U.OSU

If you’re looking to increase traffic to your U.OSU site you’re probably wondering what this SEO business is all about.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of manipulating your website in order to increase the number of visitors you receive from search engines. Sounds great, right? But how does it work?

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the primary force in driving Internet traffic.

You can use other modes, like social media, to promote your U.OSU site but SEO remains the most effective way to boost readership. There are a lot of factors that affect SEO. Luckily, you don’t have to be an expert to get started. These five basic tips will get you on your optimization way.

1. It’s all about keywords.

Think about what someone might search that could lead to your site. Keep those keywords in mind when drafting titles, page headers and tags. Beware of keyword stuffing! Sites filled with extraneous keywords can be misinterpreted as spam.

2. Give your URL a purpose.

Use keywords in your URLs and make them representative of your content. For example, it’s much easier to guess what the URL www.knittingworld.co/beginners/knittingneedles would contain in comparison to www.knittingworld.co/4556xPy/=r2p”begin”.

3. Link your way to success.

Links can benefit your site in many ways. There are three different kinds of links: inbound, links to your site from other pages, outbound, links to pages outside your site, and interlinks, links to other pages within your site.

Let’s focus on outbound and interlinks. You might be hesitant to send your readers to a different website but think about it as good karma. Interlinks are a no brainer because you link to yourself to create more traffic to yourself, make sense? If you’re writing a blog post that references info on one of your page, link and done.

4. Optimize your images.

In WordPress, you have the option to add a caption, title, description and alternative text tag to each image. This is a great place to use your keywords. Check out this piece about optimizing your images for deeper explanation.

5. Don’t forget about content.

Content matters. The three R’s of good SEO content are relevant, reliable and regular. Try to keep the subject matter you write about relevant to your site and keywords. This will up your hits and keep new comers coming back. Regular and reliable go hand in hand. The more often you post, the more reliable you become to your readers.

Check the Resource Center for more U.OSU tips and tricks.