SEO tips and secrets in 2013

2013 brings new and improved SEO tips and tricks to web designers and local business owners. My focus is Baltimore, MD but these tips will work universally.

We are going to focus on Google primarily, because let’s face it…they are still in charge. Bing is making an attempt with their new “Bing it On” commercials, but I have noticed flaws in Bing’s system that Google has already overcome.

Bing and Yahoo! focus on keywords in the domain name. So if my website domain was BaltimoreWebDesign.com they would put me at the top, regardless of how good my site actually is. Google realized people were buying keyword domains and in 2013 they are making you work for it.

So here is what Google really wants to see in your website:

• Content is always going to be number 1. You can’t trick Google anymore without writing good content that relates to your actual website.
• Keywords in the URL. This does not just mean the domain. You want to write blogs or news articles that include your website’s keywords. For instance, I will write blogs that are titled “Baltimore Web Design in MD“. The URL rewrite will make my URL for that page www.islandbluedesign.com/post/#/Baltimore-Web-Design-in-MD. To learn more about URL rewrites click here
• Meta / Title Tags. Google does not use the meta keyword anymore, but it still uses the description. It also uses your title tag. You need to make sure that your keywords are in those for each page. And do not use the same ones for more than one page! You also want to look into Open Graph tags too. Google loves them.
• Social Media Links / Backlinks. Google likes when you use Google products. So my biggest secret is going to be this. Post on Google plus and post often! Obviously continue to use facebook, twitter, pinterest, and any other social media source you can. Use your keywords in the post titles too.

Well that is all for my secrets and tips right now. I can’t give too much away as I do need to make a living off of SEO! However, I have learned so much from others and this is my way of giving back to the web developer world.

My website went from page 4 for “Baltimore Web Design” to page 1, listing #2 or #3 in organic results depending on the day. It took only 2-3 months.

Cheers!