banner-cogo02.jpg

WHERE BUSINESSES GO TO GROW

Optimizing your Website for Google

BY Peg McDermott on Apr 09, 2014 / IN Search Engine Optimization

Last week, we offered advice and tips related to website design spring cleaning. While a high quality design is sure to increase your chance of online success, there is one thing you need to remember: you still need people to visit your website.

With all this in mind, we are going to take a closer look at the SEO spring cleaning process. Once your design is taken care of and you feel good about moving forward, it is time to turn your attention to search engine optimization.

Here are three tips for getting started:

1. Start with on-page SEO. This has everything to do with the decisions you are making, and nothing to do with other websites. On-page ranking factors include but are not necessarily limited to the following:

  • Content, including quality and length
  • Title tag
  • URL structure
  • Inner linking
  • Use of images

These are all factors you can focus on yourself.

2. Move to off-page SEO. Once you have your website in order, it is time to move to off-page SEO. This can be a bit more challenging, since you don’t have total control over the situation. That being said, there are things you can do to improve in this area.

Above all else, attempt to pinpoint any “spam” links that could be dragging your site down. Upon finding these, contact the webmaster and ask to have them removed. If this is unsuccessful, use the Google disavow tool.

When it comes to off-page SEO, there is nothing more important than links pointing back to your site. There used to be a time when any link was a good link, however, things have changed for the better. Now, you should focus on quality over quantity. You want to get as many links as you can from high quality, relevant sites. Of course, this needs to be done naturally, as paying for links is a big no-no.

Another off-page strategy to consider is social interaction. Are you sharing your content on Facebook and Twitter? Are others doing the same? If not, you are missing out on a big part of the off-page SEO pie.

3. Create a solid plan for the future. Just because you made SEO mistakes in the past, does not mean you have to do the same in the future. Once you have everything in order, both on-page and off-page, it is time to create a plan that you can follow as 2014 wears on.

The wonderful world of SEO is always changing. For this reason, you need to be willing to adjust your approach as well.

0
Subscribe