In this lesson we take a look at the Top 6 SEO Factors to boost your site in the search engine rankings!

#1. Use high-quality, original content

"Original" means at least 25% different from any other content, and preferably 50% different - any less and you risk having your content picked up as "duplicate content" and virtually excluded from search engine results because of this.

High-quality content will keep visitors on your website for longer. Several search engines (notably Google) pay attention to this, and your page earns kudos for being so evidently interesting.

#2. Insert your keyword into the first 50 words

When indexing your site most search engines focus on the first part of your page, so it's important that this section is particularly relevant. For this reason it's essential that you insert your main keyword phrase into the first 50 words of your article.

#3. Have a keyword density of at least 1%

As we've mentioned, keyword density is no longer as big of a factor evaluated by Search Engines - as they've gotten smarter, they tend to look more at the content as a whole, rather than specific matches for keywords when people search. This means that you should spend more of your time focusing on producing quality content, and less on targeting a specific keyword.

That said, we still recommend you should still try and achieve a keyword density range of between 1% and 4%. Going any higher than this will make you look like a scammer and you'll end up being penalized. However, you should easily (and inadvertently) reach these targets if you just write your content naturally.

The easiest way to analyze the keyword density of any page is to use the Page Analysis tool in Traffic Travis.

#4. Word your title tags carefully

Title tags display the title of your page. This text shows up as the clickable heading of your search engine listing and at the top of the browser window. It's crucial that your title tags give the search engines a very clear message about the subject of your page, so they should contain the keywords that you want to optimize for.

Example 1: If your article is about weight loss, then the page title might be "How to Lose Weight" or "Weight Loss Secrets."

Example 2: If you want to optimize your page on how to play the piano, you can just simply call it "How to Play the Piano."

It sounds so obvious, but you'd be surprised how many pages have title tags such as "New Page" or "Page 1." - don't make the same mistake.

#5. Include your keywords in your internal links

The search engines use the words in your text link or anchor text as a factor in determining the nature of the page you are linking to; this means that they assume a link with the text "Dog training" is probably a link to a site about dog training.

You can leverage this concept to give your own pages a boost.

Have you seen sites where you need to click the "Home" or "Homepage" link to get back to the home page? Unfortunately these site owners are unaware that by doing this, they are optimizing their page for "home" instead of their keyword! We recommend that, rather than simply naming your internal link 'Home', you should name it "Weight Loss home" or "How to Play the Piano home" - this ensures that you improve the optimization of your main keyword.

We recommend you apply a similar concept to as many of your site pages as possible, and we strongly recommend against using  "click here" or "page 2" when linking against internal pages, unless you are trying to rank well for those keywords!

#6. Use H1 tags and use them well

H1 tags are similar to newspaper headlines. They are the first things that the search engines look at when indexing your page and ideally, they will give a good indication of what your page is all about. If your H1 tags contain your keywords, then your page will be seen as more relevant.

Unfortunately, many people don't use H1 tags because the default style is a huge font that's not very pleasing to the eye! However, it's not too difficult to use CSS to alter the style of these tags and it's well worth the effort.

Lesson Summary

In this lesson we've looked at our Top 6 recommended SEO factors that you can improve to boost your search engine rankings. These include:

• Using high-quality, original content
• Ensuring your keyword is in the first 50 words of your main content
• Having a keyword density of ~1%
• Word your title tags carefully
• Include your keyword in your anchor text
• Use H1 tags (and use them well)