One of the best skills you can learn as an online marketer is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Whether you want to:
- Implement SEO for your own website or blog
- Help small local businesses gain more search engine presence
- Assist larger companies with your SEO knowledge & expertise
This is all extremely possible once you learn the basics of SEO.
The best part about mastering this skill is that the vast majority of people have NO idea what they’re doing when it comes to optimizing a website to its fullest potential.
You are looked at as some sort of guru when you tell clients, friends, local businesses etc. that you can help them rank their website in Google for various keywords and drive more targeted traffic.
With that being said, in this short post I am going to highlight a few simple search engine optimization techniques you should focus on that will put you ahead of 99% of the competition.
Simple Search Engine Optimization Techniques
Let’s use an example of a local pizza restaurant in Miami Florida for the purpose of this blog post (Joey’s Pizza).
1.) Keyword Research
First and foremost you will need to conduct some keyword research based around the local target, competition, etc. You can use Google Keyword Planner or other tools such as MOZ or keywordtool.io to generate your keyword research list. Try to flesh out a list where you have a sufficient amount of options to rank for in Google. And also try to target some longer-tail keywords as well (terms that are 3-5 words long), since they are easier to rank for in the search results. For example, some keywords that might be generated would be:
- Restaurants in Miami Florida
- Pizza Miami Florida
- Best Pizza in Miami Florida
- Miami Florida Pizza Places
- Top Rated Pizza In Miami Florida
2.) SEO Tag Optimization
Once you complete your keyword research, you can begin to actually implement an SEO plan for your client or your own website. Here are the most important tags to focus on:
- Title Tags- The Title Tag holds the most weight from an SEO standpoint and should be written as close to 70 characters as possible (without going over). Focus on adding in your most relevant keywords here as this is the blue clickable text that is seen in the search results when someone performs a search query. Here is an example of a strong and optimized Title Tag: Best Pizza In Miami Florida | Miami Florida Restaurants | Joey’s Pizza
- Meta Descriptions: The Meta Description is the snippet of text that is underneath the Title Tag when shown in the search engines. It should be compelling/unique and describe the page to the visitor to encourage user click through (155-160 characters long). You would want to optimize your Meta description like this for example: Joey’s pizza has been proudly serving the residents of Miami Florida for over 20 years strong. Come in and try one of our delicious homemade pies today!
- H1 Tags: The H1 Tag is the headline that is above the main text/copy/body of each page. It holds significant authority as far as SEO goes and should be optimized with the most important target keywords, while still reading naturally to visitors. An example would be: Contact Joey’s Pizza In Miami Florida Today!
- Image ALT Tag- Image ALT Tags are more important than people realize and offer great additional SEO benefits. For every image on a website, you can add an ALT Tag, which helps describe to Google what that picture is about. A simple example would be a picture of a pizza that has the tag: Miami Florida Pizza Places
3.) Copy Optimization/Internal Linking
Next you will want to optimize the existing content on the website by ensuring there are target keywords placed in the text on a given page.
Only optimize copy where you see fit and do not keyword stuff. You want the copy to flow smoothly and read naturally for the best user experience possible. Copy optimization helps add more keyword relevancy to the actual content of the pages and gives Google a better idea of what you’re trying to rank for.
You’ll also want to add a handful of internal links per page pointing to other relevant/related pages on your website. This offers two benefits…1.) It helps visitors navigate your site more effectively and 2.) It spreads some link juice (authority) from page to page.
4.) Link Building
Assuming the website has enough SEO optimized content (make sure of this before going on to this step), you can then begin the link building work.
- Citations are basically just mentions of a business name and address on other web pages like Google My Business, Bing Places, Yelp, etc. They are a major component in the ranking algorithms of Google and Bing (and especially for local SEO and businesses). It would be worthwhile to research which citation websites offer “do-follow” links as this can be a great way to generate some quick wins.
- Guest posting is the process of reaching out to other related & authoritative websites in your niche and seeing if they are accepting articles from external bloggers/webmasters. Generally you are allowed to add a link to your website within your body copy or author bio. This in return will provide you with a natural and quality backlink. In my opinion, this is one of the MOST powerful ways to build quality links, increase search engine rankings, and generate more organic traffic for your website (read more about guest posting here).
- Competitor link building involves taking a closer look at your competitors’ websites and using tools such as Ahrefs or MOZ to analyze their backlink portfolio. Once you scrape out a list of backlinks that your competitors have acquired, you should try to obtain the same or similar links for yourself.
- Crafting quality content on a consistent basis can increase the likelihood of other bloggers/webmasters noticing your work and linking to your website. If your blog articles are properly optimized and provide a ton of value for your readers, this puts you in a great position to potentially generate natural and passive backlinks.
5.) Content Creation
If you have a blog, you should be posting an article at least once every week. This in combination with link building can really generate impressive results in terms of search engine rankings and organic traffic. Google loves a website with consistent, fresh and unique content and will actually favor it in the search results. Blogging also allows you to target a variety of different keyword phrases that you may not be able to target on the main pages of your website. Well-written, informative and long-form style blog posts tend to get shared often on social media which can increase your referral traffic as well. The benefits of producing quality blog content on a consistent basis are priceless and can ultimately drive more overall business.
These are some dead simple search engine optimization techniques that you can implement that will separate you from much of the competition. These are ethical and natural SEO methods to gain some serious traction in the search engines.
Do things the right way and the results will follow.
I have more awesome search engine optimization tips, tricks and techniques on the way.
If you liked this post, please leave me a comment and/or share your thoughts.
Also, be sure to check out my SEO coaching services here if you are looking for additional help and one-on-one SEO training. Alternatively, I offer full done-for-you SEO services here as well.
