Make Money Online In Home With Zero Investment: SEO
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts

Monday, April 11, 2016

Organic search traffic had leaped from 1,392 unique visitors to almost 4,000 !

Allow me to explain 4 steps you can take to correct On Page SEO elements that you may be missing. The same SEO elements that contributed directly to the increase in traffic I relayed in this very true, story.


 Image result for increase website trafficImage result for increase website traffic
Step 1: Create A Strong Meta Title


Like the cover of a book  the Meta Title of a website tells Google and other search engines what the website is about.

The use of your target keywords and phrases within the Title portion of your website allows search engines to know exactly where your website belongs in the search results. In other words, a meta title tells search engines, like Google, what people might type during a casual search to find your product or service.



Step 2: Write A Clear Meta Description


The Meta Description is a piece of code that provides a short description of your website. This description includes a maximum of 67 characters. Your Meta Description should support your Meta Title and should be custom worded for each and every page of your website.

Utilizing your main keywords within your Meta Description, along with a few additional
‘longtail’ keywords will help your website to drive the type of target traffic you want.


Note: Each of these first 2 elements, your Meta Title and your Meta description are what show up in the search engine’s search results.




Step 3: Be Sure Your H1 Tag Is Keyword Specific


H1 Tags are typically the BIG font you see on any given page of a website and are most often used to create a page title, or blog post title.

Note: Even though you see large font, or a title on a page, it doesn't necessarily mean it is an H1 Tag but you want to make sure it is. If the BIG Font on your web-pages are not an H1 Tag - change it!

Google and other search engines want to be able to confirm that your websites pages actually include information that supports the subject matter they have found in your Meta Title and Meta Description. To do this, your H1 Tag should be between 3 - 7 words long and these words should absolutely include your main keywords or phrases.



Step 4: Spruce Up Your Content


Content is the glue that holds everything together. Write about what you say you are going to write about.

Use keywords in your content moderately.


Include variations of your keywords too. For example: if your keyword is “Plumbing
Service” be sure to include words such as …


●   Plumbing Services
●   Plumber
●   Plumbing Company
●   etc


Write good, quality content. Share valuable information. Do this and your content will always be of great benefit to your website (rankings).

If you follow these simple steps to correct any On Page SEO elements that may be confusing search engines like Google, you too will be able to start driving far more organic traffic to your businesses website.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

15 Easy Ways to Increase Traffic by 200% to Your website or blog

Generating traffic is the lifeblood of your online business. Without enough traffic to your site and blog will never achieve their goal. And then there are many options compensation to generate traffic, there is an equal number of tools and free and effective approaches. Here are some great traffic generators:

15. Marketing Forum

Marketing Forum: Share your experience with people who ask questions about your industry. In return, they will have a steady flow of traffic to your site. It will be the expert, after all. To make sure you get traffic all the time you spend to answer questions, make sure to spend time in marketing your forum signature. Your signature indicates that other forum members who you are and how to learn more about you. When these common marketing mistakes 8 starts marketing forum in the forum that you want to see (and avoid completely).

14. Blog Commenting

Blog comments: Much like forum marketing, blog commenting differs only on the platform you use.
Instead of being in a public forum, there is comment on individual blog. Linkback The operation is very simple. In almost all blogging platforms (Word Press, Blogger, etc.), there is a field to enter the URL (web address). If a comment draws the attention of a reader, you click the link and visit your site. Do not post spam comments. Care must be taken to share links in the comment itself. Many bloggers do not get with this, because it seems like a blatant attempt to divert your traffic to your site. Unless the link messages are sent directly answer a question, the best thing is not. The other advantage of blog commenting, even if you do not receive many direct visitors, is that search engines see the link and get your site a little boost. If you post enough reviews in blogs unique (different domains), you will see a significant increase in traffic.

13. Twitter Traffic

Twitter Traffic: When most users connect and start using Twitter, it can be difficult to see how he could bring significant traffic. With time and regular Twitter, it becomes the main source of traffic. Many blogs use automation tools to foster relationships and messages sent to his Twitter account. One of my favorites is called Tweet Old Post. messages and tweets last blog title and URL of your account is required. Many blogs generate hundreds or thousands of new visitors every month using this simple plugin for WordPress. Traffic may increase following these 5 easy steps to stimulate circulation Blog.

12.  eBay

eBay: The concept of using eBay as a sales platform is quite simple. product message (often at a loss or at a cost) to generate attention and publish your URL in the description as a source for more information on the product or subject. Due to the size and traffic on eBay, you get thousands of new potential customers. Other sales platforms to consider: CraigsList and Amazon.

11. Marketing Contest

Marketing Competition: One of the quickest ways to drive traffic than has bought a contest ways. It is a great way to generate hundreds of inbound links, as bloggers like to share the relevant competition with their readers, being the one to break the news. Many site owners have found it more effective to give a great price, rather than several small ones. Everyone loves to dream this big trip to Europe, rather than download the song for free. Great prices create great results. In addition to the increase in traffic, be sure to ask for something visitors to enter. Consider that requires a simple newsletter subscription. This way, you have your contact information if you win, and you can also keep them informed about the new content you post.

An example of effective marketing competition was a trip for two donated by Galapagos Galapagos Red Mangrove Lodges. competition period was open for a few months, over 4,500 people entered and the winner has been drawn in the video.

10.  Adjustments to the design blog

Adjustments to the design blog: Tweaking your site a few can make big differences in traffic over time. effective cross-linking, for example, will help Google to index your content, and help human readers to see what other relevant content you have. Check out these 6 ways to increase traffic Blog - are all approaches to design and write that increase their ranking. These changes also allow for better visitor experience and to keep your readers on your site - which is never a bad thing.

9.  Content aggregators

content aggregators: Getting your site (and messages) appears with a higher content aggregator can send a stream of traffic. Consider Alltop.com. The advantage of an aggregator (a site that collects aggregate or blog) is that they have a larger public what they do. By placing links to their content on these popular platforms, you can expect more traffic. But there is a problem not just accept a site. Although this is very good for you when you are accepted, it can be difficult to accept when your website is still new.

8. Content syndication

Content Syndication: This is easiest done via an RSS feed. This not only makes it easy for readers to follow your site, but also informs readers immediately after the publication of new content. It is a great way to get readers to your site every time a new piece of content is published. A popular tool for managing RSS feeds is FeedBurner (by Google).

7.  Write great content

Write great content: Nothing will build your content better than great traffic. If it comes to blogs, video or audio (or a combination), you have to constantly great content. Great content encourages visitors to share their messages - via social media links on their own sites and blogs. This social sharing with your readers more weight than any ad purchased could never wear.

6.  Build Your Blog Community

Build Your Community Blog: By taking the time to participate in individual readers of your site will benefit from the increased traffic. A committed community will be happy to share their content and see new visitors to your site. Learn to build your Community Blog.

5. Guest Blogging

Guest Blogging: This is a popular. But how should you do? First, a client must be in a (more popular than yours) popular site. And it should be his best stuff. Improper work will bring bad results. Post a compelling piece that adds real value of the site, you help. This will help you get another chance to publish. And give much importance to his online biography. A well-written bio help motivate readers to click on your site.

In addition to publishing great customer messages, it is also important to accept clients. This will expand its content base and takes some pressure write. Be sure to post a clear set of blogging guidelines - this will help reduce the number of items of poor quality you will receive.

4.  Free Trackbacks

References: WordPress (along with many other platforms blogs) has a great feature called trackbacks. What are Trackbacks? When another blog mentioned on your site, your blog (if it is treated as a support platform) will receive a notification that they have been mentioned. a linkback for readers to follow is created. It is an easy and effective way to both share great content and get LinkBacks context.

3. Video syndication

Video Syndication: video creation takes time, but it is worth it. After the creation of the video, do not stop with YouTube. Distribute their video content with a service like OneLoad (owned by TubeMogul). OneLoad take your video and share it on several platforms. non-commercial use is free and the next level is $ 75 per month. It works perfectly and expose your message and content to millions of people.

2. Video Labelling

Labeling of the video: When you upload your videos, it's important to take a few minutes to find the best keywords for your post. A good way is to check the video and similar popular messages. It can reflect their own and therefore increase the chance to present itself as a video related to them. This simple approach can increase video views and site traffic several times.

1. Cool Site of the Day

Cool Site of the Day: This extremely popular site has the power to send a lot of traffic to your site, you should be selected as the cool site of the day. Deliveries are accepted, so if you have a single site, is worth the time to present. If accepted, you will see thousands of new visitors it within hours.

You can also consider video responses, integration of video, writing and tutorials using bookmarking sites as effective ways to generate more traffic. Getting traffic is essential to start your business online.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

The best Free Online Resource To Learn Search Engen Optimization


It's easy to forget sometimes, when you hang fresh SEO blogs are those of us who are just beginning - first learn how to code your site and inbound links probable effect of your pages will rank.

Like most of us, I'm in SEO. I was working on a web development company, and the president asked me to do with this "SEO stuff."


One of the most important things I learned: do not believe everything they read.

But there are few resources that I have found in recent years to the deep wells of knowledge to action.

12 resources below are, in my opinion, the best places to learn about SEO.

#1. Moz (formerly SEOmoz)

This was one of the first places he frequented when I started learning SEO. The open community spirit associated with the uniform publication of the complete educational content is one of the first places that I sent those wishing to learn about SEO.

For the real meat and potatoes need a PRO member, but through the free guides and SEM blogs with lots of free information for most SEO, beginner or otherwise.

#2. Webmaster World

Most SEO bloggers are guilty of writing too much theory and too little in the way of concrete examples. Accordingly, we often leave thinking, "sounds good, but how does it really work?"

Webmaster World is one of the oldest and most reliable forums on topics related to web development and online marketing as a whole. These are the real webmasters who share their thoughts and problems in an environment of open discussions. Therefore, the discussions often focus on specific issues, a variety of voices and focus particularly prescribed hold-not the issue at hand.


#3. SEO by the Sea

Bill Slawski blog is the # 1 place to learn about patents from search engines. Period.

Congratulations to Bill determining crazy enough to read every patent search engine, which can have in their hands, and then translate the rest of us.

Keeping up with the patented search technology helps you keep track of what search engines are capable of - and where you can go in the near future.

#4. SEO Book

Aaron Wall is widely considered one of the true search of parents. He has been at it a long time.

Aaron is one of the few online bloggers whose posts I lack. Not only share things to think about SEO, but writing Aaron often highlights the crucial issues that have referral links to other aspects of the online world - and understanding of the big picture is essential to survive the competition online.

#5. The anatomy of a Hypertext large-scale search engine

This legendary paper by Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin while doctoral work at Stanford. It is an original working model of the model of sorts for Google.

Although in its current form, Google dwarf in many respects the original concept, the original concept was really a Google engineering art - and reading the previous document will take you a long way in understanding the processes that are in the heart of the motors research we know today.

#6. Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land was founded by Danny Sullivan, who is perhaps the most recognizable face and name on SEO. Danny is often on the latest advances in research - with unprecedented search engines contacts and an extensive network of experienced developers and SEO.

There is a constant stream of messages relevant and well written SearchEngineLand.com some SEO best in the business. Subscribe to this is obvious.

#7. Google SEO guidelines

Although I would not tell anyone to do "what Google says that" we must do to get your website to rank, it is important to know the public position of Google is in a wide variety of tactical techniques / could use.

#8. Search Engine Guide

This "Small Business Guide to Search Marketing" self-billed not only for small businesses - the messages here are written by SEO community with experience who have the experience to get ranking websites when does not he there are many resources available to them.

#9. Search Engine Journal

The blog you are reading has existed for some time. Loren Baker, who started, is one of these other SEO parents.

You may not have to say about it because I read - but if you think you have to look elsewhere, we have years worth of helpful posts on the blog here.

#10. Black Hat SEO

There is power in the dark side.

QuadsZilla does not mince words when talking about where you are in the "White Hat vs. Black Hat" question. Is black hat all the way - and proud.

I do not necessarily share some SEO black hat tactics work to increase your rankings, but there are many things to learn about automation and how classification algorithms can be exploited. Although this will be an angel, it is interesting to know that the dark side is up.

#11. Marketing of the earth (before Sphinn)

Started by Danny Sullivan, marketing the earth is great for keeping up with all the new high-end marketing. They also offer a large number of objects of everyday and how to guides on a variety of Internet marketing topics. This is a very good place to get all your news because it brings you all the best stories of the day.

#12. SEO Fast Start

This eBook Dan Thies, an SEO veteran, has been around for years. That does not mean it is obsolete - Dan updated each edition with latest updates to the search engine and tactics. Dan's writing style is simple and offers many tips for beginners SEO tips and some people might not have thought of (or just need a reminder).

The best way to learn SEO is by practical experience and experimentation. There are a lot of smart people who share a killer content, but the best education you can get just see for yourself. Get your feet wet.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

3 Free Ways to Increase Web Site Traffic


There are many creative ways to increase traffic to your site. While good content creation, original, you should see a natural increase in traffic. If you want to help, there are many things you can do to give yourself a boost.

1 Writing Articles

Develop good headlines. The titles are the first thing readers see, and often the only thing they see if the item is shared. Holders must jump in the car and quickly get your attention. A good title can significantly increase their views when shared in a social network.
See this guide for a detailed analysis of what makes an effective analysis of the distribution of title analysis.

Write content rich articles. Quality items are achieved they rated better in search results. Make sure your articles relate to the needs of its readers, and they can find all the information they need in one place. This is the most effective way to increase traffic to form a web form environment; offering people something that cannot be obtained elsewhere, or at least not at the level of quality offered.

Create content that is useful and helpful. Just improvise information from another site will not generate traffic. It is necessary to provide visitors with the information they need to achieve a goal, solve a problem, have fun, discover new quality, or just have a good laugh.
Avoid content generators. While they were once the delight of a band of growth in the industry, which are no longer useful. Put the creativity of your own computer online is what is useful.

Do not copy and paste from another website - Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines are too smart for this nowadays and will detect copied and unoriginal content, is sent to the bottom of the stack.

Facing a niche. Good sites niche or target a specific audience and become an expert in the field. You want your site is the only resource that your readers are going to the first. Or start a system based on self-interest, or examine the market and find a niche that has not been addressed also the site system. In turn instead of his experience.

Create a shareable content. In the world of social media, shareable content is king. Your content should be easily sharable for your readers to spread the word for you. This is a combination of a title and an interesting picture and an exciting lead-in. All this creates a perfect size piece bite your article so that others can share via Facebook, Twitter, and other networks.

Lists are very popular to share on social networks at this time. Sites like Mashable BuzzFeed and make great use of the holders of the list, for example, "10 Ways to ..." or "21 samples that are ...". They quickly attract the reader's attention and are a great way to deal with short attention spans.

Varying the length of the article. You must be comprehensive and long articles short and to the point articles. Let the content dictate the size; not spend too much time belaboring a simple point, but not be too brief detail when asked. Research suggests that the average length should be around 1,600 words, but you are free to vary to your liking.

Frequently writes articles. Your blog will be more effective if you have a steady stream of content. The objective of at least six articles per week. Whatever you choose, choose a schedule and stick to it in the best way possible.


Keep cool. For repeat visits, it is essential to provide periodic reports on the site, particularly in established areas frequently observed to date. Add fresh content every day if possible; at least weekly.

Consider outsourcing article writing. If you do not like the idea of creating the content yourself or your team of writers-savvy, consider outsourcing this end of the task. Depending on the length, content, specialization and quality required, prices can start as low as $ 5 per item. However, do not forget to try to write their own work - who better than you know your own business, hobby or club and can express exactly what you have to say?

Label and describe its elements appropriately. The tags, description, and metadata of your article affect how well represented in research. It also helps people find the items they need.
To have a website fully operational and successful, you must ensure that their labels are in place and their links are not broken. You must also send a Google map file to get your website on the search engine Google.

Use effective keywords. This is known as search engine optimization and help people find your website when they are searching the web. Make sure the keywords flow naturally with the text and the exchange of ideas is good words, words question that come naturally to people of all ages looking for your kind of place.

Keywords not only enter the sections and pages of names but also "meta tags". "Meta-tags" are the software code that visitors do not see, but search engines do.

Do not overdo keyword; excessive keyword stuffing will result in a very low search ranking your website. Also, be very careful not to place the key text in graphics; Search engines can not pick up the graphics.

Establish good connections. Link building is extremely important for websites. This is the process of creating links pointing to your page from other pages. This naturally occurs as you create quality content, but there are some things you can do to help you create links: commercial links with other websites that are closely related to the theme of your website that can bring more traffic website. These are two-way links because you must provide a link to them, too, and links to sites of poor quality can undermine the credibility of their own. The only link to sites that have died in the field, and really help your visitors.

Link to related blogs and forums. Find the communities that relate to your niche and create a user profile here. Enter the site information in your profile and make quality posts. This will attract people to your site through your profile links.

Contact companies that relate to your niche. Getting a company to link to your site for an article of how or blog related to your product, you can increase your traffic. Trying to establish links with businesses in your niche.

Establish an RSS feed. An RSS feed makes it easy to connect your articles on a variety of other places. Send your RSS feed to directories can really give your relationship a boost.
See this guide for more information about building backlinks.


Link to old entries on your own site. Make sure that you are linking to articles and writings. This will help new users find interesting articles in your wallet, and keep people on your site.
Add links to old messages to the new. If an article that refers to an old article that you did, be sure to return to the old article and a link to the new is written.

Organize your content into categories. A well-organized site is much more useful for readers and lead to better retention. It can also help increase the view of the oldest elements.

Give presents. Who does not love a freebie! online gifts are common and leave the visitor wanting more when materials reporting and writing. Consider promotional gifts such as:
Giving away an eBook with your ad on it. Allow users to also give the freebie away. This will increase the visibility and increase traffic to your website at the same time.

Conducting free online courses or seminars. They could be placed in the chat room to your website. The idea of information "live" definitely entice people to visit your website. It will be known as an expert on the subject.

Give visitors a free entry into your contest or sweepstakes. Prices should be something of interest or value to your visitors. Most people who enter continually revisit your website to get the results.

Allow visitors to download software, shareware, demos, etc. You could even turn part of your site to a directory of free software. If you created the software, include your ad inside and let others give.

Targeting specific groups who might worry about using the internet with free classes use instead - older workers, employees, etc. you might find these convenient and attractive.
Offering free online services or utilities from your web site. For example, they may present search engine, copyrighting, proofreading, etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.

Give free consulting to people who visit your site. You could offer your knowledge via e-mail or phone. People consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive.

With free starter kit that has a finite time; enough so that the client can practice with your product online and like enough to pay for the continuation of its usage time.

Free shipping CD, DVD, etc. which they contain packages or teasers begin to encourage customers to use your site more.

Offering screensavers or free templates for business cards, business cards, letterheads, etc., all that the customer can print. 

2. Promote your site

Use your call to action. Ask your readers to participate. If readers feel like the site owner is interested in them, they are more likely to keep coming. Calls to action engage the reader and helps them stay on the page. Calls to action can be writing ask the reader responses, sound off in the comments, or visit a site.

Interact with readers through comments. Comments are a great way to keep in touch with your readers. Meet the good comments on your articles, and use the space to ask questions comment. Take a few minutes each day to meet the most thoughtful comments do wonders for your community.

Follow and interact with other sites and blogs. Keeping in touch with other blogs that relate to yours. Leave comments in their messages and interact with communities. Falcons your site, but allow people to find their way to it.

Client on other blogs, and invite other bloggers to a customer on your site. Anonymous messages are a great way to direct traffic between related blogs, and allow readers who might not normally do for your site. Be sure to leave Poster guest link to your own website, and share the same client computers as you would your own messages.

Start forum. A forum is a place for the community to your site to meet and discuss anything in place for anything else. Active forums are also a great way to be more visible in searches. See this guide for more information on how to create your own forum.

As your site grows, you may need to appoint moderators for the forum. If a community develops toxic, which can have a negative effect on traffic to your site. A good policy of restraint is always important for online communities.

Advertise your site. Besides using links, you should make use of many other ways to increase web traffic. There are many ways to promote your website, both online and offline: If you have the money, consider paying per click. The major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft provide advertising packages. But first how to limit their spending to the level you want.

Go beyond the print and electronic media. They advertised in local newspapers, brochures, magazines, publications around the country and the fall of electronic literature. And the perennial favorite, not the good old Yellow Pages ™ forget - printed version naturally!

Visit the small cards remaining in the cafes, the signals were exchanged during meetings, etc.
Local, such as clubs, libraries, and community centers to nonprofit resources to promote a website. Use word of mouth. Tell everyone you know about your site, give business cards to passers-by in the street, and so on. you may even want to start a guerrilla marketing program!

Use your car, especially if your site is specific to each zone (eg a website detailing local events or selling local services). Get stickers or vinyl stickers created and turn your car into a movement literally drive traffic to your site!

3. Social media

The use of social networks to expand their reach. Social networks are very important, and make sure you have a solid presence will have a great impact on their views. Post an attractive and soon build a loyal following content. Follow and share with other users, who can return and continue. There are a variety of ways to use social media to increase their online presence, according to the needs of your site.

Create a Facebook page. Facebook allows you to create a page on your website or business. This allows you to quickly share new information with their fans on Facebook, as well as actions of other related items. A Facebook page is also a good way to promote your site to a lot of people.

Post new articles on Twitter. Create a Twitter account for your site or by itself, and publish the title and a link to each new article. Many blogging software that allows you to do this automatically. Make sure you have a link to your Twitter feed on your site.

Tumblr used to gain followers. Tumblr is a blogging service that lets you easily connect the content of the web. Tumblr used to post links to your articles and the associated content.

Set up a Google+ page. Google + is a social networking service Google, and like the others, allows you to post links to their published articles. Google+ has a large potential audience, since all users have access to Google, although a much smaller percentage actually use.

Articles on Pinterest Pin. Pinterest is a social network focused on the image. What it began as a development of services and the recipe, but has since grown to encompass a wide range of categories. Make sure that blog posts have good clear images if the PIN on Pinterest.

Take pictures with Instagram. Instagram create an account for your business or site and take some pictures related to your niche. Be sure to use the hashtags to advertise your blog in the photos, and a link to your website in your profile.
Submit your articles on Digg and Reddit. Reddit and Digg have two large communities of active users. Post article can lead to a lot of good traffic and distribution, as long as messages are sent to the right place and follow the rules of presentation.

To control the eye
Build a modern and coherent design for your site. If your site is difficult to see, many visitors are not kept. Make sure your style is your niche, and it is modern enough to be pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate.

The balance of your page. To improve your website, the balance of your page because when users enter a web site of his first start option in the top left of the page and move forward slowly floating to the right. The user focuses more on the text of the page, instead of images or graphics. This is where the balance is in place. 

The balance not only makes your page more visually appealing, but it will make your page easier to read and easier to find. A good helper object objects in the flow of the page.
Keep it simple. If your own site by removing all unnecessary visual elements, allow highlighting important elements. You must leave a blank space on the page of the illusion of space is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate.

Using equity. Background textures and color you choose have the ability to significantly influence the overall attractiveness of the site. A lot of texture and graphics in the background can be distracting. If a background color is used, you must ensure that there is a significant difference between the background color and text. Be careful when using brighter and darker colors like red or yellow. Because eyestrain (temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work) and the player loses his attention in the text.

Take clear and high-quality pictures. If you use images on your site, make sure they are the highest quality possible. This may mean investing in a better camera if you take your own photos.

Create a navigation menu. To facilitate navigation, create a toolbar with links that are easy to navigate and position the toolbar in an area that makes sense. They are often looking for the toolbar at the top or bottom left tools on the left side of the page. Not to mention a link to your homepage. Often it overlooked, but very important to refer users to the home page.
Commission art for your site. If you do not have a lot of artistic talent, art can be applied to your site to give it a professional look. This may cost some money, but it can have a huge impact on the feel of your site.

Create infographics. These are very sharable and flows dominate social media. There are sites online that can create graphics for you on the database and template options.
Start a podcast. The podcasts are a popular way to share your thoughts and opinions with your readers. You can listen to podcasts on the fly, and you can even earn money from them.

Starting your own podcast

Link YouTube channel to your website. If your video suite overlooks a central link between a YouTube channel. You can embed YouTube videos in your blog posts and YouTube users submit your blog for details. You can even monetize your YouTube channel additional revenue.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

How Important are Tags for SEO?

If you want to improve the visibility of your website, increase traffic and boost your brand’s revenue, you need to run a strong SEO campaign.

While building backlinks, developing your social media presence, and other off-site practices are great for boosting your site’s rankings, on-page optimization is still incredibly important.

Arguably, one of the most crucial aspects of on-page SEO is tags. Whether it’s title tags, header tags, meta tags or blog post tags, they have been demonstrated to increase traffic and boost engagement.

However, are they still as important and effective in 2016 as they have been in the past? In this article, we’ll take a look at the role of tags of every type, and explore their impact on SEO in 2016.

A Brief History of Tags

Tags are generally used to classify content in a way that is useful for the reader and easy for search engines to understand, which potentially makes them incredibly important for both SEO and usability.

However, over the years, the way we use tags and their relative impact on rankings has changed. The key question is: are tags as important now as they once were?

Meta tags have lost their power in a big way on rankings over the past several years and, as a natural result, the number of websites using them has vastly diminished. We’re going to discard those as being dead in the water in terms of SEO benefits.

However, is the same true for title tags, header tags, and blog post tags–are they as important for SEO in 2016 as they once were?

Let’s take a look at each in order to answer that key question.


Title Tags

As you probably know, title tags are used by search engines (in part) to determine a page’s topic, and are also displayed in SERPs.

A good title tag will demonstrate what the user can expect from the page before they actually click. In this way, they are a strong determiner of click-through rates. But how do they affect your site’s SEO?

How Important are Title Tags in 2016 for SEO?

For many years, title tags have been considered one of the most important factors of on-page SEO. In fact, in the past, title tags were seen by many as only second to good ol’ fashioned keyword stuffing in terms of importance. But are they as important in 2016?

According to 2016 research from Backlinko.com, Google’s shift toward semantic search could affect the relative importance of the title tag. The researchers found that a keyword-optimized title tag was associated with a better ranking, but that the correlation was smaller than it once was.

Findings suggest that Google no longer requires your title tag to include an exact keyword in order to interpret a page’s subject matter. For example, if you type “how to start a business” into Google, only six out of the ten top pages include an exact match keyword in their title tag.

That said, search engines will still compare your title tag to other content on your page, to ensure keyword consistency when indexing and ranking web pages, still making them an essential part of SEO.

In other words, title tags are still an important part of on-site SEO, but they are far from the be-all and end-all.

Header Tags

For the purposes of this article, header tags refers to the HTML markup used to distinguish headings and subheadings within your content from other types of text (e.g. paragraph text). They run from h1–h6, historically in a sense of ‘importance’.

The usage of header tags these days is the source of some debate. Before the advent and growing popularity of HTML5, it was typical to include just one h1 tag within your content, and the contents of that tag were seen to be pretty influential in terms of on-site SEO.

However, these days, it is possible to utilize multiple h1 tags on a per-section basis, thus arguably lessening the importance of the hierarchy of header tags and encouraging search engines to be less simplistic in their analysis of any given page.

How Important are Header Tags in 2016 for SEO?

Searchmetrics’ 2015 Ranking Factors reported that two in every five webpages in SERPs didn’t utilize h1 tags at all. Was this simply a sign of lazy web design, or a reflection of the relative unimportance of header tags?

On the contrary, the amount of pages using h1 tags has increased compared to 2014. In the top 30, this ratio has increased by 4%. On that basis alone, it would seem that the web designers of today consider header tags to be more important than they did previously.

Furthermore, several case studies have highlighted the importance of using header tags effectively. For example, SearchEccentric worked with Motor Cars Ltd. in overhauling their header tags to be more SEO-friendly. Rankings leapt accordingly, with one keyword in particular jumping from 320 in the SERPs to the top spot.

In terms of on-site SEO, header tags are certainly here to stay–it has been demonstrated that careful optimization can lead to major ranking increases.


Blog Post Tags

Most blogging platforms–like WordPress–provide you with the ability to add contextual tags to your posts. We refer to these as “blog post tags” in this article, in order to differentiate them from other types of tags.

Blog post tags are part of your site’s taxonomy. WordPress and other blogging platforms utilize taxonomies to classify and better organize information. They provide visitors with a list of posts grouped by generally more specific topics than the categories. If you think of your site as a book, with categories as your website’s table of contents and tags as your index, you won’t go too far wrong.

For example, if you run a fitness blog, you might have categories like “Diet”, “Workouts”, and “Fitness Tips”. Those three are broad terms that you would use to categorize posts. When you write a post and put it in the workout category, you might enter tags like, “pushups”, “squats” and “lunges”, if the post features them.

These tags can be valuable to your site’s visitors and to search engines. For visitors, it improves the usability of your website in terms of being able to identify posts that cover specific topics. For search engines, it makes interpreting the page’s content easier and can ultimately aid your site in ranking better.

How Important are Blog Post Tags for SEO in 2016?

Blog post tags do not necessarily improve search engine rankings in and of themselves, but, while they might not be directly influential, they can improve SEO indirectly.

For starters, though most search engines don’t rank category and tag pages highly in the SERPs in 2016, high-quality tagging makes it easier for Google to see what your website is all about.

For example, if you run a food blog that often focuses on vegan desserts, and you have a tag page for vegan desserts that links to many different pages and has various posts linking back to it, it sends a strong signal to search engines that vegan desserts are big part of your site.

Furthermore, while tag and category pages aren’t necessarily ranked highly, they are still ranked—meaning they are a viable traffic source. Blog post tags not only provide you with another source of traffic, they also improve user experience.

Using tags meticulously in posts makes it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for on your site. Blog post tags can lower your bounce rate and increase time on site–both behavioral factors that Google take into account–as they make websites easier to navigate (when utilized effectively). They provide the user with a convenient way to access relevant content and, if the user easily finds what they are looking for, they’re much more likely to stay on your site.

Google’s focus on user intent and perceived quality of experience is only set to increase in the future; as of now, they have evaluators manually trawling SERPs and ‘grading’ websites based upon subject markers of ‘quality’. Those who don’t think providing a good user experience matters to SEO are quickly falling behind the times.