Search engine optimisation (SEO) is something of a dark art practised only by highly trained ninja web gurus. We call them SEO consultants. Due to the highly secretive nature of their work, ordinary mortals often don’t know where to start when it comes to SEO.
A good SEO consultant can turn an obscure website buried in Google’s supplemental index into a money making enterprise. At a cost. However, there are many easy hits that web designers like you and I can and should be doing to their websites to improve search engine positioning.
1. Keywords in title tags
This is the single most powerful way to take your website to page one, and it only takes five minutes to do. Use targeted and relevant keywords in the HTML title tags on every page on your website. Use descriptive titles and be careful not to use duplicate titles across multiple pages.
2. Keywords in heading tags
Each page on your site should have a good semantic heading structure. Each page should have no more than one H1 tag and a well-structured hierarchy of H2, H3, etc tags. Search engines use headings to identify relevancy, so it is wise to place keywords in your headings where it makes sense to do so.
3. Keywords throughout the body of the text
If you are writing good quality relevant content then you are already doing great work in terms of SEO. Search engines use increasingly sophisticated algorithms that analyse the entire content of your website. Every word you write contributes to SEO, so write some more.
4. Link to your own popular content
An incredibly powerful way to drive your content to better search engine positions is to link to it yourself. Link to your popular or most relevant content from your homepage and from the rest of your site, and make sure you use appropriate keywords in the anchor text.
5. Relevant inbound links
I lied when I talked about five easy ways to improve SEO, because this last one is not easy. However, it is essential you generate good links to your content from relevant sources with targeted keywords in the anchor text. Easy ways to contribute to your inbound links include tweaking your signature in forum and blog posts.
Bonus tip: don’t cheat the system
Search engines aren’t stupid. Or particularly forgiving.
If you want to find out more make sure you read SEOmoz’s detailed analysis of the various factors affecting search engine rankings.
How do you search engine optimise your sites?
Search engine optimisation strategies are highly contentious because no-one really knows how the things work. So, what strategies do you use for improving your sites’ position in search engine results?
You’re absolutely right though - if you create great content, you’re doing everything Google wants you to do.