SEO Tips

Here are some ways to get your website Ranked Higher in the Search Engines!

You’ve recently conducted an online search for your own website and, much to your dismay, discovered very low rankings. How will your customers find you if your competition is placing ahead of you? Research shows that the typical online shopper or consumer will only view the top-ranking companies in the search engines. Plus, over 90% of all online traffic is generated by the major search engines, like Google®, Yahoo®, or Bing®. So, the evidence is clear: you must get your website noticed—and fast.

As a resourceful businessowner, you’ve decided to take on the challenge of search engine optimization, or SEO, on your own. As any SEO expert will tell you, this requires extreme dedication and hard work. So, let’s get started!

KEYWORDS:

The first goal in SEO is determining the proper keyword(s) your customers are searching for when they conduct a search online.

  • When starting out, focus on only a few keywords and you’ll get more links per each keyword. This concept of “link equity” should lead to better rankings.
  • Focus on keywords that will convert versus informational keywords. In other words, you want to target the words or phrases that are getting customers to buy, rather than those that are simply doing research.
  • If you are already utilizing Google® Adwords, track your conversion results. Only do SEO on keywords that are known to convert prospects into buyers. SEO is labor and time-intensive, so you don’t want to waste your effort on nonconverting, or informational, keywords.
  • Don’t target the obvious keywords. Those keywords are too competitive and will take longer to get better rankings.
  • When doing your keyword research, don’t focus your efforts on keywords with high total searches per month. The majority of keywords with large searches per month aren’t necessarily buyers. Longer-tail keywords, or more specific phrases, often get less searches, but have higher conversions because the consumer tends to be looking for exactly what they are going to buy.
  • To find new keyword ideas, visit: Google® Keyword Tool

Screenshot Example: When you do a search in Google® for St. Louis SEO Company, you’ll find SEO Arbiter, St. Louis SEO Company in the top-rated position for those keywords:

ON-PAGE FACTORS:

On-page factors are one-time changes to the text and content of your site that help as a bonus to your website’s rankings. Remember: on-page factors alone will not get you ranked high in the search engines.

  • Put one, no more than two, keywords in the title.
  • Keep your title tag to no more than 7 words.
  • Be sure to place your keyword(s) within the headlines of your website.
  • Place keywords or phrases NATURALLY within the copy of your website.
  • Do not KEYWORD stuff. Meaning, don’t just cram your keywords within the text and it not make sense. Make sure it has a natural flow.
  • Rule of thumb: try to naturally place your keywords or phrases within every 100 words of your copy.
  • When establishing your domain name, be sure to include your keywords.
  • Put a keyword link back to your homepage in the body.
  • Change your “Home” link to have your keyword in the anchor text, rather than “Home”. If you can’t within the main menu, include it within the left menu or footer.

OFF-PAGE FACTORS:

Off-page factors involve continuous, daily link- building methods, including:

  • It’s all about links, links, and more links!
  • Be sure to include the keyword in the anchor text [or clickable text] of your links.
  • Stick to one link-building method and strive to do at least 50 to 100 links per month using ONLY that method.
  • Try to get links back to as many pages as you can within your website. Don’t simply focus your links on the homepage.
  • Any link is a good link--from sources such as directory submissions and press releases--that includes the keyword in the anchor text. Don’t be too focused on what type of link or its source.
  • Quality links are of more value to your website than the quantity of links.
  • Simply place a link on the homepage for your target website on any of your other sites.
  • Don’t reciprocal link!

Again, make sure you have quality content on your website as well. This might require a website re-design or outsourcing the copywriting for your text, but make sure it is done. You need to show that your site deserves to be ranked in the top ten. Thing about it…out of the thousands of websites online that could be ranked, should a poorly designed, poorly written, or one-page site with no content be ranked in the top ten?

Be sure to create a great website with quality content to show that you belong among the best!