SEO: Search Engine Optimization Part 2

I wrote an SEO post (part 1) right before I moved my blog to WordPress (good for SEO). SEO is Search Engine Optimization, which is what helps search engines find our sites. There is no way to guarantee our sites are at the top of search engine lists, but we can sure optimize our results. Another great thing about optimizing your website/blog SEO is it helps your Google PR.

My first post was rather long, so this time I decided to keep it short, sweet, and to the point.

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1) Meta Tags: It is good to use powerful “description” words. For example on your homepage, give a brief description of what your site offers. For posts/publications use popular key words that will help readers find your site. * If you have WordPress, you are set. There are posts tags and really good SEO Plugins that help you optimize your SEO for each post/publication.

2)Relevant Post Title Words: Use descriptive words for titles. Keep post titles short and sweet. Use company name and/or product name in title. It is even better to put the company/product first. Example: Dyson Turbine Vacuum Review.

3) MAKE YOUR SITE EASY TO NAVIGATE: Making your site easy to navigate is a BIG one. This will also help your Google PR. Example: SITE MAP. This helps people find what they are looking for and help when Google bots run through your site. Another example: ADD A FOOTER. In your footer it is good to add a site map and a link to get back to the top of your page. Another great thing to help make your site easy to navigate is an archive.  I just added one to my navigation bar to help make my site easier to navigate. You are able to click on it and pull up posts but months. Making great use of your navigation bar is very helpful as well.

Here are the Site Map & Archive plugins I have:

3) Quality content: Try to make sure what you write is written nicely with quality content, posts are easy to read and follow, posts are organized, has relevant key words (use key word tools), fix broken links, NO SPAM (try to monitor spam comments), and write for your blog readers and not for search engines.

4) Anchor Texts: Use good anchor texts. This is a title that is included in your links. Example: <a href=”http://littleyayas.com/2011/05/chili%E2%80%99s-margarita-madness-contest-20-gift-card-giveaway.html” target=”_new”>Chili’s $20 Gift Card {6.11}</a>

5) IMAGES: Optimize your use of images. Some computers may not allow pictures to show up or there may be a glitch in the image. Using text helps describe the image AND helps searches like Google Image Search to understand your images. You can also supply an alternative text link to images. I like to use Photobucket, so clicking on many of my images will take you to where the image is hosted.

6)No Spam: Do not let spammers pass their reputation onto your site. If you have WordPress, you probably use Akismet plugin, which automatically blocks spam for you. If you have blogger there is a moderation option, but I am not sure how well it works. I was able to set my spam/comment moderation for posts that were over so many weeks old. I see so many come up since I have been on WP, I can only imagine how many I missed on blogger. You can use captchas, BUT it seems like it takes longer to enter contests, which makes people not want to enter as much as they would if there were no captcha.

7)Make your site MOBILE FRIENDLY: With the overwhelming amount of people on smart phones, we want to make sure our sites are mobile friendly, so that they can be accessed, clearly seen, and able to navigate on smart phones. With WordPress, I believe there is a plug in to help make your site mobile friendly.

8.) Promote your site: Be active in forums and other sites, leaving a link to your site. Promote your site using RSS feed, email subscriptions, and social media networks.

9) Copyright:Try not copy information from other websites. Try to put content in your own writing. Check and see if the content you are writing is plagiarizing.

Do you have an SEO tips that you use or would like to share? Comment and let us know.

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