28 August 2012

Essential SEO Tips

By Peter Hammond


More and more businesses are realizing the importance of an on-line campaign. The age of the phone book is over and customers are using Google and various social media channels to find products and services. Looking at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) reveals a seemingly endless array of topics ranging from on-page changes to links and Pay Per Click (PPC) options. On top of that misinformation is rampant making it even more difficult to decide on a course of action. Which are really necessary? Here are some great ideas for making the most of your SEO activities.

For one, SEO is a process and committing to it is necessary. You won't see dramatic change overnight or even in several weeks. Optimizing for a competitive term can take months to years. Identify a strategy that works and then set out a plan to implement it. If you're trying to optimize for a small market you may have good success more quickly and easily.

Properly researching phrases for your campaign is essential. Keyword choices can make all the difference between a successful campaign and failure. There are quite a few free tools out there you can use or you can pay for upgraded versions to get even more information. Tools like Google Keyword or WordTracker are great places to start and can give you enough information to move forward.

Organic SEO changes to actual copy on your webpage are also easy and can boost your ranks. The right phrases in the right places can mean Google will see you are relevant to the topic searched for. Page titles are probably the most important factor and should be unique to the page you are attempting to market. Meta descriptions on a page are also key and tell the users and the engines more about the content on your page. And finally, you should include your targeted phrases and words on the page itself where relevant.

Proper anchor text is also an important on-page SEO ranking factor. Using words and phrases like "Read How..." or "Find Out How..." are useless in providing any meaningful information to the search engines as to the target's content. Instead use anchor text that includes the words and phrases you have already researched. Use them on internal pages to point to your home page or other internal pages with relevant keywords to improve your site's search visibility.

Great content on your page is also a huge factor. Take the time to write or hire someone to create unique engaging content. Not only will your site search better but human readers will want to read what you've written. You can attract a lot of attention to a poorly constructed website that users will click away from as fast as possible. Proper Internet marketing consists of converting traffic to customers so make sure when people click your search result they won't be disappointed.




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