13 Great Search Engine Optimization Tips

There are a lot of people on the Internet who are doling out Search Engine Optimization tips.

Sure, a lot of these guys know what they’re talking about, but if you’ve been in the industry for a while, you also know that there are others just trying to get some money out of you.

Unfortunately, that’s just how it goes. What’s even worse is that there are a lot of people out there who are paying for bad advice.

Again, some of these guys are worth paying for. However, many of others dudes are just trying to separate you from your cash. We’re here to change that; here are some of the tips that we’ve found to be the most important.

1. Pick the Right Keywords

First and foremost, you need to pick the right keywords. If your keywords aren’t getting it, you probably won’t get the results that you’re looking for.

Actually, there’s no reason for you to sign up with a company that offers a paid keyword tool if you don’t want too. Google has a great one and you don’t have to pay a dime for it.

You may want to also consider using competitive analysis tools like Market Samurai or Moz.

In using this keyword tool, you can get a better idea as to what your customers may be looking for. You can even download the list in the form of an .xls file and plan your strategy while staring at your Excel spreadsheet.

2. Different Traffic Resources

Full disclosure – I’ve found myself thinking that it’s all about Google before. Sure Google is biggest source of traffic, but it’s not everything.

There’s a pretty decent need for you to think about various traffic sources. It’s not for the reason that you think, either.

Different traffic sources matter because – if something happens overnight – you may be out in the cold.

Who knows, Google may crazily change or alter their algorithm. They’ve done it several times in the past few years, but it’s important for you to develop your SEO strategy to encompass any particular outlet that can make you some cash.

After all, video marketing can be as important to the SEO effort as many other things.

Ge likes to see diversity and authority on your backlink sources.

Use social media, guest posting, reach out to other bloggers, etc.

3. Keyword Stuffing is Bad for Business

There are still people out there who are stuffing keywords at an alarming rate.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s important to get those keywords in there, but there’s most definitely a line. Even today, people are still willing to cross it with overusing their keywords.

As we know, this is becoming more and more detrimental. The worst thing about it is that you can lose a lot of your time and effort for adding a few keywords too much.

Mind your keyword density. Be diverse and include related keywords too as well as some long tail keywords.

4. Anchor Text

You know how important anchor text is. if not…

then I’m going to tell you.

It’s very important…

But more important is that you diversify it, make sure that no more than 20% of your backlinks use the same anchor text.

It’s your call to action. In fact, this could be a Search Engine Optimization tip post in and of it self. The truth is; some people don’t pay enough attention to this as they should.

It could be because it’s only a few lines.

It could be because people really hate selling their products.

I don’t know; I’m not a psychologist.

Anyway, the trick here is to be as natural as you can be when you’re writing your anchor text. In fact, the same can be said about everything involving all content.

Also, consider the fact that the Penguin update feasts on these types of anchor texts. Your website can be penalized heavily because of those “buy the best stuff today right here!” texts.

5. Easy Breezy Content

The Internet already has too many words. If you’re selling a product, you do want them to read a lot of what you have to say.

However, let’s put the emphasis on “a lot” here. It’s important for your content to be easy to digest.

Heck, if they can skim it – even better. Write short paragraphs. Use subheadings. Bullet points can help here, too.

Not only does it increase the chance for a conversion, but it also helps the spiders parse your content and deem it relevant. So, you’re killing two birds with one stone with easy breezy content.

6. Useful Content

While we’re on the content portion of our Search Engine Optimization tips, it’s really important that you write something useful. We know, this is something that every SEO says when they’re writing a post similar to this.

If you want people to link to your blog then give them a reason too do it, be helpful.

There is a reason for that. Not only will it help you on the search engine front, but it’s something that your prospective readers will enjoy.

If you don’t, the search engines will deem your website unworthy. Also, your readers will be downright disgusted in the way you’re insulting their intelligence. If you have a platform, it’s important that you take advantage of it.

7. Stick to Your Guns

That brings us to our next point. A lot of SEOs are not passionate about the niche that they’re in. I don’t quite understand why these people would do something like that. If you’re trying to sell a product or service, it’s important for you to be passionate about it. There’s a niche for everything and everyone has their interests. Write about those things.

Also, if you’re passionate about something and there’s a market for it – you stand a good chance to make money from it. At the very least, you’ll come off as knowledgeable.

That’s quite possibly one of the most valuable Search Engine Optimization tips that anyone could ever teach.

8. There’s No Magic Involved (tips trends change, guidelines don’t)

It’s all too often that people are trying to game the system in some type of way. Sure – it can really be profitable. Unfortunately, it’s something that can get you in hot water with a search engine. Furthermore, it’s also something that’s really not needed. If you come up with good, unique content that plays by the rules – you’re doing well.

You’ll find that a lot of the tips and tricks will change. The guidelines do not.

9. Stay Away from SEO “Gurus”

I love the SEO guru, always doling out his priceless Search Engine Optimization tips. However, I love him for a different reason than some other people. These guys are incredible in their ability to take money from people who really should be focusing on lists like this instead of paying some guy a grand a month to move some keywords around on a website. I don’t doubt the veracity of their claims, but I don’t really think that anyone should want to spend money on something that can learn through a few articles and straight up implementation.

10. Good Marketing Isn’t Lying

A lot of marketers skirt the line here. They promise that our products will do X, Y and Z when they mostly X, do a little bit of Y and barely touch Z. It’s important for us to focus on the things that our products do without going over the top with it.

The same can be said about SEO. If you’re selling a product or service, be aware that you’re not trying to sell the product.

You’re trying to sell yourself on them. If you can show them that you’re a name that you can trust, you won’t really have too much issue doing SEO and having people to link to you.

This translates to: Be the best you can be a prove that you are.

They’ll advertise your product or website for you.

11. Call to Arms (strong call to action, add to cart button)

The call to action is something that should be really thought about. We’re not just talking about something like anchor text. We’re talking about the availability of your particular product.

Your website should make it extremely clear how to buy the product. It’s not spammy to add an “Add to Cart” button on every page. It’s not even a bad idea to have it on the header.

While this doesn’t explicitly go under the Search Engine Optimization tips folder, it’s most definitely something that every person should use.

12. Don’t Forget Social Media

Social media is absolutely critical for the SEO. We all use it and we all have hundreds of friends. If you share something, you’ll have hundreds of your friends seeing it – provided you haven’t been hidden by now.

Your website should have that same functionality, as it’s free advertising for you and you didn’t have to do anything to get it.

Of course, you probably had to download the plugin. I’m sure that wasn’t all that hard, was it?

Social media buttons are imperative to your website. Every page should have the proper function that allows your readers to share the pages that they like. Of all of the Search Engine Optimization tips, this one speaks for itself.

13. Reduce Your Bounce Rates

It’s important to get a fresh perspective on your website. You’ve seen it a million times. Your dog has, too.

How about enlisting some of your friends to check it out? Get them to go through the process and try to buy something.

Ask them how easy the experience was. More importantly, ask them – if you weren’t their friend – would they buy the product or service if they needed it?

If you can, get about 5 or so people to go through this process and compare some of their notes. You may find some areas that you can easily improve.

The reason for this is because you want to reduce your bounce rates, which is a major SEO ranking factor.

Bounce rates are the amount of people that enter  and then leave your site in less than 30 seconds without visiting any other page.

While some of these Search Engine Optimization tips may not appeal to everyone, there’s a chance that everyone can take something away from what’s written here.

If anything, I hope that you grasped that SEO (while definitely arduous) isn’t nearly as hard as you think.

Sure, things like link building can be absolutely soul crushing, but the other facets of it are pretty simple.

If you keep it simple in SEO, you may find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Here you have a video by Matt Cutts (the guy behind Google’s search ranking factors) about Search Engine Optimization for new people in the SEO with some classic but important search engine optimization tips. Take a look and enrich your knowledge.

Share you comments below and tell me what do you think about this article.