SEO Tips for Newbies
Search engines are administered by a multifaceted problem-solving computer program and it is very hard to persuade it that a specific website or web page warrants the top positions or even the first page positions. There are particular methods you can use to optimize your website.
Page Titles:
Using the exact page title to get low volume keywords will provide a viable advantage in the search results. Every page should have a unique title. The title should be short and descriptive and helps visitors know what the page is about.
The title of the home page can be the name of your website or your business. You can also add a tidbit of information about what the main focus of the page is.
Page Descriptions:
Use the page description area to your advantage. The description meta tag allows you to write a brief summary or snippet of what the page is about. A well written description should include the following characteristics:
1. Always give a distinctive description for all of your pages, posts and products on your website.
2. Don’t use too many keywords in the page descriptions.
3. Your description should be an advertisement of your page to entice visitors to click on your title to visit
your page.
4. Do not use the page title in the description.
5. Keep the description to no more than 160 characters, but at least 150 characters.
Optimizing the Permanent Link Structure
Permanent link structure is the format of the URLs for the pages and posts on the website. It is shown in the browser’s address bar and in the search engine results. In order to optimize the permanent link structure you should:
1. Steer clear of using irrelevant information in a URL causing them to be lengthy.
2. Create URLs that are easy so that the search engines and visitors understand them.
3. Make sure you use hyphens to separate words in the URL.
4. Use keywords that describe what the page is about, but do not over do it, causing
keyword stuffing.
These are some examples of incorrect URL structures:
https://www.momstrustedaffiliate.com/WealthyAffiliateReview
https://www.momstrustedaffiliate.com/200215/WealthyAffiliateReview
These are the correct examples of the URL structures:
https://www.momstrustedaffiliate.com/wealthy-affiliate-review
https://www.momstrustedaffiliate.com/2002/15/wealthy-affiliate-review
Internal Links
Internal links are links that we use in a particular web page that points back to another web page within our own website. In the example below, if you click on the anchor words “What Affiliate Marketing Is” that has be made into a hyperlink, you will be redirected to another page that is within this website to find out more information about what affiliate marketing is. This is known as an “internal link”.
Example: If you haven’t already, check out my article about What Affiliate Marketing Is.
Even though internal links are extremely important to a site’s search engine optimization, a lot of site owners do not use them accurately. Here are some suggested guidelines when using internal links.
1. Don’t go link crazy. Four to five links per page adequate. Only use more if it is really necessary.
2. You should link related articles together either by using keyword anchor text or by using the full article
title.
3. Don’t use terms such as, “click here” or “[..]” when using internal links.
4. Internal links should be utilized for usability to help the visitors navigate through the site a little
better. Do not use links for the sole purpose of SEO.
5. Ensure that the internal links are useful for the user and easily understood by search engines.
Another good idea for your site’s SEO is to link new post and pages to older posts and pages. This is not necessarily an easy thing to accomplish especially if you have a lot of posts. Try to do this about every 2 to 3 weeks.
Formatting Text and Headings
Always make sure you’ve done at least some basic formatting before you publish your content. If you fail to do this it will be a poor visitation for the user. Additionally, poor formatting or lack of formatting will definitely go against attempts for improving SEO. Keep these rules in mind when writing your content.
1. Use “bold” and italic to draw visitors attention.
2. Write small paragraphs.
3. Use a font size and style that is easy to read.
4. Use H1 headings for the title of your page or post.
5. Use H2 headings for the main headings and H3 and H3 for sub-headings. Do not use H2 headings for all of the
headings.
Always make sure that visitors can always tell where the main sections of the page are at a glance. Don’t forget to make sure you have taken action to create a site that can also be easy to read for those who may be using hand held devices such as Ipads, tablets and mobile phones.
Optimizing Images
Using imagery can only further improve visitors’ experiences, but it can also deflate the experience. I say that because using images can also create other unwanted side effects. Sometimes adding images to your page can cause problems with page loading speed or slow response. To avoid problems with using images try these tips.
1. Keep all image files in a dedicated folder on your site. It would look something like this:
www.yourdomain.com/images/
2. Optimize the size (kilobytes) of the image. Using a smaller image size will allow the image to load much
faster.
3. Use “Alt Text” to describe the image. You can also add keywords, but once again don’t over stuff.
4. Use keywords in the file name of the image, but don’t forget to use dashes (-) between the words. Do not
use the word “image” and number it (not this: image1.jpg). Instead, the file name should be more
significant, like roger-rabbit.jpg.
Summary
The areas covered here are some methods that can be implemented to improve the search engine optimization of your website, thus increasing the rankings of the website. It is a good idea to be vigilant of your site rankings because algorithms are forever changing and what works today may not work next month. So, after your site is up and running don’t think you are finished. Maintaining frequent new content, current keywords and search engine optimization is an ongoing process to ensure good health of your website.
Please feel free to contact me if you need help with anything. Just make a comment below or you can always get in touch with me through wealthyaffiliate.com (here is a link to my profile).
Verna
Founder of Your Trusted Affiliate
Awesome post! Still sort of new to SEO and all that jazz. Thanks for the help!
Hi Kody,
Thanks for taking a look at my article. Hope you were able to benefit from it. SEO can be confusing sometimes, but don’t worry. It takes time. One day the light bulb will come on for you and everything will just fall into place.
Stop by anytime and if you have any questions, I will be glad to help. Best wishes for your success.
I didn’t know using “click here” was a bad thing! Why is that?
Question about internal linking: What are you thoughts about pages opening in the same tab vs. opening in a new tab?
What’s the optimal size for pics in a page/post? 100kb, 50kb?
Thank you for posting this. Now, I have to go to my website and make sure I didn’t hyperlink any “click here” text, haha.
Hi Chris,
Google doesn’t care much for generic anchor text such as click here because the anchor text should give some idea of what the page being linked to is all about. It’s not just good for the search engines to know what you are linking to, but the users should also have some idea of what you want them to link to.
Internal linking — Sometimes I think it depends on whether you are asking a web designer or the technical developer. I think that internal links should be opened in the same browser tab that the person is already in rather than to open it in a new browser tab. The user has the navigation menu to navigate back and forth from one page to another within the same website.
External Links — Technology has made things easier for us since we now use browser tabs. If you use the same browser tab to open an external link visitors have to keep using the back button to get back to your website. Also, when you use the same browser tab to open an external link, Google analytic will show that the visitor has left your site completely when they really haven’t. Because opening in the same browser tab will take a visitor completely off your site (as far as Google Analytic is concerned), this can cause an increase in bounce rate. If you open an external link in a new browser tab visitors can view other sites for as long as they like and all they have to do to get back to you site is to click on the browser tab that still has your site open. Also, opening in a new tab will keep the time running on your website that’s in another open browser tab until the visitor manually leaves your site.
Images — Image dimensions is the width and height of an image in pixels (250 x 300). The image file size is in kilobytes (kb) or megabytes (mb). Different things can determine the size of the image you want to use. For instance the file size can dictate the amount of time it takes for the image to load on a page. The larger the file size, the longer it will take to load. High quality images should be kept between 60 (kb) and 100 (kb), with 100 (kb) being the maximum. For smaller images it should be closer to 30 (kb).
I hope I answered your questions satisfactory.
Thanks for checking out my article. Let me know if you have any further questions. Thanks again for stopping by.
Cheers,
Verna