There was a time, not so long ago, that SEO was nothing more than a combination of link exchanges, directory submissions, keyword meta tags and perhaps RSS blogs. The search engines have improved their algorithms ( formulas ) to include more to the deal. These days, SEO is as much about keyword research and excellent content creation as it is link building and directory submissions. You do not want to hire a SEO consultant who focuses on just one factor, such as reciprocal links. Combine that with article submissions, blogs and press releases and you are sure to be, at best, meta-linguistic.
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to your web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Generally, 80% of a website’s traffic comes from search engines; the next best source of web traffic is from reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is where you agree to put a link on your site pointing back to another site, and then those two sites link to each other.
Naturally, interested people will click on the links, and Internet users are most likely to click on a link they think will have something of value. So where do you go to find highly interested, motivated people?
Why Do I Need SEO Consultants?
SEO consultants come in all types. Black hat consultants will do whatever it takes to artificially generate traffic to your site, like cheating Google. White hat consultants will do the opposite. Through meticulous competition research and by studying what people do when they search for your products, consultants will be able to understand what will bring you increased business and what will push you down.
Part of this research is put together by a combination of hand picking quality questions from Alexa toolbar users and then following up after some time to find out how your site is doing.
How to Find the Best SEO Questions
- Enter your main topic and question into Google’s search engine.
- What sites come up? ( groundwork for your niche research )
- Find out how many pages come up for each search term.
- Try other search terms or phrases until you find one with 1,000 or more results.
- Always include quotation marks for obvious spelling errors.
- Look for authority sites with incoming links.
- Analyze all the traffic to determine what keywords will work and use then in your content.
- Now use the 80/20 rule. In the 80/20 theory, the faster your site appears on the search engine results; the better the chance that someone clicks on your link and visits your site.
- Include your best key words and phrases in your page title, H1 and H2 header tags.
- Use your keywords and phrases at the most crucial parts of your web page. For example, your title (the link that is clicked on), and as much as possible within the first paragraph and within the copy of your web page.
- If you have a site that has a large number of landing pages (for instance, a mortgage/home insurance website), consider using your keywords on each separate page.
- Now use each individual keyword/phrase (which should be used throughout the page).
- Include other keywords in some of the links to other pages on your site (don’t use the same link).
- Keywords should be used in photo and image ALT tags.
- Remember to use internal links.
- Keep your copy on target and simple.
- Keywords should appear in the hyperlinks; the words should be separated by a hyphen.
- Your linking should be natural. Don’t use words like “click here” or “go back.”
- Keywords should appear as the anchor text (designer silks, etc.).
- Keywords should be used as the title on interior pages.
- Do not hide your keywords with graphics.
Finally, keep your site design user friendly. Make it easy to navigate and easy to read.
Use your keywords efficiently. Next to the optimized content, the site needs to be made easy to find, easy to read and easy to navigate.
Put the internal links (links to other pages on your site) within the content.
Use appropriate keywords in the meta tags and description.
Simply design your site as you would want to be seen by potential customers.
Navigation – make it easy for visitors to find their way around.
Meet the needs of your visitors. Each page should haveiously relevant quality content. Not too much, not too little.