SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the key to getting your website or online business found online. However, there are so many SEO tasks and methods to employ it can be difficult to know where to start. We suggest that you start by optimizing your own website and then branching out to other off-page SEO tasks. There are many organic SEO tasks you can do to help your website achieve optimal rankings; we will cover the following five in this article: keywords, content, url structure, meta tags, and internal linking.
Keywords
New customers or clients find websites by typing words into a search engine that relate to what they hope to find. So, if someone is looking for a local hardware store, they might type “St. Catharines hardware store” into Google or Yahoo search. The list of websites that are returned are the ones that are best optimized for that search phrase. So, keep the words you wish your website to rank for in mind when creating any of the following tasks.
Content
The statement ‘content is king’ is very true. Effective content has to be grammatically correct, has to be valuable to your readers, has to be unique and most important – it has to be updated on a regular basis. Make sure you write it with your potential readers in mind. Good content offers useful information and answers questions the reader has about your products and/or services. Resist the temptation to stuff your articles with too many keywords in an attempt to get higher search engine rankings; search engines have gotten much smarter and will actually penalize your site for using tactics such as keyword stuffing. Useful content, formatted for easy reading, will keep readers on your page longer and this is your goal.
URLS
Each webpage on your website should have a well formatted URL. The URL should include words that are related to what the page is about. The best URLs take advantage of keywords in the content of the page as well. Try to avoid URLS that are a string of random words numbers and letters that do not represent the page at all, and instead use URLS that are easy to read and identify. For instance:
https://thegdcgroup.com/wp/5_Organic_SEO_Tips
instead of
https://thegdcgroup.com/wp/articlepost1298.
Meta Tags
There was once a time when Meta Tags were the most important item in your organic SEO arsenal. That emphasis has changed; however, using them is still very helpful.
Make sure to fill out your Description Meta tags with information that describes what your page is about. This information is displayed in Search Engine results and can help a reader decide whether to visit your page or skip it to visit another website.
Filling in the Keyword Meta Tag is optional. Search Engines are now smart enough to determine what your page’s keywords are by analysing the content on the page. So, if you crafted good, solid content based on your keywords, then this should be evident.
Internal Linking
How your pages are linked together will also help your rankings. Ensure that your website is easy to navigate, that there are no “dead end pages” that only have one way of getting to them, and create some internal links where useful and applicable. For instance, if in your article you mention something that you have written more in depth about somewhere else on your site, link the mention to the other page to allow your readers to get more information on that topic if they wish. Do not go overboard on internal links keep it to only a few, quality internal links per page.
There are many SEO tasks that you can do to help your overall SEO rankings. These are but a few, but if you keep these in mind while working on your website they will help you achieve the SEO results you are seeking.