The main idea behind ranking well on Google (SEO) is to analyze the top ranked competitions websites for your chosen keywords to find out exactly what they are doing and then do those things, BUT to do it just a little better - to one up them in order to obtain a better ranking. Sound Simple? Actually, it is!
Here are a few simple steps that you can take to optimize your web for best results with Google and the other search engines.
One: Do NOT try to optimize your web page for the number one searched keyword. The competition is way to fierce and unless you have a huge site and a tremendous amount of experience it just won't work. If the top 5 websites for a specific keyword have a Google Page Rank of 6 or higher, it's probably not best to shoot for that keyword until you build some momentum and get some initial traffic from the easier ranking keywords with less competition. Keep digging for keywords and you will find the exact right mix for your site.
Two: Use your main keyword in the title of your page. I'm referring to the meta tag title in this instance – the name that shows in the tab in your browser. Make it as short as possible, while still using the main keyword phrase.
Three: Use your main keyword in an “h1” header tag. Google looks for this and you gather “points” if it's utilized. The “h1” header tag should be as far towards the top left hand side of the page as possible. When Google “reads” a web page, it looks at the text beginning at the top left hand side of the page, and then follows down to the bottom right hand side of the page. Remember, for best optimization, use your main keyword phrase in this “h1” tag.
Four: Use your second best keyword phrase in an “h2” tag and place it somewhere near the top half of your page.
Five: In addition to hyperlinking your keywords within the text on your page – make sure that you also bold, italicize and/or underline them. Once you have finished writing your page copy, you should go through and bold, underline, or italicize some of the keywords – but only 1 time each, maximum! Only do 1 per keyword or it will hurt you more than it helps.
Six: Use images and MAKE SURE that you use the “alt” tag so that the search engines can “read” your images. (Search engines can't really read images, so it's imperative that you use the “alt” tag and use your keywords – it doesn't show on your page until a visitor hovers over the image and yet it is tremendously helpful for SEO
Seven: Make sure that MINIMALLY, your main keyword is within the first sentence of your page AND the last paragraph or sentence.
Eight: Write your copy with a keyword density of NO MORE than 3-5%. You MUST provide useful, original and READABLE copy for your visitors. Google is getting better and better at finding spam pages and yours will suffer in the rankings if your keyword density is to high. Mix your 3-4 keyword phrases evenly throughout the page.
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