8 Simple Steps to Better Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is aimed at the enhancement of the website value with the search engines and improvement of the site ranking in the search results for the target keywords. High ranked websites get more clicks as they appear on the first page in the search results where people can easily find them. Search engine optimization is not difficult when done right.

Below are 8 simple steps to better search engine optimization:

• Do a keyword research. When someone searches online, they type different words or phrases — keywords — into the search field. It’s important for the web site owner to know the most popular keywords for their products or services. You can determine the best keywords that people use to find websites related to your niche using the Google AdWords Keyword Research Tool. Once you compile a file with most popular keywords, you will naturally disperse the keywords in your content to make the search engines index your website by these keywords.
• Get a keyword rich domain. The domain is the website’s address on the Internet. If possible get a domain name containing your keyword. Business owners mostly use the .com domain so your keyword rich domain should be looking like www.keyword.com. It may happen that you won’t be able to use your primary keywords in the domain name because they are already used by others. So, use your second or third tier keywords in your domain name.
• Use the right platform for your site. The best choice is WordPress because of the outstanding features it offers for building a user and search engine friendly website. And the search engine optimization can be made easily with WordPress plugins. Plus, you can install this free newsletter plugin to your WordPress site and collect subscribers using a double opt-in method if you plan to do email marketing.
• Add quality content. When you create a content for your website, keep in mind that you are writing not only for people but for search egines bots too. From one side, your website must have fresh, interesting and valuable content related to your products or services to entice people make some action like subscribe to your newsletters, download the free trial of your product, signup for a free test of your service or simply recommend your site to someone else who may be interested in what you are offering. From the other side, you must write to please the search engines. In order the search engines know about your website and index it for your keywords, you must use different keywords in the content. Make sure your keywords are naturally interweaved with the text.
• Use keywords in permalinks. When you post a new article to your WordPress site, by default the URL for the article will be like http://www.yourdomain/?p=889. It looks unprofessional and not friendly for both people and search engines. WordPress allows change your permalinks before the article is published. Using your article title with keywords in permalinks is one more search engine optimization step. When optimized properly, your permalink will look something like http://www.yourdomain.com/8-steps-to-better-search-engine-optimization
• Use keywords in titles and descriptions. In addition to permalinks, you need to optimize your meta title and description. Meta tags are read by search engines and should contain your keywords as well. WordPress allows you change your meta title and description. If you use the headers like <h1> for the article title and <h2> for the sub-titles, it’s a good idea to have your best keywords in the main title and your second and third tier kewyords in the sub-title or paragraph titles.
• Use social media. Social media sites help spread the word about your article across the world and drive human traffic to your site. Add the Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and other social media buttons at the bottom of your article and let readers share it with the community. This is a simple yet effective SEO step.
• Build backlinks. When you finish the on-page search engine optimization, the next step is build links to your site from other sites. Backlinks should be links coming from relevant sites and leading to the quality content on your website. In the past links hidden behind a keyword rich anchor text were the most loved by search engines. After the Google Pengiun/Panda update, your backlink profile should contain a mix of links with a keyword rich anchor text, links with neutral anchor text (visit my site, click here to read more, click www.yourdomain.com for more info etc.) and live links. There are many link building methods out there that you can use to build search engine friendly backlinks: article submission, directory submission, blog commenting, press releases, etc. Here you can read more about how to build links today. 

Below are effective SEO tools you can use for your link building campaign:

• Fast Blog Finder — blog commenting software. It searches for blogs using your keywords and allows you submit comments. When your comment is approved, you get a backlink.
• Fast Directory Submitter — directory submission software. It allows you submit your site to free web directoris diversifying your anchor text.
• Backlink Diver — link checker tool. It checks the pages for your backlinks and lets you know if your link is still alive or not providing you with the detailed analysis of your linking pages (DoFollow/NoFollow, PR, Index).