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If you found this post, you are probably hoping to get on the first page of Google at some point in your entrepreneurial journey! Though for some topics this may be possible, it often takes many components and longevity online to get to the top of the search results. If you are new to the online world and still in the beginner and intermediate stages of business, you should also check out Pinterest as a way to get traffic to your website. In any case, these tips will help you optimize content for any search engine.
What exactly will be covered in this blog post? For starters, I will define what it is and how it works. After that, we will discuss some more technical tips and tricks to up-level your SEO and get you on the path to long-term traction online.
What is SEO Anyway?
When you hear about SEO, it is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it is the practice of getting your content found on the internet and ranked highly in search engines. It isn’t the most engaging or fun topic to discuss. Even though it can be pretty boring and somewhat mechanical, it is extremely important. The best practice is to get started right away to give your business/website the best chances of being found. Now that we got the definition out of the way, lets move on to the important stuff.
Website and WordPress
This is where it all begins folks! If you haven’t gotten your website started yet, check out Bluehost because they do a great job hosting WordPress sites. If you need help getting your blog started, check out this post on starting your first blog. Even though there are countless options for website building. I’m going to stick with the industry standards here and recommend that businesses online or any blog you plan to monetize in a serious way, should be a WordPress site. It is the most flexible platform for building your website and gives you full control over your web design and functionality. The possibilities are endless. Once you get your WordPress site ready, you can start working on SEO.
Technical Jargon
In order to understand how to get your SEO set up, there are a couple important definitions you need to know:
Keywords: can be long-tail (phrases) or short (single words) that you are targeting for search engine ranking. They are typically directly related to the topic of your post. The search engines sweep your website and content for various keywords or phrases. The more you include them, the more likely search engines will see your post as relevant to the person conducting the search.
Meta Description (snippet): A short preview of the post/content shown in search engines when they conduct a search.
Permalinks: The URL you see attached to a post or website when displayed in your browser.
Alt-text/description: Descriptive text for website images that displays if a photo/image doesn’t load. This also helps the visually impaired or those using screen readers understand the content of the image.
Tags: Adding tags is a way to indicate the important points in a post/web page. They are similar to keywords and help visitors find content on your website.
Categories: Create different content buckets and give them names. These are your categories and using them helps organize content on your website.
Plug-ins: Tools you can download and activate on your WordPress website that can employ endless functions.
Start With A WordPress Plug-In
If you have no idea where to start, get a plug-in that can help. There are lots of options, but I use SEO Yoast and lots of other bloggers and website owners do as well! SEO Yoast helps you get started with SEO when you are not sure what steps to take to make it happen. A lot of SEO is being recognized by algorithms. I’m not sure about you, but that feels a little intimidating. When you use SEO Yoast, it will guide you on how to optimize posts for your keywords, analyzes your posts for readability and provides actionable advice on improving your SEO. I currently use the free version, but you can get a whole lot more data if you upgrade to the paid version. It is a purchase I am considering for the near future, but it is already super valuable in its free version.
Another plug-in I use does some SEO work, but also protects your site and backs up your content is JetPack. There is both a free and paid version of this plug-in as well. I have the paid version of this plug-in. If you upgrade to a paid package they will do a half hour call with you to make sure it is all set-up correctly. This is great for newbies or those who aren’t as well versed in the tech jargon.
How To Optimize Content For SEO
- Decide on keywords you want to rank for. For a better chance of ranking higher, use Google or Pinterest and type in your keywords. The search engines will give you suggestions on what you might be looking for based on the searches of others. Use these specifics or long-tail keyword phrases as your keywords. These will help you rank higher for more specific searches.
- After writing a post, check to make sure keywords are repeated multiple times! At least once in my introductory paragraphs and again several times throughout the post.
- Use the tips provided by SEO Yoast to correct any issues with readability or keywords.
- Edit your meta description (snippet) using the SEO Yoast tool
- Check your permalink or slug making sure they reflect the content of your post/content. You can use a plug-in or service to modify permalinks or make them shorter. I usually stick with the title of the post as my permalink.
- Use a tool or plug-in to compress your images. If you don’t they will take longer to load on your website. This reduces your ranking and visitors will likely leave if your website takes too long to load. I use a plug-in called Compress JPEG and PNG images. It works well and I can skip the step of manually compressing images before adding them to my website.
- For images, add the alt text description. It takes a few extra seconds, but a lot of websites don’t take the time to do this. If you do, your images will be indexed in search engines more accurately and this could give you an extra SEO boost.
- Keep your website organized by adding categories and tags. Overall, this makes your website more user friendly.
Is That It?
Nope! You should also make sure you have a Google Analytics account. Install the pixel on your website in the header per the instructions. This way you can monitor your content and see how it is performing online. It takes about a half hour to set up, but it is totally worth it. Check your analytics regularly and get familiar with how to read them. You’ll keep building on the knowledge you’ve gained since the start of your journey and before you know it, you’ll be an SEO wizard!
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