Search Engine Optimization Basics (SEO for Beginners)
A Few SEO Basic Tips, Not Tricks… (and Nothing “Sneaky”)…
This is a very basic guide for you to optimize your own site, or have your webmaster do it for you … steps that I have learned in my travels, and have paid dearly for in one way or another. I’m just passing them along, hoping no one else makes the same mistakes I did. The steps are very simple, and are solely On Site SEO.
Keyword research: The first thing you must do before any Search Engine Optimization can be done is keyword research. Keyword research is a totally different ballgame. If you know how to do it, great. Do it and get your list of keywords ready. If you don’t, here are the basics:
1.) Go to Google.com
2.) In the search box, type “google keyword research tool”
3.) This search will bring up “Google Adwords Keyword Tool”. Click on it.
4.) Enter your broad topic/keyword, and Google’s tool will spit out a bunch of suggestions for you. Pick which keywords you want to optimize for on your site.
( ** Long tail keywords that are more detailed will be less competitive in rankings i.e. “womens boots” vs “womens brown ugg boots” Longtail keywords are more descriptive and give you a better chance of ranking higher because they have less page competition.)
After you complete your research, make a list of the keywords you will use to optimize your site.
On Site SEO Basics: If you know html you can do these very easily yourself. If you don’t, just list and send them to your programmer. Quick and easy.
1.) Domain name: If at all possible, use your main keyword in your domain name. Your domain name should:
- include the main keyword phrase for the niche or theme of the site.
- NOT include hyphens
- have a .com extension
2.) Title Tags: Title Tags look like this: <title> Your Title Here </title>. You will find the title tags between the <head></head> tags. The title shows up at the top of your page in the title bar, and also in the first line of the listings in search engines. To optimize your title:
- Use your main keyword in the title of your home page.
- Subsequent pages (content pages): Title tags for each page are the same as the headline for that page, and should include the main keyword FOR THAT PAGE.
3.) META Tags:
- META Keyword tags: Google no longer views keyword META tags as important, but it is rumored that Yahoo and MSN, and other search engines still place relevance here. It can’t hurt to include them. META keyword tags look like this: <META NAME=”Keywords” CONTENT=”ugg,ugg boots,uggs,ugg australia”> Separate the keywords and keyword phrases with a comma.
- META description tags: Your META description for your home page should be the same as your 1st paragraph of text in the site. Use the main keyword you are optimizing for at least two times in the first paragraph. For all subsequent pages, the META description for each page is the same as the 1st two or three sentences on that page, and includes the main keyword phrase for that page. META description tags look like this: <META NAME=”description” content=”What you want to say here.”> and go between the head tags, after the Title tags.
4.) Page Heading (or Headline): Your main keyword phrase should be used in the first line (or the headline if you have one) of content for your site. Make it bold or increase the font size. You can also italicize or underline your main keyword in your headline to give it more weight and let the search engines know it is important. However, do this (italicize or underline) only once or twice on the page, once at the top, and then one more time towards the end of the text. I played around with this for my Santa letters site and went from page two to page five almost immediately when I added a third italicized keyword.
5.) Keyword Density: Use the keyword you are optimizing for at least once in the first 2 or 3 sentences (which, remember, will also be your META description). Keyword phrases or variations should be used 1 – 3 times per 100 words of content. Do NOT keyword “stuff”! This will count against you and usually sounds highly unnatural. Use your keywords in your content so they sound like they should naturally be there.
6.) CONTENT PAGES:
- File names for content pages: The filename for EACH page should include the keyword phrase the page is being optimized for. i.e. www.yoursite.com/keywordphrase.htm
- File names for images: Filenames for any images should also contain related keywords. i.e. www.yoursite.com/images/keywordphrase.jpg . ALT tags ( which go in place of pictures that do not show up if someone cannot view pictures in their browser) should also contain the keyword phrase.
- Links: Anchor text is the text that you use to link one page to another with particular words. Anchor text from your home page to inner pages or affiliate pages should consist of the main keyword phrase for the content being linked to. DO NOT link back to your home page from content pages. Links on your inner content pages should ONLY consist of links to your products or related affiliate offers.
If you are a beginner, this may sound complicated or “Greek” to you. Actually, it’s pretty easy and covers only the basics. As I said, you can either do these quick fixes yourself, or get your programmer to do it.
I very rarely recommend software or other programs, but I have found one that is very good, takes care of all of this for you as you go along, and is pretty easy to use. Actually, I use it myself, and if you would rather not mess with this stuff and have ‘somobody’ do it all for you at a great price, you can find it here . I hope this helps! Happy SEO – ing!
Email me at lwajda@optonline.net for details, then come back here to pay. look forward to hearing from you!
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great information! thanks for sharing your insight. There are so many people trying to make a buck off all us smaller bloggers. I appreciate your willingness to share you lessons learned.