Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Authors ask me all the time why their websites, blogs, and Facebook Fan Pages don’t appear on the first, second, third, fifteenth page of Google after doing a search for related words. There is no magic button to make your website appear on the first page of the search. It’s tangled in a science called SEO. There are people whose entire job is understanding SEO, so don’t feel lost if you can’t figure it out right away. But here are some little things that you can do to increase your SEO.

Content
The most important thing you can do to make Google like you is to provide good content and to update it frequently.

Links
You’ll want to link to relevant sites and get relevant sites to link to you. You may do this in a kind letter letting the webmasters know how much you enjoy their site and how you’ve linked to theirs on your own, which may be of interest to them. Don’t forget that the words you hyperlink should describe or be the name of the site, not the words “click here.”

Buying Google Key Terms
This is something you have to pay for. You can pay Google to link your website with certain words, which will nudge your site toward the top.

No Graphic Text or Flash
Don’t use pictures or Flash media instead of words. Google can only read words if they are actually hilightable text. If you do use an image, at least include alternative text or a caption so Google has something to pick up on.

Keywords
You want to get all the important words on your site, preferably in the title and web address. By important words, I mean words that people who should find your site will most likely look for. For example, authors interested in social media will search something like “social media for authors” or “social networking for writers.” That is why both the URL and the text title say Social Media for Authors. The more specific the keywords, like longer keyword phrases, the better chance that you’ll be at the top of the search page.

Note: Beware of keyword stuffing. Google is getting smarter by the day. It knows when you’ve flooded your page with keywords just to get better SEO. Remember, content is king.

Popularity
Ultimately, you will get a better ranking if your site is popular. It will be popular if there’s A) Good content, as I said, and B) usability. Don’t let there be a single dead link. Make it look nice, easy to navigate. Don’t use forest green text on charcoal backgrounds. You know what I mean.

Useful Links
10 Key SEO Strategies Every Facebook Page Owner Should Know (Inside Facebook)
55 Quick SEO Tips Even Your Mother Would Love (Search Engine Journal)
9 Expert SEO Tips (Small Business Trends)
10 SEO Tools Every Blogger Must Use (Daily SEO Tip)
10 Simple SEO Tips (Social Media Today)