Web Hosting SEO

Do-It-Yourself SEO
By: Woody Longacre

Ranking high in Google’s search results can have a huge impact on the success of your business. You
can either engage the expertise of a Search Engine Optimization company, or if you have the time, you
can apply these simple SEO techniques to your website yourself.

Use the right Keywords and Keyword Phrases
What keywords do you think your customers will use to search for your products or services? A
keyword can be one word (e.g. “optimization” or "SEO"), or multiple keywords or keyword phrases.
Usually keywords made up of multiple words to form a phrase are more effective than a single word.
Generally web searchers are looking for specific information and will use terms that are specific in nature
to get quick relevant information, (e.g. "Search Engine Optimization") or ("low cost SEO").

Write down as many keywords and phrases as you can think of. Brainstorm with your friends,
colleagues and family. Think of alternative words. Consider geographical phrases, whether they are
important to your customer (e.g. “SEO services Seattle”). Also, take a look at your competitors’
websites, by looking at their source code VIA View->Source from the browser toolbar, you may find
additional keyword phrases that have not been considered. Try to develop a list of 20-30 keyword
phrases. It’s a good idea to have 2 or 3 words in each phrase (e.g. “wedding catering services”)

Choose the two keywords or phrases you think will be searched for most often. Remember, the more
competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to achieve top ranking for that particular keyword or
phrase. For example, if you want to rank high with Google for the keyword “insurance”, you will have a
monumental SEO task due the extreme competition for that word. Your goal is to select two or three
keyword phrases that are most relevant to your business but have moderate competition. Yes this is not
an easy task, however if you select the right keywords or phrases you can rank higher and improve
traffic flow to your site much easier.

Provide Quality Web Copy
Web copy refers to all the words or text on your website. Because content is king in the world of search
engines, your SEO keyword phrases need to be placed strategically on your web page to convince
Google that your content is highly relevant to those keywords. The more prominent they are, the better.
Keep in mind that as important as search engines are, customers come first, so make sure your copy
also reads well.

Here’s how you can increase each keyword’s prominence:

• Place your keywords in headings, preferably at the beginning of the heading.

• Include keywords towards the top of the page.

• Bold or italicize keywords where appropriate.

• Instead of having a link to another page that says "Click here to read more ", reword it to include your
keywords, e.g. "Read more about our SEO Services.

An important tip is to also include these keywords in your HTML “title tag” and page description. Use
your content management system to make these changes yourself, or perhaps ask your web developer
to do it if you’re unsure how.

Once you have fine-tuned your home page, consider adding new content, such as detailed descriptions
of what you offer, FAQs and informative articles about your products and services. (If you don’t want
to write these yourself, they can be located for free on the internet - do a search for “articles directory”).

It’s also good to bear in mind that search engines can only read text, not graphics or pictures. Often
web developers embed words in images hoping to improve SEO. Search engines cannot read text
contained in a graphic, picture or flash component. When doing SEO, concentrate your efforts on the
text, this is where you will gain the most benefit.

Get Linked From Lots of Other Sites
Each link from another website to your website (not from your website) is considered by search engines
as a vote of popularity for your business. Having lots of links from other sites will improve your rankings.

However it is the quality, not quantity of links, that is the crucial component of linking. It is important that
other websites linking to yours be relevant to your industry, and preferably highly regarded by search
engines themselves. Ten quality links count more than 500 links from arbitrary websites. In the same
way your personal business network can have a significant impact on the success of your business, so
too the online network you build on the internet can impact your success.

Try to identify relevant websites that could link to you, such as non-competing companies, and industry
bodies and organisations that are relevant to your business. Write a friendly email to each describing the
benefit their visitors would get in knowing about your business, and request them to create a link to your
website. Many webmasters will not respond first time round, so a follow-up with a second email and if
possible a phone call. If you don't get a response move on, there are many reasons why a webmaster
may take you up on your offer. Instead of annoying anyone, use your time for the next potential link
opportunity.

Applying these SEO tactics to your website will improve your visibility on the web by improving your
search engine ranking. You will have to be patient however. SEO is a process that builds momentum
and takes time. Once you get the traffic flowing however make sure you are prepared to handle it. :-)
Best of luck!