Most webmasters know about search engine optimization (SEO) and use different strategies in order to get a better ranking.
Getting your website on page #1 in Google for competitive keywords will generate more targeted traffic that in turn will lead to more sales, more clicks on ads, more subscribers for your newsletter and so on.
A loyal reader asked me how to do search engine optimization nowadays because there is so much information out there.
A lot has changed since the big Google Panda and Penguin updates in 2012 and tactics that used to be very effective do not work anymore.
Search engines make algorithm updates all the time and the focus is more about the content, not about how many links that points to a website, it is more about the quality.
We need to focus more on creating excellent content that readers want to link to naturally and share on social sites because they find your content interesting and helpful.Even though the focus has changed towards creating great content, we cannot completely forget about SEO, it has to be done differently.
Here are 8 tips for how to do search engine optimization (and what not to do) in order to get better search engine rankings.
#1.Keyword research
Writing articles without doing keyword research first is a total waste of time.It is impossible to guess what keyword phrases people will use in order to find your article.There can also be too much competition which makes it difficult to rank for the keyword phrase or no searches at all which means you will not get any traffic.
We need to know exactly what keywords have low competition, high traffic and have the potential to earn a lot of money.It is a great idea to use a keyword analysis tool like for instance Market Samurai (Free Download!).
#2.Focus on longer articles (add pictures and videos)
Short articles (400 words or less) rarely get good rankings in the search engines.Focus on long (1000+ words) articles that are written in “how to” or “top 10″ list form.
People love to share lists on social sites.Even better if you can add pictures and a video to the article.Pictures and videos can easily be shared on Pinterest which is known to deliver a lot of traffic.
#3.Keyword density and keyword stuffing
Adding the same keyword phrase 25 times in your article is not going to help with the ranking, on the contrary.By adding your keyword phrase once in the beginning, once in the middle and once in the end of the article will probably get you much better results.
Keyword density is really important, here is a short video by Matt Cutts from Google.
#4.Social media
Make it as easy as possible to share your content on social sites, add sharing buttons below your articles and ask people to share your articles with their friends! No one will share your article unless there is a good reason to do so, be sure to write content worth sharing.
#5.Link building is now Link earning
I recently wrote an article about what it means.You can read the article here.
#6.Blog commenting
Blog commenting is one of the best ways of getting noticed.It is an in-direct way of doing SEO.When you visit other blogs that are in the same niche as you and leave a helpful comment, other readers will most likely click on the link, visit your blog and leave a comment on one of your articles.They might even share your article on social sites and link back to it from their own blogs.If you use WordPress, make sure you install the Commentluv plugin.
#7.Guest posting
Getting your article published on another blog is one of the best ways to do search engine optimization.You will share your knowledge with a new audience who have never heard about you.Submitting a guest post to a high-traffic blog can really boost your ranking in the search engines.You will get a link back to your own site, your guest post will be shared on the biggest social media sites and it will probably get hundreds of comments.
Guest posting is very effective if done right, there are many things you need to know before you start writing and submitting to high-traffic blogs.It is easy to make costly mistakes so check out this ebook before you begin.
#8.Becoming less dependent on search engines (adding more sources of traffic)
Perhaps the most important tip is to make sure you are not keeping “all your eggs in one basket”.You need to have several sources of traffic and not rely only on organic traffic that comes from the search results.All it takes is one algorithm change and your blog may be on page 1000 and can stay there for months and years.Especially if you are making money online from your blog, you need to make sure you have many traffic sources.
More great tips and ideas from the web:
Top 1 SEO Tips for 2013
If we’ve learned anything in 2012, it’s that Google isn’t letting up on low-value tactics. We’ve had the Penguin update, 13 Panda updates (so many that we needed a new naming scheme), and a crackdown on low-quality Exact Match Domains (EMDs), to name just a few. While I can’t tell you Google’s next move, I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty – there’s more to come. So, how can you protect what you’ve built in 2013?
15 experts on SEO tips for 2013
2012 was eventful to say the least. Last year I did an interview on SEO tips for 2012. This year is no different. I asked 15 trusted experts in the SEO community about the changes we saw last year and what we can expect in 2013. This is a must read for anyone working with SEO.
How Do Blog Comments Help Your Blog’s SEO?
Something made me think the other day – Do blog comments help or hurt us on SEO? After all they are PART of our blogs, right? I’ve had a few recently without faces and just images that made me consider them spam. I had not heard of their websites and when I visit them they are merely a sales pitch landing page.
What are your best tips for better search engine rankings? Leave a comment!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Guest posting is one of the best ways to improve rankings! It bums me out that with all the changes from Google, usign Ezine to disperse articles no longer work
but I suppose guest blogs works just as well and the process is mostly similar too.
Twitter: tlmarketing_net
January 31, 2013 at 4:25 am
Hi Lexi! Thanks for commenting.Google thinks that links from article directories are not high quality and will not count for so much anymore.
We now need to earn our links and this can only be done by writing content that people want to share on social sites and link back to from their blogs.I think it is a good thing.
Twitter: lisapatb
January 31, 2013 at 6:54 am
Great post Tom, I just checked analytics on a site that I manage yesterday and Pitnerest overtook Google, not sure if that is really good or bad but there are many ways to drive traffic to a website now. It’s finding the one that converts best for your site or blog.
Lisa recently posted..Triberr Quick Tips to Get Your Blog Traffic Going
Twitter: tlmarketing_net
January 31, 2013 at 7:20 am
Hi Lisa! Thanks for commenting.I have noticed the same thing, Pinterest has a lot of potential.I have a few Hubpages hubs that get most of the traffic from Pinterest.
When looking at Pinterest user demographics, up to 80% of users are women between the ages of 25 and 55.
A great marketing strategy is to write Hubs about topics that interest women between the ages of 25 to 55 and link to the hubs from Pinterest (the site ranks really well in Google
).Yet another way to get more traffic and sales.
#7.Guest posting – I’m such a great fan of this method. I do this once in a while. Contacting blog owners if I could post an article to their website but apparently this is one of the abused methods as well. Some blog owners requires a fee for a blog post on their site. It could make blog posting worthless in the future if google finds out about the monetary aspect.
James recently posted..Part 3: The Search Engines and How to Protect Your Online Reputation
Twitter: tlmarketing_net
February 1, 2013 at 3:57 am
Hi James! Thanks for commenting.You are welcome to submit a guest post here as well!
I am impressed by the link you shared regarding the Top 1 SEO Tips for 2013. Diversify anchor text, links and traffic sources and marketing is something that I would like to focus for next month’s plans.
Donna Spears recently posted..Natural Disasters and the Aussie Spirit
Twitter: tlmarketing_net
February 1, 2013 at 3:59 am
Hi Donna! SEO has really changed for the better.There is no need to chase after links anymore.It is possible to get a good ranking just by following the simple tips above.
Thanks for the tips on SEO for 2013. You see a lot of sites giving the same tips except you mention keyword research, which is common sense but a lot of sites don’t mention that. And very few mention writing longer articles, like you advocate here. That really is excellent advice. Write your articles so they are at least 1000 words, and usually not more than 1500 unless still relevant and not rambling. Thanks.
Steve recently posted..13 Killer Foods For Fat Loss
Twitter: tlmarketing_net
February 1, 2013 at 4:01 am
Hi Steve, you are welcome! Keyword research is really important if you are looking to make money from your articles.If you are writing as a hobby it does not really matter.Long articles tend to rank better because there is more content that can be indexed.
Twitter: premium_essays
February 8, 2013 at 6:26 am
Great post Tom. The point #2 on content should be taken seriously for anyone interested in improving his rankings. Content is king. Write content for people to get quality information not for search engines. This will help drive more traffic to your site. Articles that are longer also tend to be more informative. Guys should avoid using short articles. Thank you for sharing this post.
Brown Williams recently posted..About Our Premium Custom Writing Services, Buy Papers from Us
Twitter: tlmarketing_net
February 8, 2013 at 9:29 am
Hi Brown! Thanks for commenting.Longer articles will often rank better because there is more information to index for the search engines. The quality is really important as well, people will only share useful content on social sites.Links from social sites will also help with the rankings, high quality content is king!