What is needed to optimise a website for high rankings
These top 10 SEO tips and tricks will help you to achieve the highest rankings possible in the long-term. It may be possible to do it quicker but that is fraught with danger, better to stick to what the search engines like. That is, be compliant to industry standards.
Here are the top 10 SEO tips & tricks for optimisation
Note: All these must be performed by a search engine optimizer, a person trained the art of internet marketing.
SEO Tip1 – Be natural
Be natural? Sounds like a dating suggestion 🙂 But in fact its a bit like that, search engines are on the lookout for sites that want to attract their attention. Those sites are considered unnatural and therefore spam. For example, if you stuff a page with keywords or buy back-links from a mob in India, or links from Russia….they are all considered dubious, low integrity connections. The algorithms look for sites which have grown too quickly, have many pages with poor content or content written by robots or cut/paste jobs, etc. Be natural means to write rich articles using a variety of words (synonyms) just like an author would. It also means to allow the site to grow as its presence and age attract new people. Age is a very important metric in the search engine world, a 5-year-old (or more) site is optimal.
SEO Tip2 – Be realistic and patient
You want to sell flowers in Sydney and be number #1 on search engine page results? Well, it ain’t going happen! New sites can only do well in niche segments, remember, there are hundreds of millions of sites out there to compete with, common keyword selections are a waste of time. You must find something unique about your product or service and test the market for the best keyword which converts a view to a click or sale. There are several keywords tools to use but they may return what is searched the most. You want what sells the most, for that, you must run an ad campaign or copy your competitors.
It will take some time to be listed and ranked, changes you make may take 3 months before you see a result. SEO is a game of patience, but the results are worth it.
SEO Tip 3 – Examine competitors strategy
Reverse engineering also works in the SEO arena, we call it competitive analysis. Before you invest in SEO, check out your nearest competitors or similar product/service. Look at their keywords, links and marketing strategy…this is easy by using some tools and checking out their social media links. Search Google for their products and see if they are running any viral campaigns. By doing thorough research, it can save you a lot of time.
SEO Tip 4 – Market research (keywords)
Once you have a good understanding of your competitors strategy, fine-tune your own by doing market research. Determine if there are similar phrases or variations that have more searches per month (locally). Check the page rankings of your product/service and look at what you have to do to better what is already there. Being a copy-cat will cause either nothing to happen or a drop in rankings. You need to be original and better.
Have several pages each focused on one keyword strategy (ie. one product/server per page). Keyword density is no longer that important, what is important is your content is rich with the theme of the keyword and you use variations of it. The content must be enjoyable to read – remember, write quality original content laden with keyword-theme-based words.
SEO Tip 5 – Design for humans, not search engines
There are tradeoffs which building a page. You must decide how to write. Basically, be natural and write for humans not search engines. Sometimes though, you may have to reduce styles and simplify so that the search engine can read your text!! Humans love graphics, tables and images. Search engine robots do not.
If you over optimise a page or site, watch out! It will be ignored or demoted. For example, links on the footer of every page are a waste of time since search engines will ignore all except (maybe) the first. Repeating the same word(s) over and over again make for boring reading and low rankings. If you use SMS spelling-grade or PhD physics-speak, you will be downgraded cause the reading-ease is too difficult. Write simple, almost like it’s for a 10-year-old, then you will score highly in terms of readability.
SEO Tip 6 – Social media (free links)
- Open accounts on all social media which provide high quality DOFOLLOW links to your site
- Open a few accounts on the major ones which do not, but are relevant to your site (ie. Facebook, Twitter, Pininterest, etc). Its better to focus on a few than to spread your effort too thin.
- Google+ should be the hub of your social media, focus more time on it.
- Link your website to your social accounts, make sure they are authorised
- Make sure social media buttons are easily visible on every page, encourage people to join using free give-aways like ebooks.
- Be active on the important sites and a leader in your field, encourage people who are popular to join you; this will boast your rankings dramatically.
SEO Tip 7 – Build up contacts and links in forums
Search engines say no buying back-links, however, if they are of quality from reputable sources its ok as long as its done slowly. Only get PR3+ links. Please see our link-building section for more details on what type of back-links to get.
SEO Tip 8 – Link to PR3 or higher authority sites
Please see our link-building section for more details on what type of back-links to get.
No directories or forums (less than PR4)
SEO Tip 9 – Viral campaigns
As already mentioned, there is a difference between the most popular searches and the most profitable ones. To find out conversion rates, you must engage in a viral campaign. Initially just a few days to test the market, then fine-tune your SEO and trial again. Typically, the profits from sales will cover the advertising costs.
Another reason for the campaign is branding as discussed below.
SEO Tip 10 – Branding
If you want to promote your product/service quickly, then run a on-line marketing campaign in conjunction with promotions/specials. This will help in several ways
- Help to fine-tune keyword selections
- Increase market share
- Improve image and brand awareness
- Branding (for social media and the public)
Branding starts with a logo, slogan, video or something catchy and easily spreadable. Some use videos on youTube, or could be a Press release (but must be something of interest) or simply lots of impressions and pay per click (PPC) advertising.