Five SEO Tactics You Can Do Right Now

November 25th, 2010 by admin

Is your website search engine optimized? Have you done everything you can to make sure your site is found at the top of the search results? Here are five SEO tactics we use to help our clients rise to the top of the search engines for their chosen niche.

SEO Tactic #1: Define Keywords

Everything on your website is about your keywords. What is the site about? What do you offer? It’s important that you identify what people are searching for, not what you call something. It’s also important to identify niche keywords, not the biggest, most generic keyword you can find. If you sell handmade stone jewelry, that should be your keyword, not “jewelry,” otherwise you’re competing with every jewelry store in the US, and you’ll never win.

SEO Tactic #2: Use Meta Tags

Once you know your keywords, use them in your Title, Description, and Keywords meta tags. This tells the search engines what your site, page, or blog post is about. They can then index and rank the pages appropriately.

SEO Tactic #3: Optimize Headlines

Your headline is slightly different from your Title meta tag. It’s what your visitor sees, so it’s important to not only use the appropriate keywords, but write a headline that will generate readers’ interest. Headlines like that include numbers or lists, as well as an action the reader can take — like “Five SEO Tactics You Can Do Right Now” — are more likely to earn readers than headlines like “Basic SEO for Your Website.” On a web page, make sure your keywords are sprinkled in H1 and H2 tags, but used effectively, not crammed in to be seen as search engine spammers.

SEO Tactic #4: Use an SEO Plugin On Your Blog

If you’re a WordPress user, there are several free SEO plugins available for your blog. We like the SEO Platinum Pack for a plug in, because it gives us the ability to easily add meta tags, as well as do on-page analysis of our optimization. We’ve also been hearing about Yoast and All In One SEO as possible plugins. Regardless of which one you choose, make sure it will let you add additional meta tag data.

SEO Tactic #5: Create backlinks

Backlinks are links from other sites that go back to your own (hence the name). They tell the search engines that your site is important — the more backlinks, the more important your site is. The more important it is, the higher it will rank. For best results, find backlinks on pages that have a high Google PageRank. Use a tool like WebRank Toolbar, or the Google Toolbar, to identify those pages.

We recommend you follow the 30/70 rule of SEO tactics: 30% of your time and energy should be devoted to the first four onsite tactics, while the remaining 70% should be devoted to creating backlinks.

While there are more tactics, these are the most basic one anyone can use in optimizing their website for search engine ranking. Keep watching this site for more information on more SEO tactics for your website or blog.