SEO Methodology v2

by Staff Writer | Sep 3, 2014 | Marketing, SEO

This is a follow up to SEO Methodology v1  which was very concise but has some excellent tips to get your website ready for quality rankings. So now that we have the basics of SEO down let’s jump into getting to the top of page 1 for a google search.

Now this is a dream for some but in reality ranking on the top of google for a search term can be awesome the results you expect can be limiting. I say this because when you get eyeballs on your site and people are not reacting two things happen you either blame google and give up on your site or if you understand marketing you realize that your message needs to be more compelling.

So as a review from SEO Methodology v1 remember to get to the top of google you will need relevant content. if you want conversions you will need quality content that creates a reaction. This will be discussed in other updates but for now the purpose of this post is to give you the direction on setting up your site to get to page 1 of google and end up at the top.

My philosophy for SEO is that getting to Page 1 on google requires the right recipe and ingredients. For example if you were going to make a cake the end result is to trust that the cake will rise, and taste good. So when you are working to get your site noticed by reaching the first page of google for your keyword be sure not to add the right ingredients for your audience.

Assuming that you

Have purchased a domain that matches your purpose

Put as much content that relates to your service or product on your site

Verified your site with google as a business and as a webmaster.

The next three steps are to

4. Identify your keywords

5. Write or buy related content

6. Structure your site with the right schema

KEYWORDS are probably the easiest part of SEO to understand but the most difficult to use. The mindset behind keywords is that google uses keywords to find your site. Their purpose as a search engine company is to categorize the internet. When you accept this concept using keywords in your website begins to make sense. Unfortunately using keywords on your website must be done correctly (kind of like knowing how much yeast to add to get bread to rise). When search was younger there were dozens of ways to make keywords boost your site to the top of a search. However due to heavy manipulation and billions of websites competing for that top spot ALGORITHMS and rules were put in place to limit the manipulation but mostly to improve the user experience.

The problem is that to limit the manipulation google didn’t share all the rules or algorithms as they matured. While this was frustrating for people that were just getting started and the guy who was just setting up his website the good news was google left clues and if you knew someone that had answers you would find yourself getting to the top spot of google for a time.

I think google realized that they could only limit the manipulation of the search results but because they change the rules and algorithms all the time it is important to follow the ones you know.

The use of keywords has been one of those rules that changes all the time but is a rule that google will share occasionally. Wikipedia does a great job explaining keyword density so if you have time check out their article here.

For our purposes the basic rule of thumb for now is to limit your keyword density in your pages or posts to less than 3%.

Again a simple topic like keywords should not require so much thought but it does, so in future updates look for more info about keywords.

RELATED CONTENT is critical to SEO success but for some it is difficult to write something original especially if it is on the same topic and from a different perspective. Most people will give up at this point in their quest for great rankings, mostly because it can seem pointless. While I thought I could avoid this step I have seen over and over again that when you give google more words and content that relates to you then you will have more opportunities for google to rank you.

The good news is that the criteria for quality content is fairly low and based on a formula. This formula is simply to get the keyword density correct. Write a minimum of 5 paragraphs, and add either a picture, video or related link to your post or page.

There are a few more detailed elements to creating qualifying content but if you do this as a habit google will find and rank your page or post. Now I would recommend that the content make sense and that your content is original because there is software that can find you if you plagiarize.

With that said there are a few ways to get past writers block and create content even if you are terrible at writing.

1. Use curated content. Kristina Cisnero from Hootsuite wrote a beginners guide on how you can curate content here.
2. Get Ideas from this site answerthepublic.com. Just type in what you are thinking about and they will create questions for you to add and answer
3. Buy articles but check with copyscape before using the info. This will keep you safe with the law and keep you relevant with google.

STRUCTURED DATA is the latest most under valued part of SEO because it is super nerdy and hard to figure out. I am fortunate enough to have partnered with a few SEO nerds that gave me access to there tool that creates structured data for any of my clients sites and my own obviously.

While you can read up on what structured data is here. The end result of structured data is that when you structure it the correct way google will reward you and choose you because you followed there rules.

The best way to see if you have the correct data structure for your site is to go to googles structured data tool.