Google Search Engine SEO Tips for Beginners
How to Use Keywords to Increase Web Traffic and Improve SEO
Oct 20, 2009
The Google Search Engine is a highly popular site for Internet searches, and webmasters that want to increase website traffic from Google are well served by learning how Google indexes content and decides what sites best match a user search.
While the exact science of how Google performs these calculations is a mystery, there are some basic search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that can help most any site rise in Google rankings.
The Importance of Keyword Phrases for Google Search Engine SEO
Keyword phrases are the search terms that Internet users type into the Google search engine looking for content that matches their needs. Optimizing a website for keyword phrases is the foundation of good SEO, and the first step any webmaster should take to ensure web content is effectively indexed.
In addition to helping with search engine efficiency and SEO, properly using keywords can encourage a webmaster keep the focus of the site in mind at all times. This can improve the focus of a website, therefore improving the end-user experience.
Tips to Improve SEO and Optimize a Website for Keyword Phrases
Keyword research and understanding keyword competition can be a complicated and involved process. At the most basic level, optimizing a website for keyword phrases involves considering what terms a user might type into a search engine to find a website, and creating web content with those phrases in mind.
Following are areas where keyword phrase optimization to improve SEO can be easily implemented on a new or established web site:
- Page title: Use primary keyword phrases at the beginning of a page title. Keep titles focused and concise; titles that are too long risk being cut off in the search results, and therefore go unseen by readers.
- URL: Whenever possible, the page URL should match the page title and contain relevant keyword phrases. Tip: Some blog platforms, such as WordPress, set URLs to page ID as the default. Edit the options to have URLs display as real words for better SEO.
- Lead paragraph: Use the primary keyword phrase in the lead paragraph of content, showing the importance of the term to the information ahead.
- Sub-headings: Write descriptive sub-headings for sections of articles, using primary and secondary keywords in the titles.
- Inter-linking: Inter-link relevant articles on the site, using descriptive keyword phrases as anchor text.
- Images: Use descriptive keywords for image file names and image alt text.
- Categories and tags: When using a blogging platform, further optimize the site by using site-wide keywords to categorize and tag content.
Use SEO Basics to Increase Website Traffic
A focus on Seo basics can help webmasters improve a site's usability for visitors and search engines. While each step might not in isolation might not bring a site to the top ranking spot on Google, the combined process of viewing a site with an eye toward search engine optimization can effectively increase website traffic on a niche website, and improve the overall user experience.
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