Learn/6-Quick-SEO-Wins

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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. Yes, it's true that SEO is a complex field, rife with conflicting opinions. Nonetheless, taking a few simple steps 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. "Simple" is a relative term.

1. Do keyword research.

If you want to attract new customers to your website through search engine results, you'll need to use the same words on your site that people use to search for what you sell.

This may sound obvious. But many people are so accustomed to using insider jargon with their colleagues, they forget that other people don't understand it. For example, you might feel you’re offering “performance-enhancing stabilizers for overpronators” – but your potential customers are searching for “running shoes.”

You can use Google’s keyword research tool to help you find the right keywords for your audience and your website. To learn more about doing effective keyword research, read Learn/Keyword-Research-Is-Key-to-Online-Success Keyword Research Is Key to Online Success.

2. Write a unique, accurate title and meta description for every important page on your site.

The title and meta description of a web page are the most important elements on the page for helping it rank well in search results.

The title of a web page appears in search results as the underlined blue link to the page, and it appears at the top of a web browser window. Google often uses the meta description of a web page - which is otherwise not seen by visitors to the page - as the descriptive text that appears below the clickable link. Together, the title and meta description are like an ad for your web page.

A web page title should tell people – and search engines – exactly what that page is about. Include one or two important keywords to attract search engines and the eyes of people looking for what you sell.

If the title is longer than 70 characters, search engines will truncate it, possibly cutting off an important word. For that reason, you should put your keywords as far to the beginning of the title as possible. If your title is so enticing that people click immediately to your page, you've done a great job.

To learn more about creating a good title for every important page on your site, read Increase Site Traffic with Title Tags.

In contrast to the page title, search engines don't actually use the meta description to determine what your web page is about. Nonetheless, the meta description is important. It helps people decide whether they want to click your link in search results. Do include important keywords. Even though search engines won't care, people will - their eyes are scanning the page of search results very quickly, and keywords will help them zero in on your page description.

If you don’t include a meta description in the code for each page you care about, search engines will grab some text off the page, and it may not be the best choice for your purposes. Make sure you're putting your best foot forward in search results - write a compelling, accurate meta description for each important page on your site.

Learn more about creating a meta description that will get people clicking to your site: Read Learn/Good-Meta-Descriptions-Bring-More-Site-Traffic Good Meta Descriptions Bring More Site Traffic.

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. For more information on why duplicate titles are a problem, read Learn/Shared-Page-Titles:-Classic-SEO-Mistake Shared Page Titles: Classic SEO Mistake.

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.