SEO is a terrifying mystery to many people, and there is a lot of money being made from people who simply cannot be bothered, or are confused into paying other people to do it. Here is a fast tour of what sort of information you require, and how to find it fast.
Please use this in conjunction with the previous posts for best effects. This is more important than posting on Twitter or Facebook and you should spend some time doing this unless you are, like me, not in a hurry for growth.
If entering the marketplace or engaging in SEO for first time – best to use keyword modifiers to narrow your optimised searches to begin with and strip it down from there, rather than try to compete in a crowded and established marketplace – start diverse and become generic. Choose an area in which you can compete and widen from there as you grow.
Web developer toolbar – you will need to download and install this to look at your website, and competitor website html for the purposes of generating keywords. Look at terms used by top ranking sites – are they relevant to you? Available as plug ins for firefox or chrome. Note – you do not require any knowledge of html or scripting to evaluate meta data in the html file.
Inbound links from other sites – .gov .edu .mil sites are better for backlinks due to percieved influence of google search. Worth checking authority on other sites in terms of finding ways of getting better quality links than they have for your own site.
On page seo/inbound links – always use anchor text for hyperlinks rather than plaintext weblinks. Embedded links are always better, rather than risking losing the hyperlink by allowing people to copy paste.
Off page seo – meta data – meta keywords/descriptions/tags – title tag can be viewed in your own or competitors html under view source from the developer toolbar/tools. Browser page title – meta description – snippet in page results – can see in google – need a different yet related one for each page – idea is to come up first in search for categories not title or consistent words – most read this part of website due to appearance in search.
Dynamic and generic meta data – not the job of a webdesigner – may instruct google to use page text in html – SEO costs extra. need to specify keyword rich descriptors for each page and avoid generic descriptions to avoid being overlooked eg. page may come up top of search but have vague or irrelevant descriptions meaning people do not click. Keywords often left blank as Google may ignore this due to blackhat gaming (see below).
Basic keyword discovery demo – steps to finding keywords to rank for Show search tools when searching on Google. Check related searches to find keyword terms, particularly for local businesses. Do not be afraid to use words such as cheap in seo that you wouldnt use in advertising. Use keyword planner in Google (see above) in addition to examining source in webpages using your developers toolbar. Use Google insights for search to isolate use of terms, geographical relevance if necessary.
Keyword modifiers – if search range is too wide – use modifiers – eg dog training singapore may have too many established sites so try best, best local, best local obedience etc. Start narrow and then drop modifiers as site gains traction. Do not pick keywords that get searched a lot to begin with as unable to compete. aka Long tail SEO – choose rarer keywords that others may not be optimized for.
Keyword density – density pretty much useless unless you are in a sector where nobody knows anything about SEO. Not about saying same words – same thing in a different way – high relevance rather than repetition
Analyze competitors via inbound links – use opensite explorer (see link below), google tools to see what successful online businesses are doing in addition to looking at html with developers toolbar. eg. If a sales site is using aggregator sites – may have thousands of backlinks from very few sites. Could also be sockpuppeting own reviews on aggregator sites.
SEO for mobiles – more difficult to compete internationally, since search results will always be localised. Boosting local profile good for mobiles. eg. Offering a local class may make you more relevant if your business is international for mobile searches. Foursquare important. Yelp also may be of relevance. Mobile is the future – make yourself relevant on mobile. Not just apps – browser access.
Writing for search – direct clear and under 40 characters for titles. Lots of related words in text.
SEO generally – benefits from press releases, articles and alternative information (see previous articles)
White hat seo/black hat seo ethical versus cheating SEO eg. using aggregator sites and posting own reviews.
Sources – the excellent free SEO courses on Udemy from Tolga and Eric
For more see their websites:
Their courses:
Complete Search Engine Optimization SEO Course
Search Engine Optimization for Business
You will also need the following tools:
Beginner’s guide to SEO from Moz
This page is likely to be updated as time goes on, feel free to check back. If it seems rough, please invest the time in taking a course or two and reread this quick memory aid to steps in SEO.
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