If you’re in the world of online blogging, ecommerce, or own a website for any other reason, you have likely heard of SEO and people telling you just how important it is. So we know it’s important, but just what is SEO and how can we optimize our websites for our viewers and search engines?
So, just what is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is tech speak for making your webpage show up on top of Google. It is important to get a good SERP tracking tool to track your keyword rankings. The key components of SEO are:
- Keywords
- Images
- Links
Keywords
Keywords are the words or phrases viewers are going to use in search engines, such as Google or Bing, to find your page. When considering SEO for an article, the first thing you need to think of is “What would people search to find this article?” and write down a few options. Then choose the primary keyword that people would most likely use to search for your topic.
Once you’ve got your main keyword picked out, you need to use it in your post. Simple, right? Just throw in the keyword throughout the article and we’re good.
Not quite.
First, include the keyword in your title and URL. Titles should only be around 60 characters and the title should be at the beginning. Your URL should be short, but similar to your title, definitely including your chosen keyword.
Next, you need to include the keyword throughout your actual article. Some people think, “The more I use my keyword, the better”, but this is actually wrong. This is called “keyword stuffing” and deters the humans viewing your work.
For every 500 words, you only want to use your keyword 2-3 times. For the most part, it doesn’t matter where you include your keyword, except it must be included in the introduction or first 100-150 words and needs to make sense.
Images
Images are important to include in your writing. Humans are very visual and like pictures. However, you can also make images work for you in the way of SEO as well.
Images have descriptions called “Alt tags”, which tell what the image shows. This helps the search engines understand your webpage has visuals, which humans like and bump your page closer to the top.
Links
Finally, SEO is very dependent on links. Links included can be internal (from the same website) or external (other websites). Best practice includes both!
You should ensure your external links are from sites with high authority in your topic, but be sure not to link to your competitor. Receiving links from other websites helps boost the linked website on search engines as well, so if you’re linking your competitor, you’re boosting their website at the same time! Oops!
Overall, if you focus on keywords, image optimization, and links, you will have a great start at SEO for your website. These are the three main keys to Search Engine Optimization to help you boost your website’s present on search engines.
Need more ideas for increasing your website ranking? Check out our article on How to Increase Website Ranking to learn more ways to improve your website!
