The SEO News Blog from Pat Marcello

So, did you know that some parts of your page are more important than others when it comes to SEO?

Yep. Spiders are looking for specific things when they arrive, and if your page is lacking… pffft!!! They just wasted a visit, and guess what? They may not come back anytime soon.

Here is a list of things you should be thinking about when putting any pages onto the Web, even blog posts:

1. Keyword in your title tag (First, if possible)
2. Keyword in your domain name (really helps if it’s there)
3. <h1> and <h2> tags that include your keywords
4. Anchor text (a keyword phrase that is hyperlinked back to your site)
5. External anchor text (keyword phrases on other pages that link back to your site)
6. Keyword use in your subdomain
7. Keywords in image ALT tags
8. Keywords in bold
9. Keyword phrases in italics
10. Keywords in your META description tag

All of these things are important to varying degrees. Want  to know the #1 most important thing you can do? Give your page a title! I mean, make sure your title tag in the HTML of the page is keyword rich, that your keyword appears first, and that it sells the click.

Your title tag and META description are what show up in Google when someone searches for a keyword that you rank for. So, make them good. Though the description isn’t quite as important to spiders, the title is VERY, very, VERY important. So, never neglect to add it to your page.

In a blog, each post is considered a page, so you can get plugins that allow you to add your title and description to every post you make: All-in-One SEO is one HeadSpace2 is another. Be sure to have ONE of those in place and be sure to add your title and description to every post. Don’t be lazy! This is really important stuff!

If you do nothing else—the <h1>, the bold, the alt tags, etc—be SURE that you have a title on every page. And that doesn’t mean the same title for every page in your site, either. That means a very specific, keyword rich title that makes sense for that individual page’s content.

If you don’t have a title, the spiders are already itching to move on.

I’ve been saying this for a long time: Tried and true methods of SEO are eternal. Really. If you’re doing the most important things for good ranking, you’ll find that they’re easy to implement and really, the most important things you can do.

Oh sure, there are little tricks popping up all the time. And the black hat stuff, well… it just doesn’t last.

Here’s a post at Search Engine Land that proves my belief: http://searchengineland.com/search-ranking-factors-shows-how-little-seo-has-changed-24363

Anchor text is primary. You need to have good anchor text for the links pointing back to your site. This will be a keyword phrase, and you should vary the text often. A whole bunch of links pointing back to your fishing blog that say “bass fishing” and nothing else is a dead giveaway that you’re doing most of the posting of those links yourself. Google wants to see “natural,” and want to see other people posting links back to your site, too. They won’t be using the same anchor text all the time.

Keywords in your title tag are just common sense. You need to use your most important keyword up front for the sake of prominence. And you should use your title tag to sell the click on Google.

Link popularity: How many links are pointing back to your site? This is very important to search. The more links back, the more “popular” the search engines will think your site is with the general Web population.

Diversity of Linking Domains: All of your backlinks shouldn’t be from one site. So, for example, not all of your article backlinks should come from Ezine Articles, though it’s a very good place to start.

Keyword in Root Domain: Well… This blog is a cardinal sin. Of course, I started it way back in 2005 when I didn’t even fully understand what SEO was. Always use your main keyword in your root domain. Really important.

And that’s it. I mean, those are the basics that SEOs from all over the Internet voted as the most important elements of SEO, and the factors didn’t change much from one year to another.

One element that was in last year’s survey was “Age of Domain,” which is still pretty important in the scheme of things. Google likes stability, and so, the older your domain, the better for SEO. For this reason alone I never changed this domain. I have almost 4 years riding on it.

The deal is this: If you’re not going to pursue SEO as a science, do these simple things. You’ll be amazed at how well they work alone. Oh, and add a good keyword-rich, readable META description, and you’ll be in better shape than if you used no SEO at all.