiveness of this media.
9. Ensure Domain Name Contains keywords
You do not need to pack lots of keywords into your domain name, but a
few carefully chosen keywords to highlight the topic of the website are
useful. Too many keywords in the domain name can make a site look like
it is spam based. Avoiding the overuse of hyphens is also a key element
in getting the domain name right.
10. Use Headings
The page title will be the first thing a search engine will look at
when determining what the page is about. It is also the first thing
visitors to your site will see when they get to your page. Therefore it
is important that heading contain one or two keywords, they are relevant
to the content on the page and provide appropriate targeting.
Headings have an important role in the organisation of information on
a website, they are also able to provide aesthetically pleasing aspects
to a site. It is recommended to use the appropriate page heading tags
through out the site as these enable webcrawlers to access the site
easily.
Source: Alchemy Interactive
