How To Improve Your SEO

We all know that getting a website optimised and to the top of search engine rankings is often a rather lengthy process that never truly ends. But are there some simple things you can do right now to help it get there? Absolutely.

Take a look at this list of tasks you can accomplish today and get your website or blog noticed by the major search engines as soon as possible.

1. Link Link Link

One of the most effective things you can do to Improve Your SEO is to create links – both inbound and outbound. There are several ways to accomplish this. You can exchange links with another site, post comments on blogs, add a list of favourite blogs on your blog’s site and write articles for other sites.

Do bear in mind that not every link is created equally. A link to or from a poor ranking site carries far less weight than one associated with an authoritative, popular site.

2. Add Keywords To Headlines And Titles

Any time you create a piece of content for your website or a new blog post, carefully consider how you word the headline. Make sure keywords are located at the beginning of the title. The same holds true for any other type of content – audio, video, photos.

Every tag on your site should contain at least one of your major keywords or key phrases. This not only helps direct search engine bots to the content, it is included in the URL for that content (provided you set it up that way). Think of a blog post; if the title is part of the permalink, then a good keyword-rich title creates a direct address with those keywords included. This way you get double the exposure for those keywords, which helps to Improve Your SEO.

Not ready to add new content? Go back to what’s already on your site and tweak the titles, subtitles, tags, and links.

3. Add Unique Meta Tags To Each Page

If each page on your website uses the same meta tags, then you are doing your SEO efforts an injustice. Change each one to accurately reflect exactly what is on that page. This allows you to include keywords that are relevant to various searches, not just one that revolves around the main subject of your home page. Don’t forget the image tags! Those are an often overlooked SEO tool. Name your image file your desired keyword.

4. Showcase Popular Content

This is particularly easy to do on a blog. Simply list the top five or 10 most popular posts. Your blogging platform software should have an easy way to designate the variables used, such as number of comments, number of page views, etc. This does two things for you – it creates a link from the home page to an archived page, and the most popular content on your site is referenced in more than one place. This could attract the attention of a visitor who came to read something specific, but got interested enough to view other pieces.

5. Aggregate

Put similar content together on one page. For instance, if you have posted several times about one subject, say ‘football’, then putting all those posts in one place increases the value of your keywords exponentially. Not only that, it makes things easier for a visitor to navigate the site – always a good SEO technique.

6. Give Google A Sitemap

Did you know that you can create an XML file that changes as your content does and submit it to Google? This sitemap, much like an RSS feed, helps the search engine index your site correctly. It allows Google’s spiders to more properly index your content, and do it more often, since it is alerted when new content is posted.

7. Offline And Social Marketing

Sometimes the best way to get potential customers to your online site is to network with them. Social networking is power but so is offline marketing. Face to face contact cannot be overrated. Remember to keep a handful of business cards with you every time you leave your house and hand them out as often as possible. When you meet someone, give them your card and tell them that for more information, they are invited to visit your website. People are more likely to act when they are directly urged to do so.

All of these tasks are things you can accomplish today to Improve Your SEO and web presence.

See you at the top of Google!

Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
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