Improving search engine rankings is the goal of search engine optimization. Researching keywords that matches search terms of your customers and great, relevant content that get links is the what will yield results.
10 Tips to Improve Search Engine Rankings
1. Well Designed Site. Every site on the internet is well designed right? While many sites are aesthetically pleasing they may be missing the mark as it relates to search engine optimization and being user friendly. A well designed site is one that looks nice, has credible and well laid out content, is easily navigated and solves the problem for the reader.
2. Relevant Fresh Content. We know that Content is King and it has never been proven move than on the internet. A well designed site is only part of the battle as the content contained on the site is what makes the search engines see the site as worthy to be on the first page in conjunction with popularity amongst the readers.
3. Keyword Research. Content needs to be written with a good flow that incorporates keywords naturally. Keywords need to be relevant to the industry, geographic location but attainable. Trying to optimize for Pizza is extremely difficult, however “type of pizza in your city” is much easier and much more attainable.
4. Images. A website without images is boring! Alt Tag the images so that the search engines can read the text.
5. Unique Page Titles. Pages are crawled – not the entire website. Give each page a title that reflects the keywords targeted by utilizing Header 1 and then Header 2 and if needed Header 3 titles.
6. Unique Meta Descriptions. Once the page title is established, it is still a good practice to have the meta description. This tells the search engines and readers what the content is about and why they should read it.
7. Links. Links play a very important role in improving search engine rankings. Internal (linking to pages within the site) and External (sites that link to you). External links are more difficult however local directories as well as social media outlets and putting yourself out there by communicating with the community with information that is worthwhile will increase external links.
8. Join Forums/Comment on Blogs. Commenting on blogs with qualified content and not just “great post” and asking questions will help to establish you.
9. Create a Blog and Post Often. Search engines seek and like new, fresh and relevant content. A blog is providing information to readers to educate and solve a problem.
10. Explore Social Media Communities. Twitter, Friend Feed, Facebook, Linked In, etc. There are numerous social media outlets to become a part of and get noticed. Develop profiles for each that pertains to your industry and provide relevant content and not a sales pitch!
Improving search engine ranking is an ongoing process that involves work and patience. Search engines can only crawl the information and determine what is new and relevant to search terms – you have to do the walk.