How do I implement Search Engine Optimization on my Websites?
Before You Start: Make sure the keywords you are planning to use are ideal for your business! Optimizing your webpages around bad keywords can be a huge waste of efforts. For help determining your optimal keywords, See Optimal Keyword Detection.
Step 1: Find the webpage best suited to start SEO Optimization.
- Search: ( site:website.com “target keyword” ) to find which webpage is best suited to be optimized for that “target keyword”.
- Doing this is extremely helpful when your website has a lot of pages. If your website has only a few pages, you should already know which one to optimize.
Step 2: Optimize the Page Title Tag (meta tag).
The Page Title Tag is what appears first in search engine results, and also what appears in your browser’s title bar. Search Engines do have some ranking weight on page title tags, so remember when optimizing your page title tag to do the following:
- Be Mindful of Page Title Length: (50-60 characters)
- Place Important Keywords Close to the Front of the Title Tag: (city / product / service)
- Leverage Branding: (if more notable than company name)
- Consider Readability and Emotional Impact: (Convey most positive message possible)
i.e “(City) (Brand) (Product) (Service Offering) | (Company Name) or (Toronto) (A-Brand) (Furnace) (Cleaning for $X) | (Airi.io)”
Step 3: Optimize Meta Description.
Your webpage’s meta description is a brief snippet or preview to the information / content that is on the page. You want this description to be as concise and compelling as possible. Note: meta descriptions will not directly impact your search engine ranking, but if used correctly can improve user click through’s, which in turn can improve your search engine ranking.
- Recommended Length: between 150 and 160 characters.
- Only use alphanumeric characters.
- Avoid Similar or Duplicate Descriptions Tags.
- Let the searcher know exactly what content is on this page.
Step 4: Optimize Header Tag.
Header Tags (H1) are not to be confused with Page Title Tags. They are similar, but have different purposes. Your webpage Title Tag is a keyword focused description of the content that shows up in search engine results, your webpage header tag is a keyword focused introduction to the content on the webpage itself, to improve user readability.
- Title Tag: How Surround Uses Personal Blogs in Digital Marketing – Surround
- Header Tag: When Digital Marketing meets Personal Blogging, games change!
STEP 5: Implement Image Alt Text & Title.
Image alt text (alternate text) helps explain to search engines what the image is. Use Alt text to describe all aspects of the image, using as many accurate descriptors as possible. You can also add an additional attribute “image title”, to help further describe the image to search engines. The more images on the page with alt text and titles, the better.
Step 6: Implement Internal Site Linking.
Internal linking is a hyperlink on a webpage that directs traffic to another one of your webpages. What this does is make it easier for your visitors to navigate throughout the content on your website, which will improve your “user experience” in the eyes of search engines.