Five Simple SEO Secrets

SEO services are booming, but what's

the simplest way to optimize your site

without spending a boatload of money?

Last year, Econsultancy estimated that

the search engine optimization (SEO)

industry was worth more than $514

million.And during the last twelve

months, it's grown even more.

The world's biggest brands devote a

massive chunk of their marketing

budgets to SEO. They employ some of the

world's best analysts to optimize their

sites. But that doesn't mean you need a

huge budget to get started with SEO. In

fact, there are plenty of things you can

do yourself.

Let's look at five secrets of simple SEO –

they're things you can do right away to

optimize your own website.

1. Know Your Keywords

Keyword research is the root of every

optimization project. Keywords are like

an elevator pitch for your site: they

summarize what you do in a few words

or phrases.

When choosing keywords, be specific

without being obscure. Never try to

optimize for a single word: instead, think

of a string of words that accurately

describe what you do. You can use

various free online tools to get ideas.

Tip: Ask friends, family or customers to

tell you what they'd search for if they

were looking for your business.

2. Invest in Great Content

Optimization is the key to ensuring that

search engines rank your website

favorably in their results. But in order for

optimization to work, the content on your

site needs to be awesome!

Content simply refers to the text on your

homepage, your blog posts, videos

you've produced, and any podcasts

you've published. Focus on producing

the best content you can – or pay

someone to create it for you! Make it

compelling, detailed, substantive,

accurate and entertaining.

Tip: Keyword cramming is old news and

will probably result in a penalty anyway

So, don't do it! Instead, focus on creating

real, interesting and valuable content.

3. Obtain Quality Links

Now that your content is in place, you

should start getting links back to that

content. There are also some things you

can do to accelerate the process.But

beware: some methods are better than

others.

First, links must be authentic, and they

should be earned genuinely, through

connections with other sites. Old school

techniques (paying for links, spamming

forums or placing links on directories)

don't work. Now, you must pursue good

quality links and build on your progress

over time.

Tip: Link building isn't something that

you can do in one weekend. It takes

months, so plan your strategy

accordingly and start creating a content

calendar that you can follow for months

4. Be Sociable

Back in 2012, SEO experts noticed that

social signals affect Google rankings. A

signal could be anything – from a

retweet on Twitter to a Like on Facebook.

Additionally, Google may factor in Google

Authorship credentials.

While social signals won't work miracles

on their own, they are an important

factor to consider as you develop your

optimization strategy. Consider hiring a

social media assistant to post content to

various channels, and then measure

results from each one to hone and

improve your strategy.

Tip: Short on time? Focus on one or two

channels. Some businesses naturally do

better on some networks, but get little

return on investment from others.

5. Measure and Improve

Optimization is important, but without

metrics, you'll never really know whether

your efforts are paying off. But if you

track and measure from the beginning,

you can continually improve

Google Analytics is the bare minimum for

measurement and metrics – and it's free.

But it doesn't always give you a

complete picture. Shop around, or try

other free SEO analytics tools. The

important thing is to take time to

measure.

Tip: Let your analytics data build for at

least a month before you make any

changes, and don't tweak too many

things at once.

Action Plan

Using these tips as a starting point,

create a three month SEO strategy. Write

down your action steps, and be

disciplined about completing each one

Invest time and energy into optimization

and you'll start seeing great results.