SEO Guide

A website should not be a brochure for you. Years ago, a website was mainly for show; to give your current clients a chance to see your pretty website, and something neat to throw on your business card. Today, it is a viable marketing arm to bring you more business and clients. Large companies have entire Internet departments that just manage the company website. If your website is not making you money, if it is not bringing you in new or repeat business, than it is a failure.

Important SEO Guidelines

Here are some basic guidelines to help start out with SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. I will continuously update these pages with more content as I compile everything.

Keyword Research

Each page should only focus on one primary keyword and two secondary keyword maximum. Do not fall into the trap of having 13 keywords indexed and looking to rank on a page. You will run into two problems if you do this: It is much more reporting to track (and redundant) and you will have an easier time ranking and focusing on the single keyword for each page. Keyword research is key. You need to find the perfect keywords to focus on, and make sure you have the appropriate pages for these keywords. There are many keyword research tools available for free and for pay, and each one is as good as the other in its own right. Research a few, try a few more, and pick the one that is the best fit for you.

Keyword Rich Content

Write a paragraph of 250 – 500 words of text for each web page. Add the keywords you have found within this text and be careful not have them so close together that your copy reads strange for your visitors. Aim to please the search engines as well as your web site visitors.

Meta Tag Optimization

Make sure the Meta Tags have the proper keywords per page. Focus on the keywords of that page only. Derivatives of the keyword are fine, but do not put too many in.

Optimize Images Using the Alt Tag

Make sure you write a short description for the alt tag of any and all images on your website. The alt tag has 2 purposes; visitors can read the description if they can’t see the image and Search Engines only red text. This will help Search Engines better rank your pages.

Use Text Based Navigation

Remember, Search Engines cannot read anything but text. Do not use image based navigation at all because the Search Engines will not read it. The main portions of your site are key for good rankings, and if you are not using text based navigation you aren’t getting that benefit.

Link Building

Use our Link Building Guide to build links to your site, as well as all the pages to your site. The Blue Widgets keyword should point to your Blue Widgets webpage.