10 Simple Steps to Optimize Your Web Pages for Search
1. Keyword Research
While it might be a dream come true, it’s not
realistic to think that your site is going to rank for every keyword you could
ever want. Many are simply too competitive, and a new website must do proper
keyword research in order to find the right keywords. The ones you select
should bring in traffic but also have an appropriate amount of competition.
Ever since Google released the new Hummingbird update,
SEOs have started the shift from individual keyword phrases to topics.
Hummingbird focuses more on the intent of the phrase with a better
understanding of what the context means. This allows search engines like Google
to answer questions with web pages even if that page is not optimized for that
phrase.
That said, doing keyword research
with the Google Adwords tool can
still give you some good ideas for keywords. You want keywords that have low to
medium competition in an area.
2. Great content (the longer, the
better)
Great content is now a requirement to rank well.
Search engines rank pages with bad grammar and spelling lower. This means that
sites with well-written content are finally starting to get the ranking they
deserve.
“How long should my content be?” is a question many
people ask. While there really isn’t an exact answer, most people agree that
500 words is a good minimum length for your normal blog post.
It’s also a good idea to mix in longer authority
posts. Research has shown that longer posts (over 1,000 words) tend to rank
better—keep in mind, Google really likes authoritative posts with 2,000+ words.
Starting in August 2013, Google introduced in-depth
articles as a new type of search result. Google separates these articles by
placing them in a special box on the right side of the search results with
other highly authoritative articles on the subject.
To improve your chances of getting an in-depth
article status in the future, it must have the highest quality content, be over
2000 words, and not be promotional in any way.
One final tip: Length isn’t the only
thing that matters. Make your posts fun to read. Avoid boring, stuffy content
that looks like a legal document. Instead, opt for more conversational, amusing
content when writing reviews, essays and guides.
3. Natural keyword usage
The primary rule for mixing your keywords into your
content is to make sure they sound natural to the reader. When you write for
your reader (not to game search engines) and use natural keyword placement, you
can actually rank better with search engines.
4. Page titles
Your page titles should have the keyword phrase
you’re targeting but also be descriptive for the reader. For example, if your
article is about “Labrador training,” then a good title might be “Labrador
Training in Six Easy Steps.”
The page title should not exceed 70 characters.
Although search engines will index longer titles, they will be truncated in the
search results.
5. Header tags
It’s generally a good idea to include the keyword
phrase in an occasional header tag, but
don’t overdo it. If you’re going to include a
keyword phrase in a header tag, it is best to use the first heading on the page
(H1) because Google will pay more attention to it.
6. Optimized URLs
You can put keywords in your URLs, but don’t overdo
it. (e.g., www.labrador-training-strategies.com/labrador-training.html)
This looks suspect, with an exact
match domain and a keyword-optimized url. However, a branded root domain with
an optimized url is fair game, like such:http://mysite.com/details
7. Page load time
According to WebProNews,
when Google added page speed into their algorithm, sites that had slow load
times saw a drop in traffic from Google. Page load speed is a ranking factor
for Google.
In order to fix page load speed problems:
·
Measure how long a page takes to
load.
·
If you are using a shared hosting
server, you can try switching to a different hosting provider to see if it makes
a positive difference.
·
After making changes, measure
performance again.
If you use WordPress, make sure you
keep plugins to a minimum, as they will only bog down your site if there are
too many. Also, stick with a lean code (such as Thesis and Genesis) or a
website builder (here is a good list for those) that allows you to customize and tweak the code.
This doesn’t necessarily help page speed, but it keeps your blog from looking
cookie-cutter and generic.
It’s a good idea to periodically check your page
load on a few random pages to make sure changes to your site have not affected
performance.
8. Internal linking
Make sure you link your content with other internal
pages that would be beneficial to your readers. This will help improve your
site’s SEO and will make it easier for your readers to navigate and find more
of your useful content.
9. Google authorship
Google authorship is easy to set up in your content and your Google+ profile. It allows you to establish yourself as an
authority in your niche and as a result, Google will rank pages higher for your
site.
10. Responsive (mobile) design
I recently read that roughly most user now buying smart phones and
browsing the Internet with them. This is why it is critical that you use a
responsive (i.e. mobile) design for your website so that pages easily show up
on the small screen.
Google also recommends a responsive design because
it makes it easier for visitors to have a single URL. Your web pages will load
faster because your website doesn’t need to be redirected to another page for a
mobile device.
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