When asked, “What is SEO?” I know I can answer with search engine optimization and still find a confused face in the audience. But if you say it backwards it makes more sense – strategically optimizing a website in order for it to show up in an engine, such as Google, when searched.
To understand this concept, you must first understand how search engine’s work.
Search Engine Crawlers
Imagine search engines having little robots, or crawlers, which roam the World Wide Web in order to find the best results according to the keyword you entered into the search. If you’re a business that sells cupcakes, you want your website to be one of the first results to bring more clicks, traffic and clients to your site. The tricky part is that the crawlers have a certain structure they go through to understand a website. In order for you to become ranked on a search engine results page (SERP), there are specific things you can do to optimize your page for a better chance of the crawlers to find, read and suggest it to people searching for it.
Keyword Analysis
A strategic keyword is the number one important part of developing a website. Using Google’s Keyword Planner, you are able to find which keywords are highly, moderately or lowly searched. It will also give you a competition level for using that keyword. Each page of your website should be focused on one keyword.
Title
It is important for every single page of your website to be uniquely titled. This is the first
step that crawlers check because it will be
For example: Celeste’s Cupcakes has a page of special occasion cupcakes. I will want to title that page as, “Holiday cupcakes” because it reflects exactly what the user will find on that page. I then would incorporate links that organize the cupcake ideas accordingly.how your page is represented on the internet. You should pick a title that represents the message or content on the page.
If you want to keep your brand name in the title, you can use a pipe and have your company name behind it. A pipe is made by holding down shift and back slash key.
URL
The URL does not have to completely match the title of the page but should contain the keyword used on the page. It is important for the URL to be easy to read for crawlers to read.
Meta Description
Meta description is a preview of the page contents that is displayed on the SERP. The meta description should be written in 150 characters or it will be cut off and the user will not be able to read anything after the first 160 characters. This is more important to the user than it is to the crawlers. It is mostly to persuade the user to click onto your page. OF course, the keyword of the page should be in the meta description. Learn how to improve your meta description by clicking here.
Page Content
Once you find the keyword you want to center your page around, if it important to remember not to overload your page with the keyword. This is flag crawlers and make
them think your site is spam. You should naturally sprinkle keywords in your page content.
Your page content should be centered on the user and what they are looking for. It helps if act as a searcher and ask, “What would I want to find on this page?” And link the page to somewhere else on your site if they might want to find something else.
Image Alt Text
Images are essential for adding visual elements to a web page. Since crawlers can only read text and not see images, it is important to describe each image by adding ALT text. It does not have to be long but should shortly define the picture.
A SEO Website is a Happy Website
Surprise your neighbor by having your business website ranked high when they search for it. Most people do not look past the first two pages when they search for an item. When you use the SEO tactics, you being your website to the front of the world view and your opportunities are boundless.