PbnGeek
Regular Member
- Apr 13, 2017
- 274
- 184
I know there are already a lot of guides out here on BHW much more descriptive than mine!
But here is my drop in the Ocean
Anyway, If you have a website or even just a blog, then you must have come across this term: SEO
If you have been dealing with IM (internet marketing) then you must have come to believe that SEO governs how you live your life- it governs how much money you earn.
SEO stands for search engine optimization: it means that you are putting on your best suit so that you can leave a lasting impression on that one person who you want to butter up to, namely Google.
Google: How does it work?
And let's face it: Google is a pretty strict judge- It will judge you on 10-15 parameters you know of and maybe a lot of other parameters that you or I have yet to know of.
The online thing that drives Google is that it wants the best for its users: the best results. If it could it would probably only give out the 1 result that would 100% answer your query and leave you without further questions.
To achieve this Google has to first understand the user query and the intention behind it- trying to understand what the user is really searching for, what could be in his/her mind as they type the query into the Search box-the more parameter Google incorporates- the closer the results are to what the user has in mind.
The more parameter Google incorporates into its search engine- the more complex the Algorithm gets.
Getting the SEO right means understanding how Google matches what the user searches for to what you are providing.
A lot of pointers in this regard are the major parameters which you can find in a majority of blogs by SEO ‘gurus’.
I’ll try to list out all the possible BASIC ON-PAGE factors that you can pay attention to. This is almost equivalent to doing a mini-audit of your site.
Parameters to look out for in terms of SEO:
1. TITLE: Should contain main-keyword you are aiming for.
Your whole content will revolve around this title. So, make sure that it is not only the central most idea but everything relevant to the said title is contained in your topic. The more complete and relevant content you provide. Contextual relevance is a major aspect which needs to be kept in mind.
The more relevant and complete information that you provide regarding some topic- the more likely you are to rank above someone who is only bringing out a content which is trying to sell a product to a customer. Provide value.
2. HEADING 1(H1): Should contain main-keyword (Usually contain the Title+ one or 2 extra words)
The H1 and the TITLE are very similar to each other. If the Title contains ‘Potted Plants reviews’, then the H1 can be something like ‘Best Potted Plants Reviews in 2018’ or something of that order.
3. HEADING 2 (H2): Should have LSI or Long tail keywords
Make use of long tails or LSI(synonymous) keywords in the H2. This indicates that the topic is centered around the same topic. And reinforces the context. Can also be used to include the different products you are reviewing.
4. HEADING 3 (H3):
I usually use H3 and at times H2 for highlighting the features of the said product. Like for ‘Potted plants’, I would include- ‘grows very fast’, ‘requires minimal maintenance’, ‘aesthetically pleasing’, ‘medical effect for superficial wounds’ and so on in H3. If I don’t have too many headings for H2, some of them can go into H2 as well.
*I don’t go beyond H3. I also use Italics and bold as per convenience (if you have seen noticeable SEO impact regarding these-do enlighten me.)
*DON’T INSERT KEYWORDS/LSI/LONG-TAILS IF THEY ARE NOT NEEDED. LET IT BE AS NATURAL AS POSSIBLE.
5. IMAGES:
Whenever you post images online, remember that if the image size is too big then it will take up resources and time to load which in turn will increase the load time- or the speed of the page.
· Always compress images for web pages and scale them accordingly.
· Name the image according to what the image is about like ‘potted plant.jpeg’ instead of a random name like ‘upload455335.jpeg’.
· Include the Alt-text for every image and litter it with a few keywords if needed.
· Make sure that the image doesn’t cover any text when being used in different devices like mobiles, tabs, etc.
Images and multimedia can dazzle the customer but also take up a lot of resources and lead to poor user experience. Find a balance between the 2 extremes.
6. PAGE SPEED:
The time it takes to load your page is called the load time. If your load time is greater than 2.5s then it is a big NO-NO for Google. Longer load times prompt users to hit the backspace even before they read the 80$ content on your page. So much for that.
Using the following can speed up your site:
· CDNs: It not only enhances the speed of your page but also enhances uninterrupted content availability in case of heavy traffic. It also improves our security and has a ton of other advantages.
· Faster hosting: Using inefficient and overloaded hosting is detrimental from both an SEO perspective as well as from the user’s. Such a hosting will only slow down your site and leave a bad impression on any customer or business opportunity.
· Optimized images: Use GTmetrix.com to figure out the various ways in which images too large for your page are slowing it down. It also has a lot of other parameters to help speed up your page.
· Caching tools: Use browser caching and Page-caching plugins to store a copy of your site which has been cached previously. Serving this instead of the live site can reduce load time to up to 50%. Useful for pages with static information.
7. KEYWORDS:
The exact match keyword should only be used sparingly <1% or whatever is natural. Make sure to include it in the TITLE, H1, and the first 100 words.
Use Long-tails and LSI keywords instead of trying to stuff the exact match keywords everywhere.
Sometimes you can just skim through someone’s post and it would be overflowing with so many keywords that it wouldn’t leave space for any value and information that can actually make it useful to someone who reads it.
8. ANCHORS:
I prefer to use branded, naked and generic anchors. They seem to have worked the best for me.
*The serial numbers are just for show- no particular order
9. RESEARCH: Very Important!
I have had a lot of clients come to me with a newly purchased website- content they have bought from a variety of places and hopes of striking it rich.
But the one thing that they seem to have forgotten to do or have done half-assedly is research.
I remember one client who had picked a fairly competitive niche.
And on top of that the Keyword that they were aiming to rank was so generic it seemed like they had picked it up because it was the first thing that came to their mind.
And the result was not astounding.
No rankings for that KW.
If you are spending a $$ on the site and the content then even before getting these you should have your research in place.
Proper and correct research of the niche and the keyword that you want to target.
A lot of people lose out because they get warped up in the process of wanting to make it BIG but don’t actually put in the effort to get there.
If you can’t do your research- then hire someone to do it for you.
Otherwise, all your money might just go down the drain.
# The August Update: Tidbits.
Well, with this update Google has tried to oust any shady looking site and content. The major impact was seen in the health niche and YMYL- Your Money or Your Life - sites.
That is to say, Google has upped the game again.
Trust, content and contextual relevance seem to be the major players now.
I have had a lot of client sites dropping after the update but the ones with Quality and informative well- rounded content recovered just as fast- if not ranking better.
Since YMYL sites will have a direct impact on a user’s day-to-day life they are the ones being strictly regulated.
But.
There is one thing that you can learn from this is that if you do it right the first time:
Provide great value to the users.
Then you’ll see your rankings shoot up as some non-descript pages with great quality might have seen in the weeks following the update.
Quite a lot of this might already be something that a lot of you know but I am hoping it can help some people out!
Let me know if you have different opinions regarding any of this!!
If you have seen better results with different changes, let me know- I'll try it out on my sites
But here is my drop in the Ocean
Anyway, If you have a website or even just a blog, then you must have come across this term: SEO
If you have been dealing with IM (internet marketing) then you must have come to believe that SEO governs how you live your life- it governs how much money you earn.
SEO stands for search engine optimization: it means that you are putting on your best suit so that you can leave a lasting impression on that one person who you want to butter up to, namely Google.
Google: How does it work?
And let's face it: Google is a pretty strict judge- It will judge you on 10-15 parameters you know of and maybe a lot of other parameters that you or I have yet to know of.
The online thing that drives Google is that it wants the best for its users: the best results. If it could it would probably only give out the 1 result that would 100% answer your query and leave you without further questions.
To achieve this Google has to first understand the user query and the intention behind it- trying to understand what the user is really searching for, what could be in his/her mind as they type the query into the Search box-the more parameter Google incorporates- the closer the results are to what the user has in mind.
The more parameter Google incorporates into its search engine- the more complex the Algorithm gets.
Getting the SEO right means understanding how Google matches what the user searches for to what you are providing.
A lot of pointers in this regard are the major parameters which you can find in a majority of blogs by SEO ‘gurus’.
I’ll try to list out all the possible BASIC ON-PAGE factors that you can pay attention to. This is almost equivalent to doing a mini-audit of your site.
Parameters to look out for in terms of SEO:
1. TITLE: Should contain main-keyword you are aiming for.
Your whole content will revolve around this title. So, make sure that it is not only the central most idea but everything relevant to the said title is contained in your topic. The more complete and relevant content you provide. Contextual relevance is a major aspect which needs to be kept in mind.
The more relevant and complete information that you provide regarding some topic- the more likely you are to rank above someone who is only bringing out a content which is trying to sell a product to a customer. Provide value.
2. HEADING 1(H1): Should contain main-keyword (Usually contain the Title+ one or 2 extra words)
The H1 and the TITLE are very similar to each other. If the Title contains ‘Potted Plants reviews’, then the H1 can be something like ‘Best Potted Plants Reviews in 2018’ or something of that order.
3. HEADING 2 (H2): Should have LSI or Long tail keywords
Make use of long tails or LSI(synonymous) keywords in the H2. This indicates that the topic is centered around the same topic. And reinforces the context. Can also be used to include the different products you are reviewing.
4. HEADING 3 (H3):
I usually use H3 and at times H2 for highlighting the features of the said product. Like for ‘Potted plants’, I would include- ‘grows very fast’, ‘requires minimal maintenance’, ‘aesthetically pleasing’, ‘medical effect for superficial wounds’ and so on in H3. If I don’t have too many headings for H2, some of them can go into H2 as well.
*I don’t go beyond H3. I also use Italics and bold as per convenience (if you have seen noticeable SEO impact regarding these-do enlighten me.)
*DON’T INSERT KEYWORDS/LSI/LONG-TAILS IF THEY ARE NOT NEEDED. LET IT BE AS NATURAL AS POSSIBLE.
5. IMAGES:
Whenever you post images online, remember that if the image size is too big then it will take up resources and time to load which in turn will increase the load time- or the speed of the page.
· Always compress images for web pages and scale them accordingly.
· Name the image according to what the image is about like ‘potted plant.jpeg’ instead of a random name like ‘upload455335.jpeg’.
· Include the Alt-text for every image and litter it with a few keywords if needed.
· Make sure that the image doesn’t cover any text when being used in different devices like mobiles, tabs, etc.
Images and multimedia can dazzle the customer but also take up a lot of resources and lead to poor user experience. Find a balance between the 2 extremes.
6. PAGE SPEED:
The time it takes to load your page is called the load time. If your load time is greater than 2.5s then it is a big NO-NO for Google. Longer load times prompt users to hit the backspace even before they read the 80$ content on your page. So much for that.
Using the following can speed up your site:
· CDNs: It not only enhances the speed of your page but also enhances uninterrupted content availability in case of heavy traffic. It also improves our security and has a ton of other advantages.
· Faster hosting: Using inefficient and overloaded hosting is detrimental from both an SEO perspective as well as from the user’s. Such a hosting will only slow down your site and leave a bad impression on any customer or business opportunity.
· Optimized images: Use GTmetrix.com to figure out the various ways in which images too large for your page are slowing it down. It also has a lot of other parameters to help speed up your page.
· Caching tools: Use browser caching and Page-caching plugins to store a copy of your site which has been cached previously. Serving this instead of the live site can reduce load time to up to 50%. Useful for pages with static information.
7. KEYWORDS:
The exact match keyword should only be used sparingly <1% or whatever is natural. Make sure to include it in the TITLE, H1, and the first 100 words.
Use Long-tails and LSI keywords instead of trying to stuff the exact match keywords everywhere.
Sometimes you can just skim through someone’s post and it would be overflowing with so many keywords that it wouldn’t leave space for any value and information that can actually make it useful to someone who reads it.
8. ANCHORS:
I prefer to use branded, naked and generic anchors. They seem to have worked the best for me.
*The serial numbers are just for show- no particular order
9. RESEARCH: Very Important!
I have had a lot of clients come to me with a newly purchased website- content they have bought from a variety of places and hopes of striking it rich.
But the one thing that they seem to have forgotten to do or have done half-assedly is research.
I remember one client who had picked a fairly competitive niche.
And on top of that the Keyword that they were aiming to rank was so generic it seemed like they had picked it up because it was the first thing that came to their mind.
And the result was not astounding.
No rankings for that KW.
If you are spending a $$ on the site and the content then even before getting these you should have your research in place.
ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH!
Proper and correct research of the niche and the keyword that you want to target.
A lot of people lose out because they get warped up in the process of wanting to make it BIG but don’t actually put in the effort to get there.
If you can’t do your research- then hire someone to do it for you.
Otherwise, all your money might just go down the drain.
# The August Update: Tidbits.
Well, with this update Google has tried to oust any shady looking site and content. The major impact was seen in the health niche and YMYL- Your Money or Your Life - sites.
That is to say, Google has upped the game again.
Trust, content and contextual relevance seem to be the major players now.
I have had a lot of client sites dropping after the update but the ones with Quality and informative well- rounded content recovered just as fast- if not ranking better.
Since YMYL sites will have a direct impact on a user’s day-to-day life they are the ones being strictly regulated.
But.
There is one thing that you can learn from this is that if you do it right the first time:
Provide great value to the users.
Then you’ll see your rankings shoot up as some non-descript pages with great quality might have seen in the weeks following the update.
Quite a lot of this might already be something that a lot of you know but I am hoping it can help some people out!
Let me know if you have different opinions regarding any of this!!
If you have seen better results with different changes, let me know- I'll try it out on my sites
