Search Engine Optimization

This may sound crazy, but I don’t want you to worry about SEO too much. Instead, I want you to follow a few simple principles when it comes to creating content and maintain them forever.
Once you get good at these few different aspects of SEO, you’ll do them without thinking. I don’t want you thinking about SEO all the time. I want you to worry about creating awesome, useful.

Article/Page Title

Your article title should be catchy, include your Targeted Keyword, and be no more than 55 char-cters long. 55 characters is the ideal length for most search engines. If the article is about writ-ing ideal article titles and my Targeted Keyword is “optimizing article titles,” I may use something like “5 Tips for Optimizing Article Titles for SEO.”

URL Slug

The URL Slug is the address of your webpage. You need to simplify your Article/Page Title for your URL Slug, but still include the subject of the ar-ticle and your Targeted Keyword. If the title of the article is “How to Optimize Your URL Slug for SEO” (with the Targeted Keyword being “URLSlug”), then your slug will be something like: http://www.MarkdeGrasse.com/optimize-url-slug.

Headers

Headers are an extremely important part of opti-mizing your webpages. Most webpage editors will feature some kind of drop down option for specifying header tags. Your article will ideally feature 3-5 headers of varying levels. Each one should include your Targeted Keyword or a variation of the Targeted Keyword. If the article is, “How to Optimize Webpage Headers for SEO” with the Target-ed Keyword being “optimize webpage headers,” I may include the following headers:
3 Essentials When Optimizing Webpage Headers
Your Webpage Headers Must Be Interesting
Webpage Headers Are the Key to Success
Optimizing Webpage Headers Can Be Fun

Targeted Keyword Use In Content

You need to use your Targeted Keyword through-out your articles, but you don’t want to overuse it. If you use the Targeted Keyword in inappropriate contexts or deliberately repeat the word/phrase in an annoying way, the search engines will dock your ranking and it could hurt your website over-all. Try to include the Targeted Keyword at least once in each paragraph and don’t be afraid to use variations of it within the content itself.

Pictures

Ideally, each article you produce will feature 3-5 pictures within the content. Each picture should be uniquely titled and feature an “alt” description that includes the Targeted Keyword or some variation of it. If you have a picture of someone performing a kettlebell swing, your picture title could be “2-Hand Kettlebell Swing” and your “alt” description could be, “John Smith of Kettlebell Mega-Systems performs the 2-Hand Kettlebell Swing Exercise.”

Videos

If possible, you should always include a video related to the content in your article. Embedded videos should be optimized similar to pictures. Depending on your platform and skill set, you may be restricted from including too much in the way of a description, but you should at least be able to include a title for the video. Again, try to include the Targeted Keyword and a unique title for the video. For a demonstration video featuring the 2-Hand Kettlebell Swing, you may title it with something like “How to Properly Perform the 2-Hand Kettlebell Swing.”

Meta Keywords

While many search engines are claiming that they are no longer using Meta Keywords when finding and ranking your webpages, I’ve personally found that it still makes a difference. Include your Targeted Keyword (I suggest using only 1 or 2 Targeted Keywords) in the Meta Keyword field on your page.

Meta Descriptions

Meta Descriptions should be 150 characters or less and should be able to entice people to click on your article all by themselves. This is what will show up under your link on search engine results. It should describe the most interesting aspect of your article and include your Targeted Keyword.