SEO: Improve Your Search Engine Rank

by Brynne Peters

At Central States Media, we work with a number of clients helping them improve search engine rankings. The first obstacle is helping clients weed through the massive amount of information out there about SEO. Second task is explaining that whether you have a small, medium or large website, achieving top rankings is very possible! The factors that contribute to top positions with search engines are the same no matter the size of your website. Below I will describe a few simple ways you can improve you SEO and see your website appear in the top Google, Yahoo and Bing positions.

It is important to note that 6 of the top 10 factors that influence the search engines have to do with links. An important search engine ranking factor has to do with the anchor text of all inbound links to your website, such as .gov, .biz, .com, etc. Search engines view anchor text from inbound links from other sites to determine what your site is about and how it should rank. Not all links are created equal, a .gov anchor has more relevance than a .com. Take a look at the websites linking into your site and evaluate other important factors such as global link popularity of linking sites and topical relevance of inbound links. Overall, you should identify the quality, quantity and diversity of inbound links to ensure a high search ranking.

Another important ranking factor is using keywords in your title tag and other meta tags. Although the influence of meta tags is minimum, meta tags do impact your rankings. The function of meta tags within your site is to categorize your page and identify to search engines what they should anticipate to find within your site pages. It is very important to make sure your tags are constructed correctly with appropriate and relevant keywords. If your tags match up with the content within your pages, search engines will view your website as relevant and push you up in the rankings.

While this is a brief overview of important factors to improve search rankings, it is important to mention that SEO takes a lot of patience. There is not a timeframe or guarantee with SEO. We like to compare it to a growing a garden. If you have all the appropriate nutrients (links, meta tags, etc.), with time your rankings will grow. Keeping your website updated with fresh new content is a great way to help boost your site relevance.

If you find that Search Engine Optimization is something that your company would like to know more about, feel free to contact Central States Media at info@centralstatesmedia.com or on the phone at (309) 693-2345.