Free SEO Guide

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is critical if you want to make it easier for the search engines to crawl and index the content on your website and to rank as highly as possible.

Hopefully this guide will give your site fresh impetus if you put the tips into practice.

They may seem like very minor points but when employed together they can have a substantial impact on your sites ranking in organic search results.

SEO Tips

Domain Name

If your site is already established then there is not a lot you can do about the domain name but if you are developing a new site then you can obtain the best name possible.

If you can purchase a domain name that is keyword rich then you are well on your way. If you can also match the domain name so that it describes your site or the product you are selling even better. For example wickerpicnicbaskets.com/net/org  or  .co.uk/org.uk perfectly describes what you are selling and includes all the main keywords.

Whether you purchase the com/net/org/co.uk/org.uk variation will depend on the market you are aiming at. If you are aiming at the US or global market then go for com/net/org but if you are solely marketing to the UK marketplace then purchase the co.uk if available followed by org.uk.

Title Tag

Arguably, one of the most important elements of on-page SEO is the title tag as what you put between the <title></title> tags is considered by the search engines as THE most important information about the page it is viewing. 

The temptation is to stuff as many keywords in as possible but this can dilute the effect. Try and keep it short and to the point. 

Meta Description

The Meta Description tag determines what is displayed as the snippet of text below the clickable title link in the results pages.

For example in the case of the result snippet for the page you are reading the meta description is: ‘By following the simple and basic guidelines outlined in this free SEO guide you will dramatically improve the ranking of your website. …’

You can actually control what is displayed and it should be keyword rich with your domain name keyword used at least once and be descriptive and to the point. If you are aiming for organic search traffic then you want your snippet content to draw your potential customer in.

Meta Keywords

Many SEO specialists view meta keywords as irrelevant nowadays but I still think that search engines still place some value on them. You are basically explaining in a few short words what the content of your website consists of.

Use a maximum of 10 keywords separated with just a comma (no space after the comma).

Heading Tags 

The search engines like to see everything in a nice orderly structure and it is imperative that you use the heading tags in the correct manner. The search engines look to the headings of your page content to quickly determine what the content consists of. If you don’t make the most of this fact then you will seriously harm your on-page SEO.

H1 Tag

It is imperative that you only use the H1 tag once on any given page.

You also need to structure your H1 tag as close to your domain name and title as you can. By putting your targeted keyword/s in the domain name, title and H1 tag you are placing extra emphasis on the fact that your content is important.

H2 Tag

You should use the H2 tags for sub-headings. Use a variation of the main keyword but keep it targeted.

H3 to H6 Tags

From H3 to H6 it is simply a case of using the tag that you think best represents the importance of the content you are wrapping the tags around.

Image Alt Tags

Search engines can only read text. Images with alt tags allow search engines to match the description to the site’s content possibly aiding in search engine rankings.

Aids for the partially sited include readers that can tell them the image’s text description and allow them to understand accompanying information about your images.

Content

The search engines love quality unique content.

Never use someone elses content. Use it for research but always ensure that you use your own words.

Don’t overuse your keywords. A good rule of thumb is around 5%. So, for every 100 words you can mention your keywords 5 times.

Put these basic guidelines into practice and see your website’s ranking improve dramatically.

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