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SEO Best Practices: Page Titles, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords

top-10-do-not-inseosearch_sea_search_seoWhen it comes to onsite optimization, you need to put on your SEO marketing hat. The following guidelines show you how to create optimized page titles, meta descriptions, and meta keywords. Don’t forget quality body copy! If you follow these specific guidelines, you’ll soar to #1 in Google in no time!

A page title holds greater weight over a meta description. Meta keywords aren’t as important as they used to be in the search engines. Keywords should be used sparingly throughout the body copy. Remember these SEO best practices– especially if you want to rank high and get thousands of links.

Page Titles

According to SEO experts, page titles are the MOST important element when it comes to SEO. Writing a dynamic page title can be difficult. It has to LOOK attractive so people will click on your listing (AND you need to include keywords too!) A compelling title needs to use 65 characters or less. Remember not to keyword stuff – this is considered an unethical black hat technique and you’ll either get bumped out of the search engines or lose ranking.

page-titles

Example of a Good Title:
Los Angeles Sporting Goods – We HAVE What You Need – Kicks Soccer Store

Meta Description

Meta descriptions need to capture keywords but it also needs to look appealing (just like the page title). You only have 160 characters so be creative and make it sound compelling. If you go over 160 characters, your listing will be truncated and ellipsis (…) will appear. This is a “no-no” in SEO because search engines don’t like ellipsis – it will decrease your click-through rate (CTR).

meta-descriptions

Example of a Good Description:
The Biggest Selection on Sporting Goods in the Los Angeles Area. 50% off and FREE Delivery on All Sporting Goods When You Shop Online. Click Here to Order NOW!

Use active words that entice your visitors and make them WANT to choose and click on your listing. Make sure to include a call to action (“Click Here to Order Now!”) and capitalize the first letter of each word (increases CTR). Capitalize power words such as: FREE, NOW, TODAY, etc.

Meta Keywords

Meta keywords aren’t AS important as they once were in SEO. It’s not a complete waste of time but Google doesn’t identify them anymore. It doesn’t hurt to add them but be careful how you use them.

Warning: Your competition is going to look at the keywords you use. Don’t make your keywords too obvious. Don’t put your relevant/high search volume keywords here either. If you do, your competition will steal them.

meta-keywords

Don’t forget to add keywords to the body copy. If you only use keywords in your title, description and meta keywords (tags), it’ll be difficult for you to rank those keywords.

• Use keywords between 3-10 times (for each 600 words).

• Don’t keyword stuff – copy needs to make sense and look natural. WRITE for your site visitors NOT for search engines.

• Remember that you want to get incoming links. If your body copy sounds like nonsense, no one will link to your site and there goes your traffic!

• ALWAYS add VALUE and quality when you write body copy. Sound like an authority/expert in your field.

• Your ultimate goal: to be a resource where people find information. If you keep that in mind, you’ll get high rankings and many links. Poor content will never get you anywhere in SEO.

This is a Guest Post by Zeke Camusio who is a serial entrepreneur, Internet Marketing expert and founder of The Outsourcing Company, an Internet Marketing agency with offices in Aspen, CO and New York. Let’s Do It!, his blog, is read by thousands of people all over the world.

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