Onsite SEO advice – Think carefully about what goes on the page.
As far as Google are concerned your website content is king when it comes to ranking your website. Google is always trying to find the most relevant websites when people use its search engine. Therefore the more quality content you have the better. Don’t fall into the trap of writing pages and pages of waffle as this will have the opposite effect as emphasis should be on quality not the quantity.
People often fill their website full of keywords hoping that the more they say something and mention it the more Google will like their website. This is not true in fact if you keep repeating keywords over and over again Google will class the article as spam.
Yes you should plan your text around your keywords but don’t over use them. If over used your customers may be put off going any further, there is nothing worse than reading an article that doesn’t really say much but just keeps repeating itself time and time again.
When writing your text keep it original, it is easy to find articles from a similar website that is highly ranked and just cut and paste it. But there are two problems with this 1. It could be illegal 2. Duplicate text on the internet is now given a black mark by Google and will actually have a negative effect on your websites page ranking.
Also make sure it reads well there is no point spending a fortune on optimising your website if it then turns customers off buying your products or services as your content doesn’t make sense.
Highlighting key text is always a good way to show Google what is important on the page the use of bold text and H1 headers should do the trick, again don’t overdo it. If everything is bold or in H1 headers you may as well not use them at all, the occasional bold word and one H1 Header, use H2 and H3 Headers for other relevant sections. Just think of it in the same way you would a printed advert the main message should stand out on the page anymore than that and the message gets lost.
If you struggle writing content you can always use a professional copywriter, this can be a cost effective way to get your text written, as most will be able to write a good original article and one that is search engine friendly.
Website Content is not just the written word.
Don’t just concentrate on the text on your site, make sure you optimise everything this includes images, photographs and charts; they should all be titled with keywords. You would be amazed at how many pictures are just labelled as image 1 or home page pic. Spend time working out what page they are going on and how best to describe it, try to add a keyword or two. The same applies to anchor text you can title these links and they will get picked up by Google.
Whilst on the subject of Images it is important to note that search engines don’t pick up information from flash files. Flash should be kept to a minimum and remember that if you have an important message within the file make sure it is tagged or written somewhere on the page
Add content regularly
Google is always looking for websites that have current and up to date news and information the more current your website is the better. Some of the highest ranked websites are News and information driven and why so many people start blogs and use social media.
It can be difficult to find new topics to talk about on your website or blog and just writing articles for articles sake can be time consuming and ineffective.
If you are planning to start a blog as a way of keeping your website current, plan it before you start and be realistic about how much time a week or month you can devote to writing new articles. Make sure you have plenty to talk about; your business can be affected by a poorly run blog. If out of date customers could think you have ceased trading especially if there has been regular updates and then they suddenly stop.
Adding new products or services can be a good way to freshen up your website or possibly add new testimonial or case studies. Keeping abreast of new products in the market or new legislation is always handy as you can feed this information to your customers this can give you some great content that is new and interesting to read.
NB Even if you are quoting legislation make sure you write original content as if you have just copied it from somewhere else this will have a negative effect on your Google ranking.
Other onsite SEO Advice;
- Choosing a domain name
- Research your Keywords
- Page Titles
- Meta Tags & Meta Descriptions
- Comply with internet standards
Remember your website content is everything on the page, Written Content, Pictures and Metadata
FREE SEO Health Checks available, all website content will be analysed