SEO Secrets

I have a friend doing some search engine optimization on a website and we have had several conversations about the job. I have looked at the website and I thought I would share with you the secrets I told him after looking at the website about how to help it rank in the search engines for their keyword phrase.

Here it is, the secret to ranking number one or at least on the first page of Google for your keyword or search phrase? The number one secret to ranking on the first page of the search engine results is to…drum roll please…have your keyword phrase in the content of your website!

That does not seem like much of a secret does it? I’ll be honest there is a lot more to ranking high in the search engines than that, but the truth is if you do not have your keyword or your keyword phrase in the content of your website why would you think the search engines are going to rank you for that keyword or phrase? Search engines are not mind readers, they need to be told what your website is about. Using your keyword in the content of your site will help the search engines know what your site is about and help them rank you for that phrase.

Most SEO’s will tell you that you should aim for a keyword density for your main keyword between 3 to 7%, but don’t over do it. Make sure your website content is readable by a human being and makes sense. Don’t sacrifice readability for keyword density! Remember build your website for human beings first. Also, don’t forget to add your keyword to your page titles, your meta keyword and description tags and use it in headers in your text copy. All these things can have some influence on the search engines ranking you.

Want another secret to ranking high in the search engines that goes hand in hand with using your keyword in your website copy? Simple, use your keyword as link text to your website. For example I would not expect this blog to rank for the keyword phrase ”blog consulting” instead of blog consulting since there will be less competition. Just remember to start building links back to your website with your keywords.

Since I am giving away SEO secrets today, here is another one for you. Search engines still love fresh content, the best way to add fresh content to your website is to have a blog. By adding a blog to your website you create a venue for people to link to you, comment on your posts, build community and be more than just a static website but rather be an actual person. That way if you have a website that is about real estate in Manzanillo, Mexico you can talk about how great it is to live there on your blog, build links back to your website and eventually rank your website for the keywords Manzanillo real estate. See how easy that was! Simple isn’t it. Watch my little blog will start ranking for Manzanillo real estate just because I talked about it.

Now you know the secrets. What SEO secrets do you use to help improve your websites ranking in the search engines? (Ya I know who is really going to share their SEO secrets but I have to ask just in case you do want to share.)