I know there are tons of SEO articles out their but I’m going to throw my hat in the SEO ring anyways. Below are 5 SEO Tips for beginners that should help you out.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is defined by Wikipedia as “the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.”
Search Engine Optimization is not something that happens over night. Once you optimize your site you can’t just “set it and forget it”, you have to work on it on a regular basis.
1. Figure out what search terms you want to rank for
You need to figure out the keywords that you want to rank high for in search engines. You probably will not rank high for every search term but if you put some thought into it you will rank high for the terms that are most relavent. Think like your clients or customers. If you were them what would you type into Google’s search box to find your business?
2. Create Content that is relevant to the keywords you want to rank for
Over and over you will here from web design professionals that content is king when it comes to SEO. Not only should you be writing killer content, you should also tailor that content to the keywords you want to rank highly for in search engines.
3. Use Your Keyword in the Title
Once you know what search term you want to rank highly for in search engine results pages (aka SERPs), you should craft your title to include that term. Take this article for example, I would like it to rank high for SEO Tips for beginners. You can see that I have my search term in the title as well as in the url, a heading, the actual content and in my meta description. That’s about as good as it gets.
4. Make sure your code validates
You should always aim to have your HTML and CSS code validate. That being said if you are using a CMS like WordPress this might be unavoidable due to plugins that your site is using.
If you’ve never looked before you should type in your website address and see if it validates. Here’s the link.
5. Don’t try to trick search engines
Search engines are smart. Don’t try to trick them with keyword stuffing, hiding links in the background, or any of those other SEO bad practices. You are just going to do more harm then good to your site.
That’s It!
That’s my 5 SEO Tips for beginners. Let me know what you think. I’ll be doing more SEO articles in the future.