SEO (search engine optimization) plays an important role for your online home business. Once you've found the keyword term or phrase that accurately describes the content you want to post online, you need to follow a carefully designed plan in order to give that content optimal exposure in the organic listings for popular search engines.
How it Works
Using the recommended plugins for Wordpress (if you're using Wordpress) is the most common starting point for online home business owners to use SEO principles in their business blogs. But there are several principles to keep in mind whether you're blogging, writing articles, making videos or posting content some other way.
Most Wordpress themes now come with their own SEO Meta settings for tags and descriptions. I use these settings along with 'All in One SEO for Wordpress' on every page or post.
When you look at a website's 'Heading' information in HTML you'll see the meta tags and description that search engines have been using for indexing and ranking since the internet was designed.
Making It Easy
The original concept behind providing Meta data wasn't for the purpose of beating the competition to the #1 spot in the organic search listings. This data was intended to make indexing easier and more reliable.
The first engines only used tags so that the content of the page was easier to classify or list in the index more accurately. By listing the keywords contained within a page or site in the header it was easier to complete the task.
Now search engines are sophisticated to the point where they'll actually compare that data with what they find in the actual text (body) of a page. That comparison actually weighs whether or not the keywords appear too often (keyword stuffing) and if appropriate synonyms or similar terms are also being used.
You Can't Cheat
Since search engines are continuously being improved (big debate) or at least modified it's a better business idea to stay on top of the trends and abide by the guidelines that work most commonly across all the engines.
Your motivation in business should be toward serving your customers and since your customers rely upon a search engine to return exactly what they're looking for you have a vested interest in making that happen.
The search engines do what they do to make the internet users experience productive so you should do whatever you can to position yourself or your company brand as an effective part of that process.
What can you do to position yourself or your company brand as an effective part of that process?
What You Can Do
Again, if the objective is just to make the process easy you can do that.1. Whenever possible use the keyword term in your URL2. Use the same keyword term and related terms in the meta tags, title and description3. Use it in the title of your post, page or article4. Use it in the first sentence of the first paragraph5. Use a variety of similar terms6. Never use the exact same keyword term or phrase more than 5 times per post or page7. Write to inform (not to use specific keyword phrases)
The framework is designed to accomplish one simple task and this is what search engines are competing for; "To yield the best results for a search term or phrase."
Quality Still Matters
When your post, page or article reach page one you don't want people landing on it and clicking away immediately because that's another thing the search engines measure.
Your online home business brand depends upon your content being found but also depends upon your content being useful.
The search engines aren't going to take exit polls from millions of active searchers every time they leave a site, but they do know exactly how many microseconds it takes from the time a user finds your page to the time they leave again.
Keep Them Engaged
The 7 steps above will help you get to the front page for a specific keyword phrase if it isn't too competitive (keyword research) but getting there isn't the end of SEO.
SEO can park your page alongside many more popular sites which means comparison between you and the next option is only a click away. A compelling title will get more clicks and engaging content will hold attention longer.
Online home business owners need to engage their audience before they can expect them to take the next step. SEO can offer you a valuable position but the value you offer has to be genuine and without genuine value all the hard work involved in reaching page one on Google will be wasted.
No comments:
Post a Comment