Search Engine Optimization, or SEO as the enlightened call it, is a technique to generate more traffic for a website. Many SEO tactics have been shown to work, but it can still seem like the process of unburying your website from page 10 of the search results takes forever. Clearly, some ideas work better than others. Here are some of the top SEO tools that can help any website be more visible.
Use Long-Tail Keywords
For new sites in the market, especially those fighting against long-entrenched competitors for search result real estate, using long-tail keywords is a great way to go. A long tail keyword is simply a phrase that is longer and more specific than a similar phrase. For example, “Restaurant” is a generic term. “Restaurant in Vancouver” would be a more specific term, and a short-tail keyword. “Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Vancouver” would be a longer-tail keyword, and is the most specific. Long-Tail keywords work because of how specific they are, meaning they likely have less competition from other sites.
Good Architecture for New Pages
Using good page architecture for new pages on your site is critical, especially if you are selling something on the new page. Doing some things like linking the new page back to your homepage, as well as providing navigation back to the category pages are good examples of this. Following such tips will ensure that search engines can quickly crawl and index your entire website. This will result in better placement in search engine results when a user is searching for something that is featured on one page of your website.
Score with Local SEO
If you pull up a browser and search for something like “pizza” or “bike shop” in a search engine, you will likely be provided a page where a large number of the results on the first page are “local”. These results are listed with an accompanying map due to their proximity to the user. Still, your website has to score a seat in these rankings. One key to this is to have your accurate business information in as many places as possible around the net. Obviously one must take the time to create these citations, when doing this focus on listing your business location the same way every time. For example, if your business is located at “1 Main Street Your City, USA” you must be careful to write it the same way each time, in this case “St.” is not the same as “Street”. Getting good reviews helps in these local results too. Although the search engine will likely only show reviews through its review service, it is helpful to encourage your customers to give good reviews anywhere.