The whole world wants to create a blog and then aims to go on top in the most popular search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN). All the techniques, used by a webmaster for his blog to get to the top is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
SEO is not something that can be done overnight. Some keywords can take months to be well positioned. But others with more competition can take years and years to position them, or may never get to position themselves too. In my short life as a webmaster, I have drawn some conclusions from reading blogs specializing in SEO and participating in forums. With this post I intend to share these techniques with you so that you can someday reach the top in search engines:
1. Unique content and quality
This is perhaps the most important tip of all. Many blogs are unaware of this technique, but to provide quality and useful content to the search engines is certainly a great way to get a good position, which converts to more unique visitors. It is better to create a relevant and interesting post per week than to create seven posts per day using duplicate information.
2. A good title for the content is essential
The title of your content is something that you really have to focus on. Create a title that is expressive and absolutely goes per the content. The first thing you see in search engines is the page title. So it is very important to put keywords in it. About 6 or 7 words is a correct figure. Keep in mind that the more words will have less value each.
3. Create a domain name that’s easy to remember
Preferably the domain has to have your important keywords, and should not use characters other than alphabets, and be short in length. The age of the domain is an important factor too. Because Google usually gives more weight to the older domains than the new ones, which can be regarded as spam.
4. Domain extensions
The domain extension (e.g. .com, .info, .net) is the only factor not influencing the search engines, but the minds of the users themselves. It is not the same thing to recall www.thegghead.co.uk and www.theegghead.com unless you plan to create a website exclusively for readers in the UK. The best option is to use .com. For example, I have a home DIY website that is accessed by almost the whole world, so I have chosen .com.
5. Add your blog to directories with good PageRanks right now
Google does not give much weight to links in huge link directories as much as they did before. But it is never wrong to sign up for them, especially if they are free. These directories are useful, because the traffic that comes from them is quality traffic.
6. Exchange links with quality sites and good PageRank
This is what Google values. If you have many links from different websites / blogs, it will be easier for search engine robots to find you. Make sure the anchor text contains your major keywords and the link does not have “no follow” tags. By getting your website to become more and more popular, you will eventually start getting links without having to add them yourself. At that point you can consider yourself a good writer.
7. Use H1 tags, H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6
A blog has to be like a newspaper, where the content is structured. It is advisable to follow the following structure:
- Description -> H4
- Title -> H2
- Opening Paragraph -> H3
- Body -> Content goes here, and remember the title is a very important tag so the major keywords should appear in there. A ratio of 5 keywords per 100 words is an acceptable figure.
8. Create a sitemap.xml and robots.txt
Creating a sitemap; this makes it easier for visitors to find specific content on your website/blog without too much trouble. The robots.txt file is used to indicate to search engines if you do not want them to index some content of your website. Using Google Webmaster Tools we can submit our sitemap so that they take it into account during their next crawl.
9. Good structured URLs
URLs must be friendly to the search engines in order to allow them to index them properly. Like the H1, H2 and H3, they should have keywords in them. If you use WordPress as a CMS platform, it is very easy to change the type of Permalinks. You need to login to your administration panel and then head to Options -> Permalinks -> click on custom structure, and then put /% postname% /. Less time to memorise an address makes it easier to remember it. If you are using Joomla, simply turn on SEF URLs in the Global configuration screen and you are set.
10. Post your articles in social bookmarks
This is perhaps not a SEO technique, but it helps a lot in getting traffic. Some say that having links in social bookmarking websites help with PageRank, but I do not think so. The best known social bookmark site is Delicious, followed by Reddit and Digg.
