You don’t have to be a big business or a major cyber force to be concerned with SEO. The truth is Search Engine Optimization matters for any website that wants to be found. Search engines are the primary way most internet users locate content. That means if the search engines aren’t finding your site they aren’t delivering you, neatly packaged, to searchers that are looking for you. That doesn’t mean everyone needs to enlist the help of a high priced specialist, if you can afford it, great.
But if not, there are plenty of simple tactics you can implement on your own that will help. Sure you may not be able to break into the top 3 for “cheap plane tickets” any time soon. But with a little smart strategizing, you can make yourself a lot more visible.
Choosing Keywords
Keyword targeting is one of the very first steps any website needs to take when it comes to SEO. Without doing the research and strategizing to figure out what you need to rank for to bring in qualified traffic, any tactics are like firing shots into the dark. One of the most important distinctions a business needs to make is the difference between how you refer to your business and how searchers will be searching for your products or services.
There are plenty of free tools online to help with keyword research, but among the most popular is the Google Keywords tool.
Taking the numbers too literally can be a mistake, but if you use them as a general gauge of popularity there are benefits to be gleaned. It’s important to note that any keywords with high search volume are going to be more competitive, while terms with low search volume may be more easily attained, but they also may not bring in a lot of traffic. The best keywords are those that fall somewhere in the middle, unless you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and join the long, brutal battle of trying to rank for highly competitive terms
On-Page Optimization
Once you’ve settled on a set of terms, optimizing on-site for them is the next vital step. On-page title tags are the most important place to put your keywords. Now, that doesn’t mean to stuff your tags with a plethora of terms, it means to carefully set up each page title tag with accurately descriptive terms of the content that is on that page.
So a page about Dog Breeding, would stick exclusively to dog breeding terms, leaving extraneous topics like “dog supplies, and “dog temperament” keywords for other more appropriate pages. On-page optimization also includes properly labeling images and links. When you use accurately descriptive anchor text for links and alt-text on images you help search engines attribute relevance. It’s also important for usability purposes that visitors can easily find what they are looking for and appropriately titled links will help with that immensely.
Link Building Theory
It doesn’t matter how well you optimize your site, at some point you need to get out of your own domain and into the rest of cyber world. No amount properly structured title tags or internal links will help you rank the way that back links will. That’s why everybody needs to conquer their fears of link building. We could go on for hours about different aspects of link valuation, link building strategy and techniques but it all comes down to this: everyone can and should actively build links. Link building relates in a major way to SEO but it’s not just about rankings, it’s about relationships, branding and traffic as well. Link building alone can be a full time job for anyone, so when you are a one-man-show it can be difficult to find the time.
Actually Getting Links
Link building strategy will depend largely on your individual niche. But it’s wise to get to know influencers in your market. Building relationships with bloggers, journalists and webmasters is one of the best ways to begin. Relationships can lead to guest posting ops, blog roll links, promotional and social media support, and even the potential to be included in weekly If you are going to make time for any kinds of link building, sure you can sign up for free directories, and leave blog comments. But ideally you are looking for followed links, integrated into content from authoritative, trusted sites. And by far, the best way to achieve links of that caliber is to connect with people in a real way. When you build links by building relationships the benefits are legitimate and long term.
When you combine proper keyword targeting and link building, you can start to see impressive results. Whenever possible it’s best to get links using anchor text that matches your primary keywords, as that will bring the greatest SEO benefit. Obviously there is much more to search engine optimization than simply these 2 areas.
But even without an in-depth understanding of all of the nuances of SEO anyone can utilize these strategies to help increase their search engine rankings and attract more traffic. Once you get the visitors on your site there is a whole other world of usability and conversion to explore. But for now with the right keyword targeting and link building you can dive headfirst into the deep sea of SEO.
This is a guest post by Jessica, who is a writer for Seosoftware.net a website offering comprehensive reviews of SEO software programs. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines
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