Basic SEO 101
Everyone wants their website on Page One in Google for a particular keyword. That's great. Here are some things a rookie can do to ensure the right steps are being taken.
1. Title Tags - Title tags are found immediately after the <head> tag. This should be placed immediately after the <head> tag so the robots and spiders notice this first. Your title tag is your website's Headline. Keep in mind that your title tag should contain keywords, however don't overdue your keywords. You don't want to spam with a high density of keywords.
2. Meta Description - There is an argument about how Meta descriptions work and if they are even relevant. My suggestion ....UTILIZE this attribute. When writing your description make sure spelling and grammar are correct and the sentences make sense when read aloud. Use keywords in your description however, be careful not to spam with a high density of keywords.
3. Meta Keywords - If you don't use a Meta tag, this is the one you should be okay to omit. Meta Keywords do not hold the same importance as they once did and I have not seen keywords hold much weight on results. If you use them, make sure they are relevant to your page.
4. Alt Tags - The history of alt tags has an interesting tale. They were developed for images that were 'broken' or 'blocked'. While you can still use them in IE8 they will stop showing when hovering over an image. Use title tags instead. Again, like the last 3 points, do not spam with a high density of keywords.
5. H1 & H2 Tags - When designing your site or making over your site make sure you make use of your H1 & H2 tags. Your important keywords should be headers on individual pages. Be aware that making your headers BOLD or larger font is not the same. Add importance to your keywords on a given page by using H1 & H2 tags.
6. Site Map - The creation of your site maps, HTML and XML helps robots crawl your site. Having your site maps up to date will help tell the robots about your site and the site can be crawled more efficiently. With the XML site maps, make sure you submit to each search engine.
7. Relevant Inbound Links - Everyone always talks about these. Make sure you have relevant sites pointing back to your site. Any of the directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo are a great start. Also look into other business directories that relate to you industry.
SEO is truly an art and a science. To get your site out there follow these tips to get started. Once you start seeing movements you can start expanding your SEO techniques.
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