1. Tell WordPress to Rearrange Itself

As much as we like WordPress, we have noticed it has one or two nasty habits. The most notable we’ve come across is its tendency to put the name of the website itself in front of the title of the blog post. This is problematic for a number of reasons, but we would simply like to mention right off the bat that there is a quick fix: So, in other words, don’t panic and bring your towel. But why is this such a big deal? Well, for starters – search engines use your titles to determine what the blog post is actually about. Typically, a search engine will only crawl (that means search and record) the first 50 to 64 characters of your title, too. With that in mind, having your blog name in front of your blog post title can cause some problems. You’ll want to reverse this, that way sites like Google get an accurate picture of your newly minted content, rather than a repeat of the blog’s name. A quick way to do this is to swap the title and name sequence within the All In One SEO pack. On another note, if you don’t have this plug-in yet, you should go ahead and snag it, as we’ll be referencing it often.

2. Create Unique and Accurate Meta Tags

A case in point, we will again be using All In One SEO with this point, as well. The idea here is that the automatically created meta tags published by WordPress are typically not specific enough to warrant any interest from the larger search engines. Usually, these self-created tags are somewhat generic, and lack any kind of specificity sites like Google desire. With that in mind, the easiest way to correct the problem is to add meta tags yourself. How does one go about this? Well, the easiest method is through that handy plug-in we mentioned earlier. Using the keywords slot, you’re free to add as many meta tags as your heart desires. Just try to be specific, avoiding generic terms like “iPhone,” “Android,” or “Mac.”

3. Stick Around with Permalinks

When WordPress creates a new post, it typically does so with a URL that’s less-than desirable for search engine optimization. This is because, more often than not, WordPress attaches an incomprehensible string of numbers to each and every new piece of content, allowing URL crawlers no added access to what in the heck your post is about. However, this isn’t hard to change, and typically only requires a quick jaunt over to the WordPress admin panel.

Within this panel, look for the settings tab, and then “Permalinks.”

You’ll see a list of various URL methods, but the only one you want is called “Custom Structure.” Yes, you’re going to have to enter something here, but lucky for you, we’ve already written the appropriate string. Click this box, and then type: /%category%/%postname%

Now, every time you create a new post, it will be listed in the URL as http://sample.com/your-category/the-proper-post-name. This makes your post infinitely more readable to search engines, and can go a long way toward fully search engine optimizing your content.

4. Make Meaningful Connections

Another fantastic way to optimize your site for search engine use is to link related sites and content pieces within your article.

This means that words like “phone” should be linked to other articles about similar models, operating systems, etc. Your goal is to create a map within the blog post that directs the user—and search engines—to other content that’s closely related to your own. With that in mind, blindly adding links with no regard for what they mean will not help you at all. If you’ve written an article about how to cook a turkey, and you link it to an animal rights page, Google won’t get much out of it, and may even scrap your site in its ratings. There’s also a limit on how many links Google is willing to stand. If you attach a URL to every word in the post, most search engines will treat it like spam.

A great way to avoid this is to use a “Related Posts” plug-in. There are about a thousand in the WordPress plug-in library, so we won’t offer any specific suggestions. Just know that these create a separate box for these helpful links, alleviating the need to bugger up your viewers’ reading experience with bothersome links. Likewise, there are plenty of plug-ins out there that will automatically generate in-text links, should you decide you’d rather have plenty of those. Typically, they work quite well, but the only way to guarantee your optimization is to add these links yourself.

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Creating an Equilibrium

This is due to the fact that a website is a tangible object that can be seen many millions of visitors. On the other hand, links are a vague concept that does not have associated tools. Therefore, building backlinks is usually secondary. Luckily there are several tools that will create equilibrium of website design and SEO.

Google Webmaster Tools

The first key point to consider is not use search operators to check your links. This method will produce inaccurate results and is commonly regarded as being used for entertainment purposes. Instead, utilize Google Webmaster Tools which provide a wealth of information about what exactly Google knows about your website, how it performs in the search engine rankings and, recently added, +1 statistics.

Independent Tools

There are two additional competing independent tools outside of Google Webmaster Tools, SEOmoz’s Open Site Explorer (OSE) and Majestic SEO’s Site Explorer. If your run your website through both programs you will find that they conflict with one another. Ironically, neither agrees with Google Webmaster Tools either.

The Collection Process

Although all three programs work by crawling the web, they are programmed differently and discover different links. Each then filters the collected links and remove those they see as spamming or lack relevance. Unfortunately, the three programs follow different criteria to make a judgment. You will also notice the two independent tools provide limited functionality for the free versions.

Viewing Trends

In the free versions of all three programs you are given two numbers for your sites that will usually differ. Always keep in mind that none of these figures is the absolute number, which would be extremely difficult to determine. Instead these figures should be viewed as representing exactly how other sites link to you. When viewing trends over a long period of time the numbers will begin to paint a picture of how your site is doing.

These three webmaster tools were developed to be more of a guide for focusing on backlinking than a concrete answer. A great way to use these tools is generate a report from each on a monthly basis and chart their change over time. If you see the numbers are increasing then you are on your way to success.

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Step 1: Choose The Right Words

Not all words are the same. First, make sure the words you are trying to target for searches are relevant to the content on your site. If you run a site about dog treats, it’s probably not a good idea to target lcd televisions as a keyword. Second, take a look at the amount of results already present for the words you decide on.  In all likelihood, the larger the result set, the harder it is to place well on the results of a search.   Third, don’t target too many words. It goes without saying; you should never have more words you are targeting than content pages on your site.  Fourth, choose words that are searched often enough that they are worth targeting. A good place to check out the relevance, competition and search frequency of words is Google Adwords.  Use the tool to identify potential words and find out what words you have decided to target look like. You might also find some good alternative words this way as well.  Once you choose a desired set of keywords, it’s time to start optimizing your site for these words.

Step 2: Keyword Related Content and Density

In the optimization community density is the same as frequency. So, a sites keyword density is simply the frequency it appears throughout a page and a site.  Search engines rate the relevancy of your site to a keyword based on the frequency it appears at in your site. So at first glance, most people think a higher density or higher frequency in the site or pages is a good thing.  While, there’s nothing definitive on what the optimal density is, there is a general understanding that anything over 5% is treated as spam by most search engines.  So, how do you check the density you have?  Take a count of all the words in the text on the page. Then count all the occurrences of a keyword in that text and divide that by the total words and you get your density for the page. If you don’t want to go through this process, there are a couple of tools for basic keyword density analysis like live-keyword-analysis.com.

There is another, more used method for keyword density analysis that takes in to account all the text a potential viewer can’t see.  Take for instance your Meta tags, image tags and hyper link anchors, these all have textual components as well, and in most cases they are only seen in the html portion of a site. More complex tools take in to account this text and keyword density, producing what is generally known as a more accurate projection.

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The Importance of Keywords

Keywords are the main focus in search engine optimization. When users type in a search query in their favorite search engine, they are actually typing in a keyword or phrase. The search engine then combs it’s database to find the most popular/useful site centered around that keyword. The search engines use a number of algorithms to calculate the usefulness and popularity of a website. It should be noted that popularity alone will not raise your page rankings, instead your site must be full of content that is useful and contains the proper keyword density.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is the percentage of words out of the total content that contain the keyword. An optimal keyword density would be about 3%-5%. To put this into perspective, you’ll want to include the targeted keyword about 3-5 times in a 500-1000 word article. The placement of the keyword is also very important as well. SEO experts note that your chances of success are greater if you include the keyword within the first 25 words of the article, and within the last 25 words of the article. You’ll also want to include the keyword at least once in the middle of the article. Keywords should also be placed in title tags,  and meta tags wherever possible.

Keyword Placement

Instead of mindlessly placing the keywords in a useless articles, it is optimal to include keywords in the same sentence as other key phrases. For this reason you may want to consider creating pages that focus on several keywords, with one main keyword being the primary focus. For example, if the main keyword is: “ keyword optimization,” then you might want to place that keyword in the same sentence with the keyword: “keyword density.” This way when a user searches for “keyword optimization and keyword density,” your site has a chance of appearing in the top results. Although this may not work 100% of the time, experimenting with practices like this are the best way to target specific search queries.

Conclusion

While keywords are important, there has to be substance within the content as well, and any clerical errors are indexed and will deduct from your total page ranking. For the best results, you’ll want your content to be useful to the reader. This will improve the overall popularity of your website, which will ultimately increase your page ranking as mentioned. Before uploading any content to your website, make sure it has been proofread and edited. It is also important to be consistent with your practices. It often takes weeks to see the results of your labor. If you give up on a specific method too soon, or if you change your methods regularly, then it will be difficult to find out what brings success.

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1.) All Meta Tags are Created Equal

Though some are extremely important, other meta tags do not play a determining factor in your search engine visibility.  Because spammers are quickly becoming infamous for leveraging keywords, search engines are relying more on genuine website content and less on meta data.

2.) Regular Search Engine Submissions are a Must

There is a large perception that you should manually submit your website to search engines on a weekly or monthly basis.  This couldn’t be further from the truth because all it takes is one submission to each search engine you intend to target.  What many of the expert firms won’t tell you is that if your site is properly optimized, the search engine bots will automatically find you.

3.) Good SEO is Expensive

For the most part, SEO is a very cost effective form of online marketing, generally much cheaper than banner or sponsored advertising.  This is especially the case when optimizing to achieve organic rankings.  If you couple a quality site design with good networking and links, you can end up paying little to nothing for your SEO campaign.

4.) Homepage Optimization is the Key

Some have the belief that once you sprinkle a few keywords and links into your homepage, optimization is done.  However, you can and should optimize all the pages within your site.  Each page should have its own keywords and pay attention to the appropriate meta tags.  Keep in mind that search engines rank individual pages, not entire websites.

5.) You Should Stay Away from Competitive Keywords

Many avoid using competitive keywords and phrases in fear that they just don’t have enough to fight with.  The truth is that you should still aim for relevant keywords regardless of the competition surrounding them.  Don’t run away from terms that you can get you noticed just because someone else is targeting them.

6.) PPC is More Effective than SEO

While a PPC campaign can work wonders at promoting your site, SEO is far more effective over the long haul.  It is a known fact that most web surfers use the search engines and rarely find their content through sponsors advertisements.  They simply trust the organic results more than the sponsored content.  Even though PPC can get you to show up in the results, this is only a short term solution that could weigh heavily on your budget.

7.) Good as a Guarantee

There are a number of SEO firms in the business of making guarantees on superior optimization and ranking.  In reality however, there is no firm that can make you any guarantees for ranking in any search engine.  Some companies are actually out to help you, while others are simply looking to fatten their pockets.

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Take Advantage of Meta Tegas

The MSNBot actively uses meta tags a part of its web page analysis.  Like other search engines, the title tag is weighed the heaviest within the indexing algorithm, followed up by the meta description tag.  It is recommended to insert your chosen keywords into both areas.  Although Microsoft has never stated that the MSNBot utilizes keyword meta tags, experts strongly suggest that keywords should be included in the title, description, tags and content.  In addition, keywords placed in these areas should all adhere to one another.

Keep Page Size to a Minimum

The MSN search engine requires that your pages are no more than 150k in size.  This gives indication that the bot with either stop scanning or may simply skip over the page entirely.  The good thing is that a web page with a size of 150k has enough room to contain a considerable amount of relative text.  Keep in mind that if you plan to add a lot of fancy graphics, the size of your pages will expand greatly.  Similar to other search engines, MSN prefers text over graphics so you always want to keep them to a minimum.

Efficient Linking

As you would expect, links are an important equation of the MSNBot’s indexing algorithm.  Microsoft offers two suggestions on what type of links will be deemed the most essential: links on the home page or your website, and links that are no more than three levels deep.  This simply means that all the links on your site should be accessible within three or less clicks from one another for maximum efficiency.  Although this could be a problem for larger sites, MSN says its bot will offer a deeper crawl as the search engine becomes more sophisticated.

Submit Your Site

Some of the experts will tell you that search engine submissions are no longer significant while others say they are still important.  We will tell you that every effort helps.  Microsoft allows you to submit your site at no cost but there are some factors to consider.  First, you should check and see if your site is already indexed in the MSN database.  If so, resubmitting will be nothing but a waste of time.  Secondly, MSN requires that you manually submit your website.  This is a fairly simple process as all you have to do is enter the provided code along with your URL into the appropriate field.

Google and Yahoo are the leading search engines, but increasing your visibility in MSN can help you attract a broader range of targeted traffic.  Growing more popular by the year, optimizing for this search engine is definitely worth it.

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