In the previous lesson we started learning about search engine optimization, and we did some initial keyword research and analysis.
Today we’re going to dig in and start optimizing our website with On Page SEO.
(Watch this video…)
Main points:
Domain Name – Use your primary keyword. Hyphens are optional. Use a top level domain (.com, .org. net). Country domains can be used if you’re optimizing for your country only.
You can register domains here.
Advanced tip: use an aged domain. (just make sure it has a clean history)
Page URL – Use the page’s targeted keyword as the page file name. Hyphens optional.
WordPress makes it easy. See lesson #34 for permalink setup. Also here is a web host with one-click WordPress installation (Coupon Code: ERICSTIPSCOUPON).
If you’ve already got WordPress posts with non-SEO friendly URL’s, use a permalink migrator plugin, such as Dean’s Permalink Migration or Permalinks Moved Permanatly.
Title Tag – Use the page’s targeted keyword at the beginning of the title. If you’re using WordPress, use the All In One SEO Pack plugin, or else use an SEO theme like Thesis Theme.
Meta Description – NOT generally used for SEO ranking, but still important. Use your keyword one time, keep an honest non-spammy description, and make it compelling to entice clicks.
H1 Tags – Use your targeted keyword within an H1 tag at the top of the page. This can be a headline.
Keyword Usage – Forget about density, frequency, LSI, etc. Just be sure to use your keyword at least once in the content, and use it up to several times in a natural way that makes sense. It may help to make it bold one time.
Images – Use your keyword as the image name, and in the “alt” text. Just make sure your picture accurately fits the name and description.
With good image optimization, you can get a lot of extra traffic from image searches. In general this traffic is known for NOT converting into sales, but is traffic nevertheless, and in some cases can be converted.
Site Structure – Your site should be easy to navigate. Use canonicalization (no duplicate content within your own site). Front-load your content in the coding of your page (ie. you don’t want a big navigation menu to be the first thing the search engine robot sees).
Internal Linking – Use keywords when linking within your own site. For example, at the beginning of this lesson I linked to the previous lesson. Notice that my anchor text is “search engine optimization”, NOT “Lesson #76”.
Site Map – Use an XML sitemap. To make your own, see the protocol at sitemaps.org. Or use one of the many site-map generators, or a WordPress plugin such as Google XML Sitemaps by Arne Brachhold.
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service – Some people say this affects SEO, although it is very questionable. But even if it doesn’t affect SEO, you should still have the proper legal docs on your site (See lesson #43). And on the topic of compliance, you also need to follow Google’s technical and quality webmaster guidelines.
“No Follow” Link Attribute – For SEO purposes, it’s probably best to use “no follow” on your blog comments. Also, you may wish to use it for affiliate link, and any link to a “bad neighborhood” (but you shouldn’t be linking to bad places).
Fast Page Load Time – Your site should load FAST. Don’t bog it down with many plugins and 3rd party apps. Use clean, minimalist coding.
Original Content – Yes, content is king. Not just for SEO, but for long term success of any website. Good content does not inherently bring web traffic; you still have to be a marketer. Good content is also necessary to decrease your bounce rate (helps with SEO), increase the time visitors spend on your site, and increase repeat traffic.
Fresh Content – Posting more frequently can help you gain authority with the search engines more quickly. And I’m not talking about auto-blogging. It must be good, original content.
Google’s Starter Guide
Seomoz Beginner’s Guide
To learn more about SEO, I recommend the Professional SEO Training Course, which is used to train SEO industry professionals around the world.
Action steps:
1) Do an analysis of your competitors’ On Page SEO.
2) Optimize your pages for your keywords.
3) Make sure your site structure is good.
4) Make sure your site is FAST.
5) Provide good content regularly.
We’ll be looking at Off Page SEO in the next lesson.
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂
Have a great day!
Hello Marija,
If you are looking to presell affiliate products, then you’ll want to include some content about the item. For instance, you could create a review to include in your WordPress page or post.
However, if your blog content is already related to the offers you are promoting, you could simply include a link with your brief recommendation.
This is best video tutorial i ever seen on On page work of SEO. This information is very helpful to fresher to learn onpage activities. Thanks for suggesting this detail onpage steps.
Hi, Eric, I am glad you mentioned original contents. I have been trying to get some original contents for my site http://www.rightoushealth.com, but i don’t have a clue of what to do. And even if i get the contents i don’t know how to apply it to the site. Please give me some direction. I want to get this site monetize one way or another.
Thanks once again for the power training tips.
Mark
Hello Mark,
Eric actually covers this a couple lessons from now.
Here is the link to Eric’s lesson called, Article Marketing:
Thanks, Micah.
Hey Eric
Thanks for the Awesome Tips 🙂
How does the fresh content thing fit into our info products strategy??, is a blog the only way??
Have you used blogs on some of your info product sites to rank in google?? do you suggest this??
I am wanting to create a few ebook sites but don’t think running a few blogs will be manageable?? hmm a little stuck
Warmest Regards
Matt
Hello Matt,
If your niche could benefit from some ongoing content, then having a blog is a big plus.
There’s not that much to manage. You could even outsource the content creation if needed, as that is the most time consuming aspect of having a blog.
The white hat methods that are needed for optimization may appear
to be time consuming, but the best part about this is you will
get good results out of this and also you can get actual results which will be beneficial for your
business. Often, simply looking at the top ads is a great way to get
started–learn what you can from the best. SEM methods include Search engine optimisation, PPC, and Paid inclusion.
I like the work that you are doing ,keep it up
Thanks