1. Page Title
Your page title is one of the first things the search engine spiders view (the page title for this page is 8 Key Elements To Get To The Top Of Google). This title tells the search engines what your page is about. You should NOT simply repeat the keywords over and over in this title. You should limit this title to 8-10 words and it should make sense to the visitor. Don’t simply write anything for the spiders. If you do it will lead to a bad user experience and your visitor won’t return.
2. URL
3. Meta Data - Keywords & Description
The meta keywords and meta description are not given as much importance by the search engines as they used to, but you should still take the time to include your keywords of focus for each individual page. Make sure the description makes sense and contains at least one use of the keyword phrase you are focusing on. Also include your keyword phrase in the meta keywords but don’t stuff it in over and over. Your meta keywords should be limited to no more than 847 characters, while your description should be limited to no more than 150 characters. Limit your meta keywords to 8-10 keywords.
4. Headings and Sub Headings
Headings and sub headings are very similar to chapters of a book. They describe what it is you’ll be reading in the coming pages. With your website you should use H1 tags with your keyword of focus on the page. If you have multiple, related keywords of focus for that page, you can use additional H2, H3, and H4 tags as sub headings. Remember, your visitors will be reading these headings so they need to make sense while still including your keywords.
5. Text Based Navigation
Search engines cannot read images, and even though they are working hard at it, Flash is mainly ignored as well. It is best to use text based navigation which includes the keywords you are focusing on for the page that link is leading to. This will let the search engines know what the page it is linking to is about, and will act as a “vote of confidence” for that keyword. It will also create an excellent user experience since the visitor will know exactly what they are going to see once they click the link.
For example, avoid calling a link “Articles”. Why? Because what kind of articles are they going to be? How about Web Marketing Articles? Do you have any question as to what the page is going to be about? You know it's going to be about web marketing articles, and better yet, so will the search engines!
6. Alt Text for Images
Search engines cannot read images, but they can read the alternative text in your images. If you add this, the spiders know what your image is. If you include the keywords you are focusing on as alternative text for your images, you’ll be letting the spiders know what relevance the image has and it will be yet one more instance of proper keyword usage. Many companies skip this, so if you pay attention, you’ll be further ahead.
7. Body Copy
When writing the copy for your page it's important to include your keywords in the copy. Each page of your website should contain between 250 and 600 words. You should include your keyword phrase at least 4-5 times. If adding it that many times lessens the quality and value of your copy to your visitor, just don't do it! Your objective should be to create an excellent user experience and provide value to your visitor.
8. Build Links
The phrase from the movie Field of Dreams, “Build it and they will come,” doesn’t apply to the web. Once you’ve built your website and have paid attention to all of the elements above, you need to generate awareness and gain inbound links. Search engines look at these inbound links as “votes of confidence” for your site. If those links are coming from relevant sites which have a high page rank, they will be viewed as highly credible “votes” by the search engine algorithms and you will see an increase in your position.
If you use these eight steps as a template to refer to when creating each page on your website, you will find yourself rapidly moving up through the ranks of the search results and the quality of your traffic will soar. This all leads to much higher conversion rates, and huge increases in your online revenue.
If this article has left you with any questions you can simply go to our “Ask the Web Marketing Expert” page and submit your question. We’ll answer it right away and we might even write a future article fully addressing your inquiry.
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