It seems one of the main problems companies have when trying to optimise their page, is with their keywords. A classic mistake is that they will have hundreds of keywords rammed into their meta description. Some of these keywords will be single words with little or no relevancy to the company on their own! Additionally, the same keywords and meta description as then repeated on every single page.
Other companies who know a little a bit about SEO, or who have been ill advised (find out more about the dangers of DIY SEO) include the keyword wherever possible in the page. This includes the title, H1 tag, umpteen times in their content, and at every possible link and ALT tag for images. As such they end up with a keyword density of up to 50%!! A search engine will normally see a keyword density of over 10% as keyword stuffing, and as such will penalise sites for this.
Here are some simple guidelines you can follow for optimising your page for your chosen keywords.
- Ideally your site will have site-wide keywords and page specific keywords
- Try and optimise each page for one keyword, with a maximum of 6 keyword per page
- If you include your keyword in the page title and h1 tag, and at least once in your content - that’s 90% of the job complete!
- Keywords should all be in lowercase and separated with commas (no spaces)
- Use the most relevant keywords first
- You can emphasise the importance of a keyword by using the <strong> or <italic> tags on the first appearance of the keyword in the content
- Aim for a keyword density of about 2-4%
If you need more information or have specific questions about your keywords, then contact us.
The cost of web hosting can range dramatically in price, from £1.99 per month to hundreds of pounds. When times are hard it’s very tempting to go for the cheapest option, but is buying cheap web hosting actually a false economy? Even worse, could it actually be costing you money!?
When looking into your hosting provider, it’s always worth checking out feedback from other users. Additionally, it’s worth checking out the uptime of the servers. Google records everytime your site is down, and having a low uptime (or an uptime of less than 97%) can be potentially damaging to your SEO campaign. You can check out the hosts with the best uptime at this link:
http://uptime.besthostratings.com/webhosts-uptime.php
It’s possible to get cheaper deals if you buy your server abroad from countries such as the US or India, but you have to take into account the speed of your server. Although having a slow website won’t directly affect your rankings, it makes it harder for Googlebot to go through your site, and having slow loading times can lead to a high bounce rate. Ulitimately if your bounce rate is high, your conversions are going to be low which will cost you money.
If hosting seems irresistably cheap, check the geographic location of the server and also make sure it’s not just part of reseller package. You may be purchasing webspace from a teenager working out of his bedroom at weekends! Ultimately the service you receive if you use any of these providers isn’t going to be great should you need any assistance.
Depending on how serious you are about your SEO campaign and the content of your site, it is worth investing money into decent web hosting. In most cases, a standard, mid price range host will be satisfactory for your SEO needs - but do some digging before you commit to ensure you get the best value for your money.
