Search Engine Optimization, where & how to start?

As with any project or strategy you have to start with the foundations – the building blocks. And one of the first things to do for Search Engine Optimzation (SEO) is to get those all important keywords and keyphrases.

Get a plain pencil and paper and ask yourself, what keywords relate to my Website?

Write them all down, 1 word up to 4 or 5 word keyphrases.

These will give you a good base to start from and give you an overall keyword theme for your site.

Take it online

Go online and search for a keyword suggestion tool to find out what people on the Web are looking for, no use optimizing your site for something no one looks for!

Google’s AdWords has a great keyword tool that gives you info like estimated number of searches globally and locally – very handy. Google also has a tool called Google Insights which gives you more information on those keywords like regional interest.
But there are many other tools out there as well, just Google it ;)

Choose and Review

Make a list of the most relevant keywords, and choose ones that have the most amount of searches with the least amount of competition, of course this isn’t always possible but try to find the best balance you can. There are calculations that work out a keyword’s KEI or Keyword Effective Index based on those 2 criteria.

Planning your Website

(I won’t be going into the depth of the planning side but I must stress that planning is extremely important and saves a lot of headaches and hiccups down the line.)

Write down all the important parts of your Website and break them into relevant sections or pages. Do some research on your competitors and what you require from a Website.

Create a sitemap and wireframe which will create a visual representation of the foundations of the site. Get a Web development company or SEO specialist involved if you’re unsure on how to do it, a good one will give you great advice.

9 Ways to Build your content around your keywords

1. Use your keyword in your domain name if possible
2. Use your keywords in your Website structure – folder & file names
3. Page titles
4. Headings
5. Links
6. Lists
7. The beginning and the end of your page’s content
8. Descriptive image alt tags
9. Make sure that the keyword theme is strong!

It’s best to optimize each page for about 2 to 3 keywords per page so break down the list over the pages in your site.

Remember the 4 SEO keyword concepts – prominence, weight or density, frequency and proximity when compiling your content for Search Engine Optimization. (More on those concepts to come in future posts)

Don’t overdo it!

But please remember not to stuff your page full of keywords, this could impact negatively on your rankings and could land your site getting penalized or banned!

Write naturally and make sure that your content makes sense, remember that your site needs to provide for search engines and for your visitors, and visitors are the ones that will generate the business at the end of the day.

So this is all to do with the building the foundations – the planning and the start of on-the-page optimization stages. In future posts I’ll be delving into setting goals, off-the-page optimization, terms and scanning your site results for a baseline for progress amongst other important Search Engine Optimization topics.

Happy researching!

Related Posts

• 10 Search Engine Optimization mistakes to avoid at all costs!
• Quick tips for SEO on-page optimization
• My favourite Search Engine Optimisation resource is SEOMoz!

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