Are you just starting to learn about search engine optimization and what it could do for your website? Well, our Chicago SEO consulting company is here to help you understand the basics. Sure, you may need an SEO company for advanced SEO techniques down the road but getting off on the right foot doesn’t need to be difficult. Here are some basic strategies to help you get started with understanding how to apply basic SEO to your website or blog.
8. Implement on-page SEO:
- Every page title you create needs to use targeted keywords
- The URL of the page must include the target long tail keyword phrases
- Every page title tag should be unique
- The H1 tag (only 1 per page) should contain your target keyword
- Every page or post should contain a single and unique META description tag
- The META description tag should be shorter than 156 characters
- The page title should be up to 65 characters
- Analyze your competition with free SEO tools
- Research keywords with the Google Keyword Tool
- Write a great article for your blog that will attract links and visitors
7. Putting the cart before the horse:
SEO Comes Before Web Design. Web designers largely ignore two parts of what an SEO provides, much to the disaffection of their clients: Keyword Research and Traffic Acquisition. As noted previously, keyword phrase research should be the starting point of any new website created. You need to know what your prospective customers are looking for and what words the site should be optimized for or they won’t find you.
Second, and what most web designers fail to recognize is how the site is going to garner traffic. How and why should the site you are building get traffic and make sales? The answer may ultimately be content marketing via a website blog or or integrating a concrete social media strategy, but making these decisions before the website is created can be a huge benefit to any website’s return on investment. In summary, the web designer and SEO consultant (or yourself if knowledgeable enough) should work together. It beneficial to optimize at the start of a project.
6. Local Search Engine Optimization:
It can be tempting to shoot for the stars and set your goals on keywords like “web designer” or “SEO company.” But before you go after these blockbuster keywords with that’s highly competitive, it makes more sense to work on your local SEO and target easier local keywords like “SEO company in Illinois” or “Web Design Company Illinois,” depending on where your business is located.
Look for local business websites that you can list your company website and explain the benefits of your products and/or services. The Better Business Bureau or local Chamber of Commerce may a good place to start. Local websites that list your business profile can help you rank for local search opportunities and drive some targeted traffic to your website.
5. Google and Bing SEO Can be a Slow Process:
No matter how fast you implement SEO on your website, the process can be slow going in order to get ranked for certain keyword phrases. Nobody ranks #1 in the SERP’s (search engine results pages) overnight unless the keyword phrase is useless and / or not competitive at all. You have to build authority / trust over time for the rewards to show in a top 10 ranking for a fairly competitive keyword phrase. And if we’re talking about the top keywords, it very well might take you or your SEO company over a year. No website is exempt from building trust and worthiness of top rankings.
4. SEO Copywriting for Success:
SEO Copywriting is the technique of writing the viewable text on a web page in such a way that it reads well for the user while also targeting specific search terms on the page. Its purpose is to rank highly in the search engines for the targeted search terms. Although link-building gets a lot of attention, remember that the only dependable information Google has about your site is the content you write on it. Lastly, remember to write for human readers first, THEN optimize for the search engines.
3. Focus on Link/Anchor Text Diversity:
Recently, Search Engine Watch noted what many top SEOs already knew: it’s not just how many links you receive, it’s from how many different websites and the diversity of anchor text within your links. Google loves to see link diversity in your backlink profile, so give them what they want to see and try to score links from as many different sites as possible. Linkio is a good resource to help you pick the right anchor text to use during your link building efforts. It’s purpose is to give SEOs the right anchor text to build next, by using insightful data to help you make better-informed decisions.
2. Read the Top Online SEO knowledge base Websites:
One of the simplest SEO tips on our list is to stay up to date and read about SEO from the experts in our field. Although the top SEO experts tend to stay away from the forums, there are still plenty of knowledgeable people who are more than happy to help you succeed in your SEO efforts. There is a goldmine of free SEO tips and tricks available from websites like Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land and SEO.moz. If you’re paying attention, you’ll be able to recognize the experts from the novices. Once you do, pay extra attention to each of their posts, as they’ve been through it many times.
1. It’s a Long Process. Don’t Give Up:
The learning curve for beginners getting into SEO can be tough the first few months. There is a ton of information to absorb, new terminology to grapple with and lots of outdated information (ex: are Meta keywords still relevant?), to sift through. The good new is that every person knowledgeable in SEO was a beginner at some point and reached expert status by keeping up with SEO trends and focusing on improving their SEO implementation.
In summary, don’t let your beautiful website go to waste because you gave up on the SEO game or did not follow some of the basic SEO rules. Too much work, too much time, too much money seems to be the common reason but the payoff down the road is well worth your time in growing your website.
Looking for an SEO Consultant to help you get your business ranked in Google and Bing? Contact for more information.
