Are you struggling with keyword research? Are you trying to understand the keyword research process but still feeling lost? Don't worry — you're not alone. I get asked questions about keyword research basics all the time. Keyword research is the foundation of any...
SEO for WordPress
Does Google still care about keywords, or not?
Today we're talking about keywords. To be specific, we're talking about the meta keywords found in the <head> section of your web pages (highlighted in yellow below): On a WordPress site, you get these keywords into that spot through the use of an SEO plugin....
How to Choose and Use a Focus Keyword
SEO (search engine optimization) is an important part of content creation. SEO means optimizing your content to draw traffic from the search engines. Choosing a focus keyword increases the chances of your content appearing in search engine results when people type in...
Get Basic SEO In Place
If you are looking for traffic sources you need to start with your own website or blog first. By this, I mean that you need to have basic SEO in place first. Let’s look at how you can achieve this. What is SEO? SEO stands for search engine optimization....
DIY SEO: Step 7 – The Wrap-Up and the Handy Checklist
This is the ninth and final post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series. Whew! You made it! You rock! By now you have some serious DIY SEO for WordPress tools in your toolbox to help you get the attention of the search engines. By no means are you now an SEO expert -...
DIY SEO: Step 6 – Commenting
Commenting is one of the easiest ways to drive traffic to your site. Assuming you’ve got great content waiting for your visitors when they get there, it’s also a great way to initiate conversations and build community in your target market. You can use commenting to get the attention of and build relationships with other bloggers which might turn into JV partnerships down the road. And of course, allowing comments on your own blog gives your visitors, customers and referrals a way to connect with you and give you feedback about your content, products and services.
DIY SEO: Step 5 – Make Navigating Your Site Easy
This is the seventh post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series. This step really has more to do with your site overall rather than individual content. Though you do want to have a site navigation plan in place from day one, some of what I discuss here will only make...
DIY SEO: Step 4 – Keyword Density
This is the sixth post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series.
Short, but illuminating exercise today: determining your keyword density.
What’s Keyword Density?
Keyword density is how often your keywords appear in your text relative to other words. Let’s say you’ve got a 500-word post and you’ve used your keyword 25 times – that’s a keyword density of 5% (25/500 = 5%) – and that’s the target that’s most widely recommended. Any more than that and you run the risk of Google thinking you’re “stuffing”…
DIY SEO: Step 3 – Headings, Bold and Italics
This is the fifth post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series.
We’re heading into more familiar territory in this step. You’re probably already used to highlighting words and phrases within your text using bold and italics. The only thing new here is to be a little more purposeful about your highlighting.
DIY SEO: Step 2 – Page Title, Page Description and Keywords
This is the fourth post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series.
You’ve done your keyword research, you’ve got your list of keywords you want to optimize for, and now it’s time to put all that good research to use.
Ready?
When it comes to SEO that you can do for your site, the page title, page description and the keywords in your keyword META tag are extremely important. But let’s clear up a point of potential confusion before we start.
Your page title is NOT what you think it is…
DIY SEO: Step 1 – Customize Your Permalink Structure
This is the third post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series.
A permalink is the URL of an individual blog post. To see what I’m talking about, click the title of any of your blog posts. What you’ll end up with is just that blog post, in its entirety, shown on that page. The address bar of your browser will reflect the URL (permalink) of that blog post.
You want your permalinks to make sense to both people and the search engines.
DIY SEO: Step 0 – Keyword Selection
This is the second post in our DIY SEO for WordPress series. Compile Your Keyword List Write down all the keywords from the list you generated using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool that have high search volumes and low advertiser competition. I won't try to give you...