If you want to optimize a web page to be front and center on a Google search, there’s so much more to it than just using a couple of keywords in the title.
While a title or headline that effectively showcases your message is important, that's just the literal tip of the SEO iceberg. From the time of day your page is posted, to making sure you always follow the 3/100 rule, there are plenty of other tactics for optimizing a page to make it dance with Google's algorithm.
In the PR News Guidebook: Google for Communicators, Dr. Olesya Venger, a journalism professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, emphasizes some under-the-radar tactics, such as using italics and bullet points, the importance of including visual elements like photos and treating the title and subtitle of a piece as your best friends.
Excerpted below are Venger’s 12 essential steps to follow for optimizing your website or blog posts:
- Follow the 3/100 rule. Make sure that everything you write contains at least three keywords associated with your product per 100 words of text.
- Use keywords that are similar to the most popular keywords in your industry.
- Supply the transition from the first part of the article to the second part of the article with a catchy phrase. “Look here for more lucrative news about Brand B!”
- Italicize or bold the most important content.
- Augment your stories with photos.
- Rely on bullets to make reading easier.
- Make sure that your content is posted at noon, and take note of what time zone your audience resides in.
- Avoid generalizations when describing your product or service.
- Follow the 300 rule when writing posts for your blog or placing content on your site. If the article contains 600 words, split it in half, so that its second part is hidden and its first part serves as a stimulus to open the second part of the article.
- Use tags and categories to sort your content on the site in a logical and easy-to-find and understandable manner.
- Create titles and subtitles to make sure that search engines (or online crawlers) will find your content easier.
- Provide a short (up to 50 words) description of your product. Write a byline for your article and/or an abstract.
Connect with Olesya Venger: Olesya Venger
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