11 SEO Strategies for Beginners

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the method receiving your website ready to be getting in organic web searches. By organic searches, I'm referring to web searches that show naturally as the result of a search for a exacting keyword or phrase, rather than appearing in the sponsored links (PPC advertising) section of a search page.

Openly, for the first few years I was online, the thought of doing my own SEO prepared my eyes cross, and I was overwhelmed at where to start. I even toyed with the idea of hiring a specialist to do this for me, but never got around to it. But, over time, I slowly began to see a pattern emerging, and started to optimize some of my sites accordingly. One of the finest days of my business was when I recently ranked 1 for a particularly competitive search term.


1. Title Tags: - This is the page information that you see in the blue bar of your browser in the better left-hand corner when you stay a website. For top SEO, use your best 3 keywords in your title tag. The greatest way to do that is separated with a bar, as illustrated in this example: Website Marketing | Web Marketing.

2. Domain name: - If at all achievable, use one primary keyword in your domain name. You will have a small edge over your competition by doing so. If you previously have a domain that you have used for some time, comprise a keyword in the name of files for your website pages. Example: http://www.technologus.com/blog-marketing.htm if your keyword is Blog marketing.

3. Meta Tags: - These are descriptions on a web page that are not seen by most visitors except when looking at the page source code in their browser. While the keyword and description Meta tags used to be the primary way that search engines indexed sites, that is no longer the case. However, you shouldn't ignore them entirely, as it is still worthwhile to include them as a part of your page description. For optimal SEO, your Meta Description and keyword tags should be no more than 250 characters each.

4. Header Tags: - Header tags are the HTML code that show a headline, like H1, H2, H3 and H4 and indicate up as bolded headlines in your page content. The first 4 header tags are the only ones you require to be concerned about, and the primary header tag, H1, is the largest part important. Use your primary keyword once in the H1 tag, 2-3 times in your H2 tags, and multiple times in your H3 tags.

5. Alt Tags: - The alt tag normally describes an image in a floating text window when you set your mouse over the image if the image is not able to be displayed. The top use of any ALT tag is to use your keywords in your image descriptions.

6. Content Formatting: - Search engines pay notice to formatted content, as in when text is bolded, underlined and italicized. Make sure that you are bolding your keywords in the content of your website.

7. Keyword Density: - Optimally, keyword density should be between 2% - 7%. There are a number of keyword density checkers available online to assist you with determining the keyword density of a page.

8. Anchor Text: - Anchor text refers to links on a page that connect your visitor to other pages. So, rather than telling someone to "click here" in the content of your page, include a keyword in your anchor text, as in "click here for SEO training tips."

9. Inbound Links: - Reciprocal link exchange used to be a great way to attract the attention of search engines to your site. Now, search engines pay attention only to the excellence and popularity of the site providing you with an inbound link that is not a reciprocal link. One of the best ways to get class inbound links back to your site is to submit articles to high traffic article directories and submit press releases to paid press release services.

10. New Content:- Content is still king, so one way to develop your page rank for a search term is to write high class articles containing one or two of your keywords in the title and posting those regularly to your site. Search engines are forever looking for good, fresh, content, so your goal should be to make your site into an information-rich resource for your industry.

11. Site Maps: - Site maps that help a visitor navigate a site, and site maps that are specifically designed for the search engines. The two are not the same. To enhance your site, submit an XML site map to Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer. I use XML Site maps to build search engine-friendly sitemaps on my sites.