Search Engine Optimization

by Ryan Toms

It is safe to say that a lot of people out there cannot afford to pay the big guns to do their SEO for them which then encourages them to go after freelancers or perhaps even take up SEO themselves. Most freelancers out there know exactly what they are doing but if you are doing it yourself there are a few things you need to look out for.

Optimising The Site

One of the very first things you need to do is pick the keywords you are going to want to target when it comes to the SEO campaign. If you are trying to rank for something like “shoes” but do not have the keyword in any of your copy across the site then it is very unlikely you are going to be getting anywhere in the search engines. Look into your Meta titles and descriptions and strategically insert relevant keywords in along with putting them (where relevant) in the copy too. One of the things to remember is not to stuff the same word in the same piece of copy because this will get you penalised. Read the copy through before setting live; look at it from both a user and search engine’s point of view.

Say No To Black Hat SEO

Black Hat SEO includes methods that are against the search engines guidelines and although they have been proven to work it would seem that the search engine spiders are getting a lot better and figuring out exactly what is going on. Techniques to avoid when it comes to this include doorway pages, invisible text and… PAID LINKS! The latter of the three is the one that search engines like Google are struggling to clamp down upon but I can guarantee you it will happen in the near future!

Don’t Write Rubbish

Make sure that you take your time when it comes to writing content for your site and that you are not simply rehashing something you just found on another site. Once you have finished the post, take time to read, reread and make changes to it. I have made mistakes in the past where I am short on time and have had to send stuff out without reading it through and it turned out to be rubbish. Make the time to read it through; search engines like Google are looking for decent content to crawl through and duplicate content is just acceptable.

Just a few SEO tips for newcomers to Search Engine Optimisation, it isn’t the easiest of things to learn but it is very rewarding and when you start to gain traffic from it you will know that all of the hassle has been worth it.

Ryan is an SEO Engineer .  If you want to see more of his ramblings you can follow him on Twitter @ryanogs