A writer's guide to SEO

28/07/2015 11:11

Fortunately, the days of black hat optimisation are numbered; Google is now very good at recognising web sites that use unethical means to artificially increase their search ranking. The good news for content producers is that writing content for humans (rather than for search engines) is now recognised as the most effective technique.

Here's a summary of what you should be doing to increase your site ranking:

  1. Find out what makes a good keyword/keyword phrase
  2. Embed them in your content in the following locations:
    • Within the meta-copy (for the search page)
    • Within the main body copy (including headings)
    • Within the URL itself
    • Within the first 70 characters of the title
  3. Create content silos: collect information into logical groups
  4. Fresh content will have more impact. It’s worth optimising 'deeper' pages (not just top-level)
  5. Create 'domain authority' by encouraging inbound links (links from external sites to your own)

 

1. Choosing the right keywords

There are lots of tools available that help identify what the best keywords are for your target market. That is, what you think the best keywords are, and the keywords actually being used, is not necessarily the same.

  • Use keyword expansion tools to identify the right words for your audience/market. Google Wonder Wheel  shows search terms related to the current searched query (i.e. related keywords that you may have missed).
  • Competitive analysis: which keywords are your competitors paying to use via PPC? Which keywords have the lowest bounce rate? Google External Keyword Tools shows what words/phrases users are searching for

 

2. Putting keywords in your main content

  • Don't 'write for the search engine'. Write for a human audience. It must read well and make sense, or you'll be penalised. Write for your users and you'll be ranked well.
  • Google likes a 'newspaper' structure (headlines, with meaningful text in small paragraphs).
  • Your keywords only need to appear 3 times on each page.
  • You only need 300 words of text on page. You do not need hundreds of pages.

 

3. Putting keywords in your page title and URL

  • The first and second positions are crucial (ie the first 70 characters displayed in the Title bar)
  • The page title is more important than meta content as the page title creates the link on search result pages.
  • Page title alone should tell the user what the page is for, so using company straplines are rarely appropriate.
  • Page title should match the h1 element on a page for maximum effect

 

4.Meta tags & urls

  • Ensure you use at least 150 characters, as this leaves less room on search result page for competitors' details.
  • Keywords in the Primary Domain and URL path will increase your rankings

 

5.Site structure

  • 'Silo' your web content into separate areas within our site so Google can understand the sections.
  • Keep themes separate. Connect related pages with internal links.
  • Avoid repeating anchor text (or linking text): this may seem counter-intuitive, but if there are too many identical links, Google will presume you're manipulating the content and penalise your site
  • Organise footer and heading links logically, but don't overload with navigational links

 

6.Inbound links

  • Use inbound links to generate 'domain authority'. Blogs are an ideal way to do this. Non-reciprocated links are key (again, Google interprets reciprocated links as a dark hat technique.
  • Quantity is not important: it's the quality of links that counts (i.e. a few links from relevant/high-profile sites that themselves have domain authority.
  • Include links from blogs, directory listings, etc.
  • Many sites put on links,which means they have no SEO benefit. Aim for "editorial links", that is links from reputable sources where people have actively chosen to link to your content.

 

7. Images and branding

  • Google does not understand your visual branding. Specify sensible 'ALT' tags and filenames and images.
  • Do not rely on images to structure your content. Use headlines and body text

 

 

8.Ensuring your search ranking isn't lost during a redesign

  • If your URLSs are changing, then you NEED redirects to pass on your 'juice'. Your webmaster will help with this.
  • Use Google's webmaster tools to identify inbound links and notify webmasters at (for example) partner sites. It takes some time for links to be passed on (6 months)
  • Do not redirect to a generic page (that is, do not send everything to www.mywebsite/home). Re-direct on a page by page basis.

 

Make a free website Webnode