Seven “Secrets” to SEO Success

This week’s SEO Tip is more than a tip, it is strategic overview on SEO. I recently spoke with a potential client interested acquiring our SEO services and when I said that SEO really isn’t that complicated he raised an eyebrow. I followed by saying that search engine optimization doesn’t have any big secrets or tricks that only we SEO consultants know. It common sense applied with industry knowledge – knowledge that can be with due diligence and research. So with that in mind, I am revealing the “Seven Secrets of SEO Success” and I’m doing it all for free.

1. Research Your Keyword Phrases.
   Invest the time and do your research. What do users type in the search engines when looking for services or products on your site. We use a few tools such as WordTracker, Keyword Discovery and Overture’s Keyword Selector tool among others to find out what keyword phrases are best to target. Never assume you know which keywords to target until you do the research. I guarantee you will learn something about your business and your target audience when you do. Finding a keyword you didn’t realize was being searched on can add visitors and increase conversions.
2. Design an SEO-Friendly Website.
   I cringe every time I see an all Flash site and I’m asked to achieve high rankings for said site. As much as Flash can hurt a site for rankings there are other things to be aware of, such as: sparse text, poorly written code, javascript on your pages, 404 errors, using graphics instead of text, javascript navigation, deeply nested pages and pages that can’t be found by clicking a link are just a few. Make sure a someone with SEO knowledge with the site design and build. While later is better than never, ideally you want the SEO consultant to work with the designers and programmers.
3. Write Unique Page Titles.
   I wrote about this earlier so take a look at my post on How Important Are Website Titles. It is critical that every web page on your site have a different and unique title. It is the most important part of your web page when search engines are determining your web page message and ranking. This is easy, so be sure to do it.
4. Write Focused Content.
   This may appear to be simple common sense, but too often a web page will try to be too many things and dilute its true message. Each thought, theme or topic should have its own web page. If you sell dog products, then a page for each category would be needed. Dog toys would be a major category with its own page, but chew toys would be a new page and so on. You wouldn’t mix chew toys and dog bedding. The search engines want to see a focus so they know what to rank your web page for as well as where to rank your web page.
5. Insert Keywords.
   If you have written a descriptive and keyword-rich title it follows suit that your page content is also going to have keywords throughout. Write for humans, but keep in mind the search engines. You don’t want to overdue it, but you do want your page theme to be evident. List your keyword phrase in your titles, headers and content and the search engines will know reward you with higher visibility.
6. Build Keyword-Rich Links.
   There is nothing more important for the high ranking success of your site than strategic link building. And with that said, there is nothing more important than choosing the right text to link to your site. If your company name is “Big Oak Studios” and you are an SEO company then you better be sure to request any links pointing to your site have similar terms such as SEO, company, firm, search engine optimization, marketing, Internet somewhere in the links. Let the link state your business, not your web address or company name.
7. Find Quality Links.
   Since acquiring links is the most important off-site task you can do, then it would reason you should do it right. While having a large number of links is important, making sure they are quality is tantamount to your site’s success. This is especially true in high competition areas. Quality links from sites with authority (popular and trusted sites) carry more weight. One link from an authority site can be worth a hundred or more low-quality sites.

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