There is loads of content on the web that talks about different SEO techniques, but I wanted to break it down into 6 techniques that truly work. I guess they aren’t so much different SEO techniques as they are steps you don’t want to forget when optimizing a page for search engines.
1. Page Title – You want to include one keyword in your page title. Don’t include a bunch of keywords in your title. If you want to target 5 different keywords, you should create a separate page for each keyword.
2. URL – Use your keyword in the URL. This is often overlooked. A lot of websites use www.mydomain.com/services. Rather than using a generic word like “services”, change this to something that describes your services and that your customers are searching for. Ex. www.mydomain.com/direct-marketing-services. This keyword should match the Page Title.
3. Header or H1 Tag – The header is at the top of your first paragraph and is also known as the H1 tag referencing the HTML code used to make it a header. This should include your keyword as well. The header should match the Page Title and the URL. Search engines like it when these three areas match. It tells them what the page is about.
4. Body Text – You should also include your keyword in the body text. Ideally, you can include the word a few times on the page. Now that you have your keyword in these four different areas, this page will have a much better chance of ranking for the keyword. Moving up in the organic results takes time, so it is important to optimize your page and leave it alone. Don’t change the URL, Page Title or Header.
5. Don’t forget about your content. You don’t want it to sound “optimized”. You’re still creating content for your visitors, so it should be interesting or useful to them. It’s important to find a balance between optimizing your pages, but also appealing to your target customer.
6. Internal Links – Now that you have your page up and optimized you want to create some blog articles that reference this keyword. Link from the keyword in the blog post back to the main website page. This will help search engines find this page and they will also make note that it is about that keyword.
What do you think about these 6 steps? Do you implement these steps each time you create a page that you want to rank for?