By now, most people have heard about search engine optimization (SEO) and all the wonderful things that it can do for your website.
Most people also know that SEO tactics involve adding keywords to your website copy and images, having backlinks created for your site and implementing strategies that will get your more traffic.
The reason that most people know about these tactics is because they’re the easiest to employ. Need a quick SEO strategy? Make sure that you’re using the right keywords and that they’re placed naturally throughout your website copy.
But there are other SEO tactics that most people don’t know about because they’re more advanced. If you have a strong handle on SEO, check out these other ways that you can implement stronger SEO tactics.
Use the author markup function.
Have you ever performed a search in Google and came across a result that had a person’s photo under the web link as well as their name? This is a newer function created by Google that allows individuals to place all of their work under one author name and one author bio. This way, users can easily locate everything ever written by that one individual. Plus, the author’s name is listed on the search engine result, and if you click on the link, you’ll be taken to the author’s Google+ page.
Use photos.
Photos can help you improve your SEO in two ways. First, you can add descriptions, titles and tags to your images, and doing this (especially using keywords in these locations) can help search engine spiders rank your site more appropriately. Second, people love photos. They love visuals, and sites or blogs that contain photos are more likely to receive web traffic than those that are solely text based.
Use the less popular social networks.
When most people think of social media, they tend to think of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Pinterest. But there are A LOT of social networks out there, and it’s important that you start to use these channels to push out links to your website. Join Tumblr, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Flickr and any other social network you can. These sites have an audience too, and it’s possible your target audience could be hanging out in one of these locations.
Answer questions.
There are quite a few websites out there that allow users to ask a question and other users to give their answer. Sites like Answers.com or Yahoo Answers work this way, and a great way to improve your SEO is to join these sites and expertly answer questions. You can answer questions in which your website can lead them to a solution. For example, if someone wants to know where they can get great flowers in Chicago, and you just so happen to be a Chicago florist, then tell them about your company and give them a link to your site. Not only did you solve their problem, but you just earned yourself a backlink, and (hopefully) a customer.
SEO involves more tactics than most people think, and if you’re tired of using keywords, make sure to use some of these more professional SEO tips.
Mey Lau is a marketing professional from Dallas, Tx. Read more of her work on SEO.
