Before implementing the top 5 must have SEO components for any page or post on your website, you must first consider a very important detail that is surprisingly overlooked by many website designers and owners: Search engines actually search your site, or as they like to say, crawl. Meaning you must give them something to search for. Think about your own search engine journey as a consumer. You type in a term, or phrase, and the search engine gives you a list of matches. How are the matches made? The website owner has given the search engine a clue, multiple clues, on what is on their website. Same should apply to every page or post on your website.
Top 5 Must Have SEO Components
A Keyword or Phrase
Your keyword or phrase is the most important element for search engines. This is the word or phrase a client types into the search box to begin their journey to finding you, or your competitor. Make sure the keyword is on the page. This may sound simple, but one common thread I’ve found with my SEO coaching clients is their keyword isn’t found on the page. Your keyword is the building block for the entire page.
A Great Title
Every page needs one! Before you ask, About Us, Home, Services, etc., does not constitute a good title. If you’ve read my other articles, you know my slightly tongue in cheek description of calling your homepage Home. That’s like calling your book Book. Your Book will be lost among the billions of others titled Book. Let’s circle back to the keyword. It must be in your title. This is the first place the search engines will look for what your web page or blog is about. If you need a refresher on why titles are so important for searches, read my post, Super Simple SEO Secret.
Headings
The next important place to have your keyword are your headings. If we follow the book analogy, these would be your chapters. These are again guides, signposts if you will, for search engines to tell them what your site is about. You need one H1 with your keyword in the heading of the page. Next you’ll need to repeat your keyword at least one more time in a H2 or H3 heading.
Content
We can’t forget about content, ie, the written text on the page. You need that all important keyword again to really hit the message home to the search engines that, yes, this is indeed what my page is all about. It may feel a bit awkward sometimes, but you do need to make sure your keyword is in your content at least a couple of times. A tool such as Rank Math or Yoast will tell you how many times your keyword is found in your content. These plugins will also help you with making sure you’ve got your keyword in all the right places.
Images with Alt Text
How many of your images are named IMG_25456, or something similar? One place that’s forgotten is to add your keyword to alt text on your images. This not only helps someone who relies on spoken text, but it also provides yet another clue to search engines as to what your page is about. Plus, an added bonus is that your image will most likely show up on the Image search tab which gives potential clients another place to find your website.
Most important thing I want you to remember is that if you want search engines to find your website, you have to actually let them know in very clear language what your page is about. And let’s not forget about your potential clients. Have you ever encountered a website where you have absolutely no idea what it’s about? Don’t be that website!
As always, if you need 1 to 1 coaching, please schedule an initial consultation with me, so I can show you exactly how to implement these top 5 SEO components that every website needs!