Every business’ ultimate goal is to be on the first page of search engines. It is however, not a small task to achieve. To reach that optimal result, you can improve your position by applying a disciplined and consistent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) method. You can do some SEO work yourself. SEO is generally divided into two categories:

1- On-Page Optimization which is a technical and code related effort.

2- Quality link building to your site.

This blog will discuss the 10 steps for On-Page Optimization only:

1. Make any necessary changes in the website structure to show a unique content to search engines for each page, and push the repetitive content (left hand menu) down in HTML hierarchy. The structural changes are intended for search engines only and it will not affect the site appearance.

2. Take care of canonical issues in the domain address. Search engines might think that your domain address starting with the www acronym is different than your domain address starting without the acronym, when they actually are not. You should set up a permanent redirect (technically called a “301 redirect”) between these sites. Once you do that, you will get full search engine credit for your work on these sites.

3. Prevent leakage of Page Rank from the site to external websites. This occurs when links on your site take the visitor to other external sites. To avoid this problem apply the rel=”nofollow” attribute to all of your links.

4. Modify robots.txt file to prevent search engines from indexing directories and pages such as website admin directory and pages.

5. Make changes in the page title and Meta data so that meta description, meta keyword, and page title are all the same for each key phrase you want to promote. For example, if you are trying to promote the key phrase “AC repair Nashville”, the page title, which is a meta keyword and a meta description, should contain the phrase “AC repair Nashville”.

6. Include H1, H2, and H3 heading tags in page copy (wherever appropriate).

7. Don’t overuse Meta keywords. If you do, you take the risk of diluting the effect of your most important keywords. Keep the number of keywords to 10 or less.

8. Optimize images by inserting keywords in ALT tags of the images.

9. Optimize anchor text in links to include core keywords.

10. Create a new XML sitemap after optimizing the website and submit to Google, Yahoo!, and Bing search engines.

Those are the first 10 steps you need to accomplish to have a “technically” viable business website. However, those are not the only steps. To bring traffic, visitors, and make your website successful you need to build quality links to your website. It is a more daunting task. No one can guarantee to be #1 on Google, but to bring your website in the top 20 (first page) of Google, Bing or Yahoo, is a good sign of success. Hiring a SEO is an important decision, especially for small businesses. In most cases it will improve your site, save you time, and build reputation. This is why you need to choose a SEO very carefully.

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• Advertising, Opt-in Leads, Email Marketing service helps small businesses market their products more effectively. We provide everything you need, http://www.madviral.com Phone: 256-778-8350 (9am-5pm CST M-F) MadViral Enterprises, LLC 171 Early Rd. Hartselle, Al. 35640