5 tips for SEO Beginners

May 27th, 2010 |

Over the last few years, more and more new webmasters are coming to the internet. Whether you just want your blog to get some traffic or you have a product to sell, a few simple SEO tips can go along way in determining your online success.

1) Research your targeted keywords with Google Keyword Tool

Though the tool is not perfect, it will help give you an idea of the search volume for many keywords your targeting, as well as giving you hints at advertiser competition with Google Adwords. If Keyword A is only searched 200 times per month and Keyword B is searched 2,000 times, being ranked for Keyword B may result in up to 10 times more monthly traffic. Generally expect more competition and difficulty being ranked top page the more searches a term has.

2) Write quality meta tags, especially Title and Description.

Having your targeted keywords in your meta information will help search engines see that there’s a relationship between the search term and your site better. Do not fill the meta with only keywords, but write creatively to include you most important phrases.

3) Produce new content regularly

Nothing helps a website grow more than by adding quality content and lots of it. Try to add a new page daily or a few times per week. Get in a routine where your site doesn’t go long between updates. If you allow comments, stay in touch with your readers by responding and staying active in your site. This will keep readers interested and your site growing over time. Think about how you feel about a site once you see the most recent post was 2-3 months ago or you ask a question via comment, and its never returned.

4) Add a sitemap and robots.txt file

A sitemap is a list of everything on your site, written so that search engines can easily find your content to include in their rankings.

5) Backlinks

Begin to find backlinks from websites in your niche. An easy way to get a few free links is by adding your content to dofollow social media or directory websites. Remember that each link could be a future customers first impression of you and your site, so take the time to write quality information where your backlink will be found.

Obviously these tips alone will not get your ranked 1st page for all popular keywords. By following these steps and continuing to learn about more advanced SEO, a new webmaster will be on their way to seeing more natural search engine traffic.