Writing great content is only the beginning of search engine optimization (SEO). If you wish for your website or blog to be discovered in search results you need to be proactive. There are some very simply steps you can take right now to better optimize your site for search engines.
What can you do right now?
Analyze which keywords are bringing in your audience. Once you’ve identified important keywords and phrases, sprinkle them throughout your content. The rule of thumb is, density should be about 3%. The most important places to use these keywords are in your:
- first sentence of your content
- page titles (this can be done in your meta data. See video below)
- images names, titles, alt tags
- link names
- video tags
This is a great video on adding meta tags.
Bullet points are not only great for your readers but they can be very useful for isolating your keywords for SEO. You can also use italics or bold font to highlight keywords if bullets points aren’t appropriate.
Do yourself a favor…
- Link to your own content. Internal links can help boost your rank. Even better, get someone else to link to your site. External linking carries more weight and can help others learn about you from additional sources. You can contact another website that has an established audience who could benefit from your content. You could also engage actively in your own social media to help encourage others to visit your site.
- Push any blog posts out through Google Plus. All of the content you push out using Google Plus is indexed and will help your rank.
How do you analyze your site?
Pick your favorite analytics tool and start poking around to see who is visiting you, how often they visit, how long they hang out on your site, which pages they visit, which keywords and phrases bring them in, etc. Use this information to improve your content. Google Analytics provides all of the data I mentioned and is free (unless your site generates more than 10 million hits per month – and if that’s the case, you probably already know a little something about SEO)
If you aren’t much of a technical person, you might want to hire someone to handle areas such as:
- Resolving HMTL and server errors
- Converting your blog into a SlideShare
- Executing tracking codes to better analyze your RSS feeds (but without hiring someone, you could easily find a plugin to do the work for you)
Why does it all matter?
If you don’t care to make your site appear on the first page in search results, you could miss out on 91.5% of all traffic from an average search. That’s HUGE! You have to get on that first page. If you end up on the second page you sit among other sites competing for only 4.8% of search traffic. It matters.
Questions to consider:
- How comfortable are you with attempting to optimize your site for search engines? Do you feel like you can tackle it without feeling too overwhelmed?
- What area’s of search engine optimization, if any, are confusing, daunting, frustrating, etc? What resources do you currently use (or would you use) to help optimize your site?
Erin Tracy's Social Media and Content Strategist e-Portfolio 
I wouldn’t say I’m super comfortable with SEO but I try and keep a few easy tips handy when thinking of SEO. The behind the website technical part is difficult but there are definitely easy things that each content creator can do to make content more searchable. When I think of SEO as a whole, it is overwhelming. When I think of creating titles or naming photos correctly, it isn’t as daunting.
The most confusing part of SEO is coming up with all the possible keywords your consumers might use to search for you. Google Analytics does make it easier by providing a list of search words but maybe there are consumers out there using other words and not finding your company.
Stacy, I think keywords are…”key”! It’s important to find out which ones are going to be the most powerful. After that, you just have to remember to use them. I think that’s the tough part for me. It seems so simple but when I get wrapped up in writing the content, it’s easy to forget to strategically place the keywords in all the right places.
Hi Erin.
SEO is one of my internet marketing strengths. I enjoy keyword research and utilizing the hashtag effectively on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. I continue to read that hashtag use is not effective on Facebook so other optimization tactics include using an effective meta tag and meta description, creating a vanity URL, and using keywords and strategic locations in the Fan Page description are critical. You should also back link to your other social media channels for increased brand awareness and exposure potentially leading to more audience engagement.
Jason, you definitely use the hashtags! I’ve seen them. I didn’t really know about their ineffectiveness on Facebook. I appreciate your tips. Thank you!
Reblogged this on Sutoprise Avenue, A SutoCom Source.
Hey Erin,
I feel incorporating SEO’s efficiently to a website should be gradually done. I feel you need to find the keywords and content that works best and then act on it. I worry that my site would be searched for something I don’t necessarily want it directly linked to. I don’t mean that in a bad way, just would rather it show up on a search engine for what the site is actually about. It can be overwhelming tackling SEO’s, especially because we know the importance they bring nowadays, but its part of the game we play with our brands on the internet. At least we are on track to know how to efficiently use SEO’s, if anything it should benefit us greatly.
Great blog post, Thanks!
Gavin, I agree that SEO should be incorporated gradually. The most ideal situation is to build a blog or a website with SEO in mind from the very beginning. If it is an afterthought it will take much longer to put everything in place. Thank you for your feedback!
I love SEO! I feel fairly comfortable optimizing my sites for search engines, although once I figure it out, it seems like the rules are changing and there’s something else to consider. If you get overwhelmed, just take one aspect at at time. It’s definitely not something you can blow through in a day.
I was using a wordpress plugin optimizing my sites – but that was based on keywords and content, and not on social or authorship. I try to read Mashable and other industry blogs to keep updated on trends and stay informed. Since it’s constantly evolving, you really have to constantly read articles and blogs to stay up to date. One of the best ways to learn is by reading what works for professionals and what doesn’t.
I love SEO! I feel fairly comfortable optimizing my sites for search engines, although once I figure it out, it seems like the rules are changing and there’s something else to consider. If you get overwhelmed, just take one aspect at at time. It’s definitely not something you can blow through in a day.
I was using a wordpress plugin optimizing my sites – but that was based on keywords and content, and not on social or authorship. I try to read Mashable and other industry blogs to keep updated on trends and stay informed. Since it’s constantly evolving, you really have to constantly read articles and blogs to stay up to date. One of the best ways to learn is by reading what works for professionals and what doesn’t.
Lisa, it really does seem to change often. I guess it’s not a bad thing. It just means more work for people in the industry, but as you mentioned, reading to keep up is the best way to stay on top of things.
Erin, I think many people think SEO is easier than it really is, but there are others who find it more difficult than it really is. I tend to think about things way too much, so if I start to think too hard about how to use SEO to my advantage I will obsess over it and focus more on that than my content, which would not be good. I am always one to say that the content should speak for itself, but if you can find easy ways to get it noticed more frequently then do it. But, you have to find that middle ground before you let it overwhelm you.
I think the second half of Ian Cleary’s article about 7 ways to increase traffic to your website went straight over my head. I was going to mention in my blog how confusing it was, but I didn’t see the point. As soon as he mentioned HTML and server errors I zoned out and quickly moved to the next article.
Steven, I’m the same way! I get way too wrapped up in the details! I often have to take a step back and focus on what needs my attention most in the moment. Thank you for your feedback!