Basic SEO factors needed to rank a site organically on Google

[TroyValdez]

Hey guys, i have search and compiled from several source about this topic. On-page SEO - Now there are a few things that you are going to be looking for here : to see your website source code all you have to do is type this into your URL bar (work only with firefox or google chrome browser); view-source:http://www.yourwebsite.com Title Tags What is between the is what shows up in the Google search results as the title Use your official business name in the title tag of either your contact or location page. The thought process here is to help Google decide to label your own site as an authority site, and then use your pages as citations. Focus on both the company name and keywords in the title tag. In the 1990‟s, keywords in the title tag were king. No longer, this is still important but less so. Focus on getting strong conversions with your tag rather than keyword stuffing. Be Unique on Each Page It has been proven in many different studies that using the exact duplicate or a near duplicate of a title tag across the pages in your website will hurt your site‟s ability to rank. It's a similar concept to duplicate content. Don‟t do it. Keyword Tags, Description Tags (all the usual standard Meta tags) PHP Code: <meta name="description" content= <meta name="keywords" content= <img src="images/lawncare-city.jpg" alt="lawncare [city]"  - Alt Tags – optimize each with your primary keyword(s) and geographic names. Ideally, these will map back to one of your Google Places categories. renamed your picture file with the keyword that you're focusing on for this page. - Header Tags – Use H1 and H2 tags with your keywords whenever possible. Just like with the Alt Tags, it is ideal to have some, if not all, of these Header Tags map to your Google Places categories. - Keyword prominence and Keyword density – pay special attention to this. If you don‟t understand these concepts, use a tool such as WebCEO (please googling it) to help you get your ratios right, or if you use WordPress consider a tool such as SEOPressor or Easy WP SEO. Internal Linking Strategy Build a well thought out internal linking strategy that uses your primary keywords, yes, the same ones that map to the Google Places Categories you choose, and have them interlink throughout your website! XML Sitemap Make sure the website has an XML sitemap created and installed. This is the absolute best way out there to get deep indexing of your website. You can do this using WordPress and a great plug-in such as Google XML Sitemaps - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...map-generator/ . This plug-in will automatically notify Google. Each and every page needs the company‟s Name/Address/Phone number. This is critical. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you use the hCardmicroformat to properly format your addresses. Google, Yahoo and Bing all use this data, so you should provide it in this format whenever possible. Discover more about micro formats from Google here: http://www.google.com/support/webmas...?answer=146897 The basic gist on your on-page optimization is this….you need to make it easy for the search engines to see your business‟s Name, Address, and Phone number when they visit your website. If you just use simple HTML that is fine too. KML Files KML Files, or Keyhole Markup Language files, is a file format used to display geographic data in an Earth browser such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile. KML uses a tag-based structure with nested elements and attributes and is based on the XML standard. This format was created by Keyhole, a company who was acquired by Google in 2004. So….this is the location based XML mark-up that Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Places use to format geographical data so that Googlebot understands it! Seem like something you would want to do on every listing …. right? Yes – it is! Using a KML file is a very smart and simple way to stand out from your local competitors. But of course, most systems will not talk about this, let alone do it. A KML Example right from Google itself: PHP Code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <kmlxmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2"> <Placemark> <name>Lawncare LLC</name> <description>Attached to the ground. Intelligently places itself  at the height of the underlying terrain.</description> <Point> <coordinates>-122.0822035425683,37.42228990140251,0</coordinates> </Point> </Placemark> </kml> The structure of this file breaks down as follows: - An XML header. This is line 1 in every KML file. No spaces or other characters can appear before this line. - A KML namespace declaration. This is line 2 in every KML 2.2 file. - A Placemark object that contains the following elements: o A name that is used as the label for the Placemark o A description that appears in the "balloon" attached to the Placemark o A Point that specifies the position of the Placemark on the Earth's surface ( longitude, latitude, and optional altitude) If you‟d like to learn more about KML file, you can learn from Google at: http://code.google.com/apis/kml/docu...n/kml_tut.html Off-site Linking Linking to your website i. Similar to traditional organic SEO, Local SEO requires links from other sites to your website. ii. Focus on building links from other websites in the same geographic area : 1. Chamber of Commerce – high value link 2. Better Business Bureau – high value link 3. City / County websites 4. Local Newspaper websites iii. Beyond the typical value of links for organic rankings, we are using these localized links for a different reason. The value for local SEO is all about confirming to Google, Yahoo and Bing that the business is truly local to the specific geographic area and operates with the address and phone number that match up to their Local Business listings. In general, all links back to your website should use the specific keywords that you want to rank in Google Places for. These are the same words you used as Categories on your Google Places page! Rich Snippets for Local Search Rich Snippets are part of the future of effective, strategized local search listings. Be sure to use these to highlight important reviews or data on your website. “Beyond improving the presentation of your pages in search results, rich snippets also help users find your website when it references a local place. By using structured markup to describe a business or organization mentioned on your page, you not only improve the Web by making it easier to recognize references to specific places but also help Google surface your site in local search results. “ Learn more from Google: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/richsnippetslocal/ Be sure to use the free Rich Snippets testing tool to help you determine what Google sees: http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets And, this is the resource I use personally on this subject: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/ric...local/faq.html Off-page SEO : Social Media and Google Places Don‟t neglect social media sites such as Facebook, Google + and Twitter (many others too, but consider these too for now). Google has made it quite clear that they are now including many social media factors when considering ranking specific sites. Facebook Fan Page (basic one – nothing fancy) - https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php - Choose “Local Business” - Fill out enough details to get some keywords and geographic terms in the description. - Add Correct Name, Address, and Phone Number as it appears in Google Places - Add link to website – same one found in Google Places Google Plus for Business Page -http://www.google.com/+/business/ - Fill out enough details to get some keywords and geographic terms in the description. - Add Correct Name, Address, and Phone Number as it appears in Google Places - Add link to website Twitter - http://twitter.com/ - Even if you are NOT doing social media work, add the page with a link back to your website. (at your profile) - I like to use the exact same description here as I use in the Google Places Profile page 200 character descriptions. It's far from perfect but it's good enough for a start, hopefuly it's will useful. Any additional info are welcome.

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Last edited by TroyValdez; 01-17-2013 at 11:10 AM.

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Troy where are you from?

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[aboveparlawnservices]

Seems like some great information! I just wish it made sense to me

I am using Wix to create my website and will be having someone help me that has done it before. I copy and pasted that information and will be showing it to them for sure. Thanks!

[BLC7]

Originally Posted by aboveparlawnservices

Seems like some great information! I just wish it made sense to me

I am using Wix to create my website and will be having someone help me that has done it before. I copy and pasted that information and will be showing it to them for sure. Thanks!

This is definitely good information if you're in a super competitive market. where are you from APL?

[TroyValdez]

Originally Posted by Steve

Troy where are you from?

HI, Steve... sorry not introduce my self... I'm from Troy, MI ... join this forum to share what i got from the net. Just in case i can help some one here with my knowledge