Difference between revisions of "Learn/6-Quick-SEO-Wins"

Revision as of 23:13, 28 March 2011

By [[User:|]] on

You've got a great business, and a great new website. You keep checking Google every day - okay, multiple times per day - to see where you rank. But you're still on page 3 or 4 - or maybe not even ranking that high. What's wrong?

What you need is a little search engine optimization, or SEO. Don’t get scared off! While SEO is a complicated topic, a few simple SEO fixes – and I do mean simple – can help your site rank better in search engine results, and attract more visitors. Note: If you aren’t the person who built your website, you’ll need help to make some of these changes.

1. Do keyword research. It sounds simple: Use the same words on your website that your customers use when they search for what you sell. Unfortunately, many sites use jargon or insider terms that are unknown to most of their prospective customers. For example, you might feel you’re offering “performance-enhancing athletic gear” – but your customers are searching for “running shoes.” Google’s keyword research tool is really meant for finding keywords to target when buying the ads that appear next to Google search results. But it’s equally good for figuring out which words your prospective customers use to search for what you sell. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 2. Write a unique, accurate title and meta description for every important page on your site. The title of a web page appears in search results as the underlined, bold-font, blue link to the page. Google often uses the meta description of a web page for the descriptive text that appears below the clickable link. The title of each web page should tell people – and search engines – exactly what that page is about. Include one or two important keywords. If it’s longer than 70 characters, search engines will truncate the title, possibly cutting off an important word. Bonus points if your title entices people to click immediately to your page. The meta description, though not used by search engines to determine what your web page is about, helps prospective customers decide whether to click your link in search results. It should be accurate and compelling. If you don’t include a meta description in the code for a web page, search engines will grab some text off the page – and it may not be the best choice for your purposes. Last but not least: Every page on your site needs its own unique title and meta description. Replicating titles and meta descriptions across two or more pages tells search engines your site is of lower quality, and could cause your pages to rank lower in search results.

       3.  Make sure search engines index your site.

If your site isn’t indexed, it can’t be found in search results. You should create either an HTML sitemap or an XML sitemap. Learn more here: http://www.aboutus.org/Learn/An-HTML-Sitemap-Helps-Search-Engines-Discover-You And here: http://www.aboutus.org/Learn/Creating-an-XML-Sitemap 4. Get links from other websites. Links from reputable websites tell search engines that your site offers valuable information, and helps it rank well in search results. Links also help both people and search engines discover new sites. The best way to get links to your site is by creating great content that people want to link to. Post articles that will interest your public, and use Twitter to promote them. For more suggestions, read http://www.aboutus.org/Learn/Get-Good-Backlinks 5. Don’t duplicate content. When search engines see the same content on two or more web pages – whether they’re on a different site or the same site – they decide which is the original, and regard the duplicate pages as being of lower quality. Low-quality pages won’t rank well in search results, and duplicate content doesn’t help people, either. You can use Google Webmaster Tools (www.google.com/webmasters/tools) to discover whether you’ve got duplicate pages on your site. Sign yourself up, go to the Diagnostics section, and then find the “HTML Suggestions” tab. From there, you can check the “Duplicate Title Tags” section to identify duplicate content. This certainly isn’t an exhaustive tutorial on SEO, but if you follow all of these suggestions, you’ll be doing more for your site’s visibility than 99.9 percent of your competitors.