Yesterday, i visited a customer and she ask me this question if SEO is still possible. It was told to her that SEO is dead as Google changes their algorithmn so often that it is impossible to do SEO anymore. This was told by a web development agency.
The answer is Yes and No.
No because the agency could not rank the client website because of its methods used or its search engine optimization methods does not work anymore.
Yes, it is still possible with white hat and best practice.
When we perform search engine optimisation, we need to know that we cannot rush into things and must always be patient about it. Thou sometimes we might be lucky to rank the website up in first page in a short period of time but that depends on the keywords which we are optimizing for. All these depends on what is done on optimizing your website.
Ethical best practice is to use the following
Step 1: Choose Keywords
Read
the page’s content and identify two (2) keywords that are most relevant to the
overall page content. Choose one (1)
primary keyword relevant to the page’s content and one variation of that
keyword (e.g. plural variation or two closely related keywords) per page. If
you can’t identify one primary keyword for a page, you’ll need to create new
website pages to separate the different content. If it’s not clear to you what
page is about, then your visitors and the search engines won’t be able to
understand the page either.
Step 2: Page Title
The
page title appears as the blue, bolded, underlined text on a Google searchresults page, and also on the top left the browser bar. The page title should
follow these guidelines:
Be under 70 characters with no more than two long-tail keywords per page title
The primary keyword should appear first Each keyword phrase should be
separated by pipes (|) Each page title on your website should be unique
Except for your homepage and contact us page, each page title should NOT
include your business name
Step 3: Meta Description
The
meta description appears on a Google search results page under the Page Title.
The meta description helps people decide whether to click on your result, or a
result above or below you. Think of it
as a call to action. The meta description should follow these guidelines:
Be under 150 characters (but not under 100 characters; take advantage of the
space you have) Incorporate the primary keyword and at least one secondary
keyword Provide a valuable, compelling reason for why someone should visit
the page Include keywords in a
conversational format; don’t just cram in keywords for the sake of listing them
Step 4: URL
The
website page’s URL should include the primary keyword. Each word in the URL
should be separated using dashes (-).
e.g. www.examplesite.com/keyword-here
Step 5: Heading Tags
The
page should have one H1 heading tag that incorporates the primary keyword, and
should align with the page title and the URL or the page. This H1 tag should
appear at the top of the page and should be the first thing people see when
they arrive on a page.
Step 6: Page Content
Use
your primary keyword a few times throughout the page’s content. Don’t overthink
keyword density or placement, you should mention them naturally. Try to bold or
underline the keyword at least once.
This has an effect on how relevant the keyword is to the page. Also
mention the secondary keywords when you can.
Step 7: Add a Call to Action
Every
website page, including your blog, should have at least one call to action
above the page’s fold (Don’t make your website visitor scroll down to see the
call to action). Calls to action can help SEO by creating an internal link on
your website to a specific landing page. Most calls to action are images;
therefore you can optimize the image filename and alt text for the primary
keyword you’re targeting on the page (see step 9).
Step 8: Internal Links
If
you mention the primary keyword of this page on other pages within your site,
then link to this page using the primary keyword as the anchor text. For
example, you should link to a page about inbound marketing software using the
anchor text “inbound marketing software.” To make sure this is completed, take
a moment to create one (1) or two (2) links on related pages that link back to
the page you’re optimizing.
Step 9: Images
Any
images used on the page should be optimized so that search engines can “read”
the image. Optimize the most prominentimage on the page using the primary keyword, and then use the primary and
secondary keywords for any other images. Images can be optimized in two ways:
File name: Each word should be separated with dashes (-), e.g.
inbound-marketing-software.jpg ALT text: The alt text should match the file
name, without dashes, e.g. Inbound Marketing Software If you are unable to
change image file name or if it’s too time consuming, then only change the most
prominent images’ alt text using the primary keyword.