Search Engine optimization | 12 SEO techniques

SEO ?

Famously called as "Search Engine Optimization" is the technique or process of enabling your website or blog in top search results of search engines. Now, to understand why we have to care for SEO, let me tell you that according to Google statics, those websites that appear in the first three results of search engines enjoy 90-95% of clicks and page visits. So, it's important that we make our websites visible at least in the first two pages of search results. Also, PageRanks matter in search results. Those websites which enjoy higher page ranks are said to be "healthy sites", in other words 'sites with good SEO'.

1. Easy navigation and user/html sitemap

The common mistake that most of us do is not having proper navigation system in our web page. Navigation in the sense, ease of access of posts or links. Having a very good sitemap (HTML) in our website usually referred to as user sitemap is a proper way of channelizing links/posts. New users tend to overview your blog by going through all of the headings of posts, and if they face difficulty in identifying you posts, then you are at a lose ! 

So, do include a directory in your blog that will categorize posts under separate headings for easy finding and navigation. Remember XML sitemaps are only for search engine bots while HTML sitemaps are for both bots and users.

2. Inter Linking

It's a very good practice to include some of your previous posts links within your new post (inside your article). I mean inter-linking. Remember links in footer and even side bars, have less preference (by search engines) than links within the content. So, try inter-linking your webpages like I did in this post. Links from other related webpages are also advantageous but better avoid inducing links of unrelated webpages (webpages of different niche). 

Well everything has a limit, for example as a human we have to eat food but it doesn't mean we have to take breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time. Same goes with linking, Inter linking of course is a great practice but over-linking is a waste practice. Include links only at necessary locations that too when required. 

3. Domain

My blog is having .blogspot domain (low domain) and is only three weeks old, but my post links are already appearing in Google and Bing search results ! I did no do trading or nothing. I have other blog Stuff about CEED Exam which is 7 months old, but my posts are appearing in the first place of search results related to the keywords. The thing is I don't believe in domains. Some people say that .com, .net etc domains have higher preference. 

They might be correct but if you have blog that has unique content (content/niche that is not easily available in the web world) then domain has nothing to do with PageRanks ! But having some (or at least one) major keyword(s) in the URL or domain name is a big advantage and has upper hand in search results.

4. Content  

Content happened to be the most important concern for Google as well as users. This giant web world is just meant to deliver content and we all chose blogging to write something, something that is useful or helpful to the remaining people. So, the main theme of blogging is content only, aim for making a good cum useful content and mind less for your sales or benefits initially. 

Once you create a great blog with quite a good number of posts, then you may aim for ways of making money. In this context, don't make the mistake of duplicating a  content. Duplicating in the sense copying the content from others or posting the same content multiple number of times in your own blog. Google considers these practices as Black-hat SEO and therefore ban your website or reduce your PageRanks so as to hide your page completely from the web world.

Google released two updates Panda (in 2011) and Penguin (in 2012) to drop the PageRanks of those sites having duplicate content. This has been taken to action after noting that some websites started sharing content of each other, just to get good PageRanks.

Learn here Content making facts | best practices for beginners

5. keywords

Having sufficient and related keywords in your post/content is one required factor for SEO. Whenever users type a search query in search bars, crawlers will search for the related search query and index the page that have optimal keyword density in the page's content, URL as well as title. So, having suitable keywords is an added advantage. But never flood your posts with repetitive keywords, just for the sake of indexing and PageRanks. Search engines can easily find that and therefore avoids such pages from indexing. 

Use most searched keywords  like "how to ..." and "my". Matt Cutt revealed that having such keywords in page title's, search descriptions and URL's contribute a lot for indexing a page. That's because these are the keywords mostly neglected by the blog owners ! and most of the users search with these type of words like :

"how to get my blog indexed"

"how to boost my blog's traffic"

6. URL Structure

Keep your URL descriptive and preferably avoid useless extensions; something like

http://abc.com/seo-techniques9578455/

Crawlers will get confused and so there's a little chance of your page appearing in top search results. Include some major keywords but don't stuff them. URL should be readable and also of sentence type.

example of stuffing - http://abc.com/seo-indexing-optimization-pageranks/

Good practice - http://abc.com/15-tricks-to-optimize-my-blog-for-SEO/

Even though the above URL holds less keywords, it looks quite natural and readable. I had already discussed at length about URL selection.
Learn how to customize default blog post URL in blogger

7. Analytics and webmaster

Well, using Analytics and webmaster free tools are a great way of understanding your audience behavior as well as SEO tactics. The more you understand your blog's stats, the more likely you will adjust your blog to the requirements and hence SEO. Once you became a regular user of analytics or webmaster tools, You will understand that you are automatically doing some SEO techniques without the need of any external SEO resources. That's the power of self analysis !
Learn here - Benefits of upgrading to Universal Analytics

8. No broken links

Broken links are an indication of site's illness. Inspect each and every page of your blog for any such links and if found, correct it. Broken links annoy users and search engine bots. A blog having many broken links will not get crawled properly leading to low PageRanks. So, do scan your content regularly.

9. Title, headings & search descriptions

Title act as the first impression for your page and impresses both the users as well as crawlers. A title should be related to that page's content; preferably with keywords in it. Search description meta tags are the short summary of your page, they are usually referred as 'snippets' and will appear in search results. So, it's your turn to frame a good but brief description about your page, that might probably attracts the visitors once they read it. 

A very good title and search description are enough to let users click your page's link, and possibly there is 80% chance of getting clicked provided the page appears in top search results.
Learn here - Best Title making practices for SEO

10. Submitting URL's to - search engines, directories, book marking sites

Your site should be visible firstly to search engines, then only to users. Yes, search engines should get to know about your site's presence in order to display them. Therefore we need to ensure that our blog posts are properly submitted and indexed. While major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing takes your pages automatically (after submission of sitemap to their webmasters), submission to directories requires manual effort, I mean you need to personally submit them to get them reviewed by editors. 

Learn here where to submit blog for indexing

11. Social media

Social media and directories not only drives traffic to your site, but also helps people identify your pages and so they may use your links in their own sites. In other words your blog is getting more backlinks and hence PageRanks. 

Learn more about mistakes that must be avoided in SMM

12. Optimize your website/blog caring for

1. XML sitemaps, Labels/tags, meta tags & robots.txt files
2. Design - Blog layout with minimum graphics and mobile compatibility
3. Redirects and errors - care for any previous redirects or posts that has been deleted but the links of which are still left in your website.
4. Images & videos - Optimized use of images is preferred, pictures appear in Image search results and can have greater visibility
5. Boost organic traffic - Learn how to drive traffic to your blog
6. Backlinks & Page Ranks & Inbound links - Learn more about Back linking techniques
7. Group discussions, Comments (anchor texts) and forums - Learn more about comments best practices

These are the points that I wished to share with you.

Hope this helps.
Feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions by posting a comment below. 

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