Succeeding with SEO is a function of understanding the basics. Search engine optimization is really made up of two different disciplines. The first is called on page optimization, what you do on your web pages to succeed, and off page optimization. By mastering both of these areas of optimization, you can have search engine success.
Any powerful SEO strategy is a combination of having the write strategy and applying necessary elements of that strategy in the right order. The same can be said for SEO. To win at the SEO game, you need to be willing to focus on onpage optimization before off-page optimization. This means that you are concentrating your efforts on navigation, web site design, and Meta tags. Beginning with on-page optimization ensures long-term success.
Let’s start with looking at your url structure. Many people believe that the only way to get number one rankings is by having your keyword phrase in your domain name. For example if your keyword is sneakers, you should have a URL that includes your keyword of sneakers. Sure, this would help but its only one of a number of factors considered in search engine optimization. Not to mention the difficulty of finding a good URL that includes your keywords.
A really good way to implement a sub-domain strategy is by evaluating your keywords and identifying a small handful of sub-domains to implement. Choose your most important keywords to set up as sub-domains and focus your efforts on a top level domain with direct links to your subdomains. This ensures that your sub-domains are crawled on a routine basis and appear within search results.
Keeping the sub-domain strategy in mind, you can also implement another URL strategy that is just as effective. Although it’s been debated in search engine optimization circles, I’ve implemented both a sub-domain strategy as well as the following strategy and they are equally effective. Instead of implementing a sub-domain, simply create a page that includes your keyword as part of the url. For example: yoursite.com/yourkeyword where your key word is the actual keyword or keyword phrase you are trying to optimize for.
Once you have worked out your URL strategy, the next step is to focus on other on-page factors. Although there are more than can be mentioned in this brief article that you should be paying attention to, there are a couple that I believe are more important that others. Page load times and W3C validated code are vital to your web site’s search rankings. Make sure your code is properly written and your web pages load quickly.
Only after you have on-page optimization covered from all angles is it time to focus on off-page optimization. Essentially you want to make sure that you’ve build that strong foundation for your web site that you can easily build upon. If your foundation is solid, you can build upon it for the long term. Off-page optimization is the practice of building links to your web site and focusing on other referrals from authority web sites.
Begin your search engine optimization efforts by focusing on on-page optimization. This creates a very strong foundation that you can build on for years to come. After that foundation is set, focus on off-page optimization techniques. These techniques can vary over time but should always include some type of link building effort. As you create more inbound links, your search engine results will continually improve.
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