Free SEO Tips

Many will argue that nothing of value is free anymore in life. I beg to differ! In this latest blog, I will give you some great free SEO tips to get you started with your website. Throughout the life of your website (which is hopefully a long and fruitful one), you are going to be inundated with reading material that says "do this" and "do that" to your website to make it more search engine friendly. Many of these suggestions are outdated and some perhaps are even harmful. I can remember the days when it was suggested that you have as many instances of your keywords in the body text of your website. That we now know is not a good thing and is in fact spammy to the major crawler based search engines like Google and Yahoo. Follow as many of these free SEO tips and you are sure to get off to a positive start...

1. Keyword enriched HTML title tags

   
   Make sure to always insert your top 3-4 keyword phrases into your HTML title tag. This is one of the most important things you can do for your website's SEO and overall search engine friendliness. This tag sets the precedence for the content that is on the page after your HTML title. This tag will also serve as the headline of your search results on Google. Make sure that the HTML title tag also relates some sort of call to action.

2. Use H1 headline tags

   
   H1 headlines are a great way to mimic the message in your HTML title thus adding more "weight" to your most important keywords. We have already established that you want to reinforce your keywords with great content on your website itself. H1 headlines are a fantastic way to accomplish this goal. By both using a keyword enriched HTML title and H1 headlines, you are letting search engine bots know that you really want to convey useful content to back up your on page, highlighted keywords. It is a good idea to use the same terms in both your HTML title tag and in your H1 headline, but don't make the mistake of making them both EXACTLY the same.
   
   The H1 headline will also greatly benefit the viewers on your website. Headlines on your website are just as important as a headline in a newspaper. It relays the central message of the page within your website. You can also greatly reduce your website's bounce rate by clearly defining what you are going to talk about on your website. More often than not, a visitor will leave your website if you simply post text on the page without a descriptive initial headline. When was the last time you read a newspaper article without first reading the headline?

3. Setup Meta Tags

   
   Although meta tags are not as important as the used to be, they still absolutely can help get you some highly targeted traffic from search engines. You should make sure to implement meta data that is unique, informative and catchy. Also, make sure to change your meta data for each page on your website. I like to suggest to our customers that they create all of the content on the page itself, then take measures to create the meta data. Yahoo/Bing seem to use website's meta tag data more precisely than does Google.
   
   I would still make sure to have creative meta data in your coding. It is important to think of meta tag data as the information that a person sees in your search engine rank listing. When a potential visitor finds your website's listing after a keyword search, the text that they read is often pulled directly from your website's meta data. The part that the visitor clicks is often your meta title. The text that follows the clickable link is many times your meta description. Someone is many times more apt to click on your ranking link when it gives them a call to action or has descriptive keyword phrases within it. If your meta data contains blasé information and merely says "Home Page" then your chances of a click are far less.

4. Internal linking

   
   Make your internal linking a priority. The best way to assure that all of your pages are found by search engine bots is to link to each and every one of them. Search engines depend on following links to find all pages and websites on the internet. If there were no links, search engine bots would have no way of successfully navigating their way around. The same holds true for your website on a much smaller scale. Make sure to link to your top pages within your website directly from the homepage. You can link to smaller pages on your website from some of your inner pages.

5. Create a site map

   
   This section somewhat piggy backs on the last one with internal linking. Create a link on your homepage that reads, "Site map." I suggest keeping it very simple with your site map. All you need to do is create good old fashioned HTML links to all of your pages on your website. Search engine bots love a good, simple site map. They can easily access your site map and follow (and index) your links rather quickly! This can save you a lot of time and will make sure that your hard to find, or deep rooted links are followed and found.

6. Concentrate on keyword enriched anchor text

   
   The words that are found in your anchor text carry great weight with search engine algorithms. The anchor text is the wording in the clickable part of a link. Many crawler based search engines like Google view the text that people link to you with as a crucial element. I suggest making your anchor text the exact keyword phrase that you desire to be found on a major search engine with.
   
   For example, when we request links, many times our link proposal will look like this:
   
   <a href=http://www.spreadableideas.com/">Free SEO</a> - Free Expert website analysis and consultation.
<a href=http://www.spreadableideas.com/">Free Expert Website Analysis</a>
   
   Those are a couple of keyword terms that we are targeting and thus we have included them in our anchor text.

7. Use lots of keyword enriched content

   
   When you write the content for your website, make sure to repeat your desired keyword phrases in your text. Make sure to stay on topic! Use your HTML title tag, HTML description meta data and H1 headlines to remain focused on the message of your page. Always reinforce your headlines and title with interesting data. You know your business best, so relay that information on your website. The more content the better I have always found. The more content the better as you are letting search engine bots know that you are a great source for their readers/searchers.

Create a blog

Search engines love to give their audience the best possible user experience. Another way to let search engines know that you have an important website is to always update it with fresh new content. A blog is perfect for this. It is a lot of work, trust me. The rewards though can be great for your website and your search engine rankings. Always keep the notion in the back of your mind that search engines want to give their audience a reason to come back and search engine over and over again. The only way that a search engine can please their audience is if they display great websites. In a search engine's "mind" a website that constantly updates with new and useful information is one that is worth showing their searchers.