Chances are you have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you haven’t, it is optimizing your website content so that you appear in search engines for keywords that relate to your website. There are many aspects in making your website more visible and search friendly. We will look at a five things that will help your website rankings.
Narrow Keywords Will Win Website Rankings
Targeting keywords is a difficult task and takes time and effort to choose quality words for your website. Don’t simply assume you know your keywords. People use words differently so doing quality research will help your rankings out. Focus on long tail keywords for your product or service will more like get you great results. If you target bicycles, you are more like to lose on that term than narrow keyword terms like types of bicycles, models, colors, and brands. Think about the niches and brands of your products and locations.
Everyone Loves Fresh Content
Second, write fresh content for your keywords. Search engines love fresh content that is consistent to your products or services. The reason is that Google and the other search engines are always looking to find the best results. The better the content you have the more like they will index your site. Likewise, people like good fresh content that is relevant. If I were reporting the news you wouldn’t want something that was over a year old. You would want the most current and accurate information. That is why fresh content is like the best thing you can use to optimize a site. Great content also allows people to link to you. Their reputation is on the line and so they want to know that your content is good.
Good Writing Principles Lead to Better Optimization
Third, write like you are writing a paper. Search engines index content in the fashion of academic writing. In academic writing you have titles, headers, sub headers, and references. Citing plays a large part in academic writing. If I am writing what kind of evidence do I have? If I quote Einstein to support my theory then the more respected my position will be. Citing (linking) to related topics and subjects within your site, to your site, and out of your site will create credibility not only to your readers but to search engines. Now you don’t have to be an academic but thinking in this framework will help provide you with a foundation to optimize your content.
Link Optimization That Search Engines Can Use
Fourth, Now that you have cited your sources create and optimize your links (anchor text). When you create a link how does it look? Do you put [click here] when linking to another place? Think again about writing a paper. Would you say click here or mention the author or the subject or the book? Clearly you would mention the specifics so that people could find what you were talking about. Optimizing your links is easy because you are attempting to give search engines your resources. For instance, if I want to link to my portfolio I should put something like Derek Hanson, Digital Strategist. This link is optimized for search engines and the blind who may not know what click here is linking to.
Reader Centric Optimization
Fifth, optimizing for readability. This aspect is important because you may be tempted to fill your website with keywords in order to optimize your website. Have you ever read content that is repitious? It is boring and irritating. That is why you should create your website with the reader in mind. Sometimes the reader is blind which is both search engines and the visually impaired. If you write ADA optimized content, search engines will reward you as a quality publisher.
Conclusion to Optimizing Your Content
There are five things to keep in mind when optimizing your website. Make sure you know what keywords you are aiming at. Sometimes generic keywords are so broad that you may never be able to win those keywords for search rankings. Once you know your keywords, write content that is fresh and relevant. People like fresh content and so do search engines. Write like an academic might write. Using good linking with anchor text will not only help in optimizing for search results but also help with those who are visually impaired. Finally, write with your audience in mind.