It’s no secret…people are getting to your website (or not) through search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo to name a few (here is an exhaustive list).  Here’s how it works…they have some keywords they use to look something up and then Google will find them the most relevant page based on their keywords (and other things like location, browsing history, etc.).  If you want your page to be among those that Google returns on the first page you better have content that speaks to those keywords.  In this post I will share with you some very simple content marketing tips that you can put into practice immediately.  Here we go!

1.  Titles

A title is a key ingredient in boosting your pages search ranking.

Page titles (and post titles) are still one of the primary methods used for ranking your page.  If your page title contains the keywords being searched then you have a good chance or returning in the results.  It’s also a good idea to make sure that your page title is written so that it is entices the user to click.  For example a user is more likely to click on a title that reads “Get Started with SEO Today with These Five Tips” than they are to click on a title reading “Ways to Increase Your Search Engine Rank”.  The difference is that the first title is actionable while the second is just words.  If you are using WordPress you can even have more than one title using a plugin such as Yoast SEO.

2.  Related Keywords

Google and other search engines are not only using the keywords being searched to find content but also related terms that it finds within the content.  This ensures that Google is finding the absolute best match for the search.  So how do you know which related keywords Google is searching for in addition to your the main ones?  It’s actually pretty simple.  Head over to this site and type in your keyword or long tail keyword such as “search engine optimization”.  Using the results that are generated you can now try to incorporate those synonyms into your writing.

3.  Authorship

It’s a bit tricky to navigate but boy is it worth it!

Another key metric when Google is indexing pages is authorship or whether or not the content has some author metadata attached to it.  You may have noticed this type of information showing up in Google’s search results as an author picture as well as some info about the author and a link to their Google+ page.  This is a multi-step process and can be a bit tricky to navigate so I’m going to turn it over to the experts at The Blind Five Year Old by providing a link to their walkthrough.  Once you have set it up you can test it out using Google’s Structured Data Tool.

4.  Content Length & “Content”

This one is pretty simple.  If your post/page is matched up against another post/page and all things are equal except the length of the content, the one with more content wins out every time.  A good rule of thumb is about 800 words.  Search engines also love rich content such as images, videos, infographics, and audio.  Really, anything that enhances the visitors experience is good for your search ranking because don’t forget…it’s all about providing the searcher with the best possible result.

5.  External Links

When possible, link to external sites that are valid and credible.  For example if you are talking about the latest Apple product, it wouldn’t hurt to link to the Apple store for more information about the product.  Conversely, you don’t want to link to sites that have a bad reputation because it can reflect poorly back on your sites credibility.

So there you have it…five tips to get you started on your quest to SEOify your pages and posts.  Remember that changes will not be immediately visible because it takes time for Google to recrawl your content but when those changes do take hold, watch out!

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