Tips on SEO Techniques

Keyword Research

Research the best keywords for your website - The first and most important step in SEO techniques. But this is a common that Optimizers do while choosing the keywords they want to optimize their website for. The best way to do this is to do some research. Use some of the tools available out there to find which keywords are the best for your particular website. These include tools like Google AdWords Keyword Tool, Keyword Overture Tool, WordTracker, etc.

This is not always best to optimize for the most searched keywords. Sometimes it can be too generic. Suppose you have a site on Financial Planning that helps you to find financial planners. Then the keyword “financial planners” is too generic to be of any real use. But in addition to this it might also not be targeted enough. Again, “financial planners” can mean so many things to so many people. Therefore you should opt for some different, more targeted keywords like "find a financial planner".


Keyword in Title Tag

Insert your keyword in your title tag. You should use different and unique titles on each page of your website. The idea is that you should try to be creative and include your keyword when it makes sense. Don’t go overboard and stuff it in everywhere, Google will notice and most likely reduce your search ranking. Just do it where it makes sense.


Meta Tags (Meta Description, Meta Keywords)

Meta tags still have importance in SEO techniques. Search Engines use your Meta description tags in their search engine result page (SERP) and often users refer to your Meta tags before clicking on the links to your site in the SERP. Hence, you should optimize your Meta description properly (means your targeted keywords should be there in the description and clearly specifies what your site is all about).

Even there are some Search engines that still refer to your Meta keywords tag. So, don’t think they have no value. Although not as much as before, they are valuable especially if you don’t stuff them with irrelevant keywords.


Use Headers to emphasize your Keywords

Headers in the sections of your page content often highlight what the chapters are about. Hence, use Header tags to your advantage to separate out sections when it makes sense. And if possible, use your keyword in the section title, but don’t overdo, only use if it makes sense.


Addition of Alt Text

There are many websites have images but no alternative text for the images. Search Engines can’t parse your images. That's why they look at your alternative text for clues. So add alternative text. Put a comment stating what the image is about. Even you can include your keyword in the alt tags.


Keywords in the Content

Use your keyword in your content. If you don’t use, then how the search engines know about that keyword. And of course, use them when it is required. Many times, you will find posts in the forums and blogs on Keyword Density like what should be the keyword density in a page. From my personal experience I can say there is no fixed keyword density. You can use a keyword in your page as many times you want but should be meaningful and sound good.


Keywords in the Anchor Text

Google also uses the anchor text of a link to determine what a website is about and use it heavily as one of the ranking factors. The idea is that if a lot of websites are linking to yours with similar anchor text, then most likely that’s what you’re about. Anchor text is the textual part of the link that tells the people where they will be moving. But, don't use same anchor text in all your links, because search Engine may consider it as a spam.


Highlight the Keywords

It’s a known fact that most website visitors scan text. They look for bold text, italicized text. Basically whatever text that stands out. Google’s also figured this out and will give more weight to your text that’s highlighted in some way, such as bolded text. Hence use these techniques to make your text scannable, but use it to your advantage for SEO purposes when appropriate. If you have scannable text, check to see if it makes sense to add your keywords too.


Use of Keywords in the Filenames

Google also looks at the filenames to see what your WebPages are about. Hence, use keywords for the file names.


Internal Navigation Structure

Every page should be reachable within 2 links. Google will only look at your site within a limited depth. A good rule of thumb is to keep all your content within 1 to 2 links of your main page. In other words, you should be able to reach any page you want Google to index within 1 to 2 links from your main page. Anything beyond that is not likely to be indexed.


Competitors Analysis

Look at what your competitors are doing. Like which keywords they are targeting, list those sites that are linking to your competitors and what is the specialties in their sites. Once you know, use this knowledge to your advantage. Improve your own website.


Try to get External Links with your Keyword in the Anchor Text

On-page SEO techniques are not the only thing you do to increase your search engine rankings. Google has realized that the more people link to you with a specific anchor text, the more likely it’s what you’re about. Again, the links are considered as a vote of support to your site by the other sites and the basis of this the PageRank of your site is determined. And we all know PageRank has to do a lot for ranking in Google.


All the above seo techniques I discussed are really helpful for getting rank in the SERP. Using these SEO techniques in your site in an ethical manner will help you in achieving your goal.