Dan - Pick what you want from this....
Google has been busy updating and replacing algorithms over the past year, so if you have not been following closely, you may be lost. With so many changes, even if you have been following closely, you may still be lost. There are several factors that have been left unchanged, but there are just as many that have been altered dramatically. SEO specialists and non-SEO professionals have all had to take a close look at their websites to ensure they are properly optimized for all the changes that have occurred, and the ones that are coming. Below are 9 essential on-page SEO elements that need to be implemented on your site:
These nine areas in addition to others should be your focus.
1.Fresh and Exciting Content Frequently Updated on a Blog – Adding Blog Capabilities to site: If you want to see a major increase in traffic to your site, start a blog. Having excellent content updated frequently on your blog is an essential way to build your brand, publish content and grow your audience, all while establishing yourself as an authority in a specific field. Use custom images, create content that is useful and that helps to answer a question, and most importantly, post daily. Google has shifted directions on how they present search results, mainly because people have shifted direction in how they search. One of the major shifts that has been noticed is the need for a specific question to be answered by searchers. The days of inputting several random keywords into the search bar are over; people are now asking entire questions of the major search engine. So, if you do not have the answers, do not expect to be displayed in the top search results or in the search results at all.
2. Integrated Google Authorship for Content Google has been working hard to establish good, clean and authoritative content on every topic imaginable, and authorship is helping them to make that happen. Google uses the authorship tool to verify authors of specific content and rank them as an expert in a specific field. Author rank is based on the popularity of content published by an author, the amount of content that is published by the same author and the quality of the content that has been published. When a user searches for content, the search results display authored content with the headshot and bio of the author. This offers a more authoritative feel to the content, making it more likely to be clicked than content without an author. So, if you are using guest bloggers on your site, or have a team of established writers, we make sure they each have a bio created, and a Google authorship established.
3. Content Keywords There has been a huge debate over whether or not keywords in content are still important or not. The fact remains, keywords are important, but they are losing value over content quality. Good copywriting practices include an even flow of properly integrated keywords. Stay away from creating content around a keyword, instead create quality content that is relevant to your topic and the keywords should flow naturally throughout the article. The main goal is to attract human attention, but you still have to focus on search engine attention to make that happen, so we write accordingly.
4. Create Longer Content Google has shifted attention away from short blog posts and keyword-based short articles to a meatier and more in-depth style of content. If you have noticed a drop in the search engine rankings lately, it may be due to your content length. The standard length is 1,000 words, but 1,500 are recommended for high rankings in the in-depth search section of Google.
5. Topical Targeting Instead of optimizing a webpage for one or two keywords, create your entire site to surround a specific topic or theme. This allows your pages to be optimized for various keywords, opening many more opportunities for SEO. User-experience has been proven to be enhanced by a well-organized and properly optimized site. Readers find a topically targeted webpage much more enjoyable and easy to navigate, while it also attracts more inbound links and increases the chances of content being shared.
6. Optimized URLs When optimizing URLs, there are a few factors that we address:
• Words separated by dashes or hyphens
• Maximum 100 characters in length
• No more than 3 subdirectories
• Include location based keywords in URLS to be ranked locally
• Add product numbers or tracking at the end of e-commerce URL
7. Effective Title Tags Title tags are one of the most critical factors for good SEO. The importance of title tags has increased, so we make sure they are properly optimized. The title tag is the clickable text that is displayed in the search results, so we make sure it is enticing to the reader. We also assure the keyword used is included naturally as well as strategically. It is important that your content be displayed in the top search results, but without something appealing to the reader it will never be clicked. Your company name will be in the title tag at the end, not the beginning. Keeping it under 65 characters and include local keywords.
8. Proper Heading Tags
Google uses heading tags as a way to decipher your page and determine what it is all about. Every page should have its own heading tag and it should include the main topic of your page. H1 tags should be the very first element on your page, and can even become your title tag depending on what CMS software you are using. Long chunks of content are broken up with relevant headers to help readers scanning for information they need, and will help Google establish the progression of your content. Forced use of keywords in your heading tags is not recommended, we use keywords in your header tags when it naturally makes sense to do so.
9. Optimized Alt Image Tags We only use keywords in your alt image tags when it makes sense. Alt image tags help to rank your content in the search engines, but also should work as a description for the visually impaired viewers who happen upon your site. The text is relevant to the image. If the keywords are not naturally working with your images, we may need to rethink the images you are using. Descriptive as possible. The text should explain the image for even those who cannot see it, after all Google is highly efficient, but it still is unable to actually see. Conclusion, There are many elements that have not really changed much, but some have. It is more important than it has even been that SEO’s take advantage of what Google requires when it comes to on-page optimization. The days of using tricks or blackhat SEO methods for quick results are ending, and the new age of high quality content that is human-generated has begun. If you want to rank high in the search engine results, you have to supply the most valuable and highest quality content for the viewers, as well as the search engines. Remember, ranking high does ‘NOT’ guarantee sales orbookings for services. The product or service and price point are the final deciding factor once they get to your site.
Keyword Analysis:
One of the initial key areas of consideration is the keywords and phrases required that people use online to search the web for client products and services. Keyword selection is a critical process in search engine optimization campaigns because it works to direct only qualified prospects to websites. Keyword analysis and selection process is designed to identify and target all relevant keywords to guarantee that only the most qualified users will find the specific pages within the website that contains subject matter that is relevant to them.
Analysis of highest hit search terms
Analysis of lowest hit search terms
Single keyword analysis
Search context analysis
Analysis of search term errors
