7 Easy Tips to Improve Search Engine Rankings
Not the end all be all, but a great way to really get the ball rolling when it comes to working on improving your free/natural/organic search engine rankings.
- Know where you are at before making any changes:
You need to benchmark now where your site currently stands in the rankings to what effects your efforts will have. Good? Bad? Indifferent? - Title Tag:
Make sure you have a unique and descriptive title tag on each and every page of your site. Incorporate your top 2-3 keyword phrases based on each page’s content in an interesting and readable manner. - Description Tag:
Ditto for your meta description tag! You must have a enticing description directly related to the on-page content for every single page of your site. - Inbound links are the Holy Grail.
But how to you get folks to want to link to you? By having exclusive valuable content that makes visitors think about sharing it with their networks or linking to it from their sites and profiles. Keep notes on what your site visitors or customers ask you and write about it. Don’t be tempted to use recycled content from others or online article directories. Some of that is O.K. but only your uncommon content will do the trick! - Focus and Niche:
I say this several times each day. In the “eyes” of the search engines the more you are about the less you are about any one thing. SERPS (search engine results pages) reflect the sites that are most relevant for the term being search for. That is why it is critical that each page be about one focused topic, using the top 3 keyword phrases you know your searchers are using (How do you know, see the next tip.). Be as niche as possible with your site and focused with your content so that you are targeting like laser those onliners who are interested in what you have to offer. - Keyword Research is not an after thought.
You will be surprised when you see what onliners are actually using to search for your product or service. You know what happens when you assume? - Analytics matter.
If you are not signed up for Google Analytics or your host doesn’t provide detailed stats for you to review, time to get a new host. It is these very stats that will give you epiphanies when you see how you are found, from where and what your site visitors gravitate towards. This is the info that tells you what to add, write about and include on your site.
A combination of ongoing efforts in the above areas, over time, will improve your rankings. This process should not be viewed as a one-off attempt or something that will produce immediately and then be discontinued.
Great rankings are something acquired over time, that are worked at consistently for the long haul and should be considered an activity that is at the heart of running a successful business.
HTH!
At your service,
Judith
You may also enjoy:
- Are You a Habitual Keyword Stuffer?
- WordPress How To: Easy SEO
- Your Business in 155 Characters?
- 5 Google Analytics Basics
- R.I.P. Meta Keyword Tag
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