- April 22, 2013
- Posted by: Vishal Shah
- Category: SEO
Search engine optimization is the cornerstone of successful online marketing. For small businesses that are just starting out, it’s imperative for them to include SEO as an integral part of the plan.
So if you’re in need of some SEO pointers to get your site a higher ranking as well as better web traffic, then check out the tips we’ve laid out below.
1. Get found on Google, Yahoo and Bing Local.
The first thing you need to do is to get found in your local online directories, which are Google, Bing and Yahoo!. Much like the classic yellow pages, being “on the map” increases your chances of being found. So before anything else, enlist your business.
2. Do extensive keyword research.
Keywords are what make the SEO world go around. This is why there are those who abuse it so they could be found in Page 1 of Google and other search engines.
As for you, you shouldn’t practice such wrong strategy. Instead, you need to do an extensive amount of keyword research to know what your market is looking for.
Think of yourself as your market. What are the keywords that you end up typing in the Search bar? How long or how short? Do you go for general or specific queries? All these you should account for in order for you to end up using the right keywords.
3. Continue to incorporate meta tags.
Meta tags are the preview of the text you read when you get results from a Search. While their importance has decreased, it’s still necessary for you to incorporate them, as well as including the right keywords in it.
This way when your market scans through the Search Results, yours can be enticing enough to click through.
4. Create original, well-optimized content.
Content still reigns as king of SEO. We’re not just talking about slopping post after post. We’re talking about original, well-optimized content fit for the liking of both search engines and your market.
In order to accomplish this, you need to do tremendous amount of research, be in the know of the trending topics in your industry and strategically intertwine your keywords within your content.
If you choose to spam your content through keyword stuffing or copy-pasting someone else’s, remember that Google Penguin and Panda aren’t too forgiving.
5. Link efficiently.
Link building is also a must to practice effective SEO. This is where your content plays a vital role. Without quality content, other blogs and websites wouldn’t really want to link with you. So it’s critical that you have something to offer others.
Other link building tactics include guest blogging, blog commenting and enlisting in directories. Keep in mind that these should all be practiced with white hat SEO.
6. Include alt tags to your images.
Here’s the thing: crawlers cannot make sense of images that don’t have alt tags in them. That’s why you need to have your images defined by these so when your market makes an Image Search, yours will be included in the forefront of the results.
With this, keep in mind to credit any sources for your images if it isn’t yours.
7. Build and submit a sitemap.
Think of your sitemap as well, a map of your website. This includes all your pages, what they are about as well as other information that will be found in your site.
Since crawlers don’t spend too much time assessing each website that comes their way, you need to have somewhat an outline of its entirety. This way, the crawlers would have a good idea of what your site is all about.
As a small business, it’s best to maximize all the ways you can effectively use SEO for your business. So apply these tips now to better your online marketing efforts.
Post BySamantha Nicole is a Content Specialist for Webcada, an SEO company in Singapore. She spends the rest of her time guest-blogging for various related websites.