The end
result is that many people now think that only
"professionals" can help their website rank high within
search engines. But, the truth is that anyone can
structure their site so they rank high for many keywords
Below,
I have listed 8 simple steps that you can take to
optimize your web pages. By following these, you will
improve your chances of increasing your rankings:
1)
Target one word for each page: A huge mistake that
many beginners make is cramming numerous keywords onto
every page. Instead of doing this, you should focus on
one specific keyword for each page. That way, you can
make sure that the page is focusing on that one word
without any distractions. If you want to target multiple
keywords then it is necessary to create a separate page
for each.
2)
List your major keywords in the links back to your site:
Many search engines, Google being the most famous, have
started to take into account the words that are
mentioned in the title tag of the links that point to
your site. So, a great way to improve your rankings for
your keywords is to place it in the title tag.
3)
Make your first 100 words on the page keyword rich:
Another mistake that most webmasters make is to have a
menu on the left-hand side of a website. Since search
engines primarily focus on the first 100 words of a
website, a left side menu is a misuse of valuable space.
Instead
of doing this, you should have your title, description
and web copy within the first 100 words of your site. An
easy way to do this is to have your menu on the right
instead of the standard left-hand side.
But,
since the left-handed menu is now commonplace, you can
also choose to put your first 100 words above the
left-handed menu, so this text will be the first thing
read on your website.
4)
Insert the keyword into your title tag: In the
source code of most pages are "header tags" (also known
as Meta tags), which help search engines understand the
content of the page.
To
fully optimize your website, you can tweak the source
code of the page. The first step is to insert the
keyword in the title tag. (This is what is shown in the
results of a search engine when your site is listed)
5)
Insert your keywords in the description tag: The
description Meta tag is almost as valuable as the title
tag. The information in this tag is listed directly
below the title tag in search engine results. As a
result, a good description can make your website stand
out from other listings. To get the prospect to click on
your site, it is important to write a snappy description
while using your keyword.
6)
Insert them into your keywords tag: Like the title
and description tags, keyword tags are used to help
search engines understand the content of your web page.
Although this Meta tag has become less popular, it
doesn’t hurt to put your keywords here.
7)
Place your keyword in the header: When writing the
actual text of your site, the first part should be the
headline. Whenever a search engine scans your site, it
rates all words in the headline as being more important
then the rest of the web copy. To take advantage of
this, you should have your keyword in the page headline.
But, since the header tag (h1) is quite large, you
should format it so that it is smaller.
8)
Write your keyword enriched web copy: Now that you
have set up the structure of your page, you can write
your web copy. While creating the text, you want to
include the majority of the keywords at the top and the
bottom of the page. In addition, the keyword should be
included a few times in the middle. Basically, the
common saying is that the keyword density should
resemble an hour glass shape.
The
total web copy of your page should be about 300-500
words. Also, the keyword should be about 5-12% of the
total words of the page. The percentage varies according
to each search engine, so you might want to play around
till you find the best results.
If you
follow all these steps, you will definitely see an
improvement in the search engine rankings for your
keywords. The best part is that you do not have to spend
any money on expensive search engine optimizers!
Good
luck!
