What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimization) is simply the process of improving our site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to our business in Google, Bing, and other search engines. The better visibility that we have in search results, the more likely we are to gain awareness and attract prospects and clients to our business.

For reference, we will be using examples from an SEO optimized Navigation Insider article.

The SEO quality of a webpage is based on multiple factors, explained below:

Page Title/Title Tag

Arguably the most important tag. The page title and the title tag are the same thing, simply the title of the webpage. (65-character max)

This is also the title text that will appear on a search engine results pages (SERP), as well as the page tab at the top of your browser. Search engines will view this as the “title” of your page.

Example keyword/phrase: "the War for Talent"

For more tips on how to write a good title tag and how they are important, visit this article.

H1 (Heading 1)

This is the first and main header of the webpage and helps tell the search engine what the content on the page is about. Be sure that your headers aren't longer than a sentence or two and should include the primary targeted keyword.

Example keyword/phrase: "the War for Talent"

H2 (Heading 2)

The second header of a webpage should also include the primary or secondary keyword. The same rules of an H1 tag apply here as well.

Content

Content is the copy on the webpage. The copy should be quality content about the chosen topic and should include the keywords targeted. You want to be sure to distribute the keywords/phrases evenly throughout the webpage's content, with a combination of primary and secondary keywords/phrases.

For more tips on how to write a compelling and engaging content, visit this article.

Meta Tags

Meta tags are essentially content descriptors that help tell a search engine what a webpage is about and are used to help score SEO. Meta tags include, meta keywords, SEO title tags, alt-text tags, and meta descriptions. Some meta tags do not appear on the webpage; they will be located in the code itself.

Meta Keywords Tag

A series of keywords you deem relevant to the web page.

• Primary Keywords: These are terms with high search volume that can bring a considerable amount of traffic to our site. Primary keywords should be targeted to a broader audience and should be spread out across the text on your site. You want to include your primary keywords in the title, headings, anchor links, and first and last sentences. You should include a maximum of 2-3 primary keywords per page, and a minimum of one.
• Secondary Keywords: These are keywords that play a supporting role. In other words, they support the primary keywords and bring in additional information. Secondary keywords do not have as much SEO value as the primary keywords, but using them can still help us outrank our competitors.

Alt-Text Tag*

Used to provide text description to images on the webpage. Search engine crawlers are not able to interpret images without this text. It is not a requirement to use a keyword in this tag. (50-55 characters max)

*Not required from our content team*

Meta Descriptions Tag

A brief description that tells search engines what the webpage is about. The meta description also shows up on SERP pages as a preview of the page before the user clicks on the link. (150-character max)

For more tips on how to write a good meta description, visit this article.

Featured Description/Teaser Copy

This copy will show up as a teaser on our corporate webpage before clicking the listing. It could be similar to the meta description. (160-character max)

Internal Linking Opportunities

Internal linking is the inclusion of any link from one page to another on a website. Users and search engines use these links to find content on your site and navigate a site. This feature allows us to keep the user on the website for a longer time and gives them more content to look at.

• Contextual Links: Link between main topics and related articles and vice versa — from sentences or at the end of the post.

Best Practices for Content Writers

Use Keywords Wisely

• A good rule of thumb is that keywords should be spread evenly throughout the content to alert Google’s algorithms.
• Keep in mind that there are a few places where keywords are essential to use, such as:
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• Don’t worry if you’re not always using an exact phrase match. Search engines do a good job of picking up slight variations of the same keyword phrase.
• You shouldn’t need more than 1-2 primary keywords/phrases and 2-3 secondary keywords/phrases per piece of content. If more than this is used in the content, we risk diluting the strength of our chosen keywords.
• Primary keywords should be used 3-5 times per piece, whereas secondary keywords should be used 1-2 times.
• Remember that formatting is important for SEO. Using readable formatting such as H1 and H2 titles, numbers, and bullet points not only makes content more digestible to readers, but this also helps communicate our content to Google and other search engine crawlers.

What Is Readability, and How Does It Affect SEO?

• Readability is a major factor of any online content and can greatly increase our website’s SEO score.
• Readability is the practice of making your writing understandable and easy to digest for our target audience. When our content is clear to our target audience, they will learn about our services and products, and in turn, search engines will favor our website and rank it higher in search results.

A few tips to help readability scores

• Tip #1. Less is more: Keep article content concise and interesting, with the most important information at the top of the page. People don’t have time for excessively long articles.
• Tip #2. Short paragraphs: Shorter paragraphs are easier to read and give the reader some time to take in the information without being overwhelmed at its length. Readers will stay interested with shorter paragraphs because it seems like there is less to read.
• Tip #3. Use descriptions: Incorporating headings and subheadings increases readability for the audience and search engines by categorizing information and letting them know if what they’re reading contains the specific content they are looking for.