"How do we get our website pages up high on Google, Yahoo and Bing search results?"

If only I had $2 (inflation and CPI you understand) for every time the Whiteclick team have been asked that question. Not just at client meetings, but conferences, parties, BBQs, school fetes, kids dance practice, even Christmas dinners.

Of course, as a band of SEO tragics, we're always delighted to have a platform to share our expertise and passion on the topic. Yet, while it's possible to answer this question properly in a client meeting, the same can't be said for a single blog post - or over a stuffed Turkey for that matter!

So, amongst a treasure trove of tips and topics in future weeks and months, we'll look at all the things you need to consider to help boost your business to the Top of the Search Pops.

First stop...your page content.

Here are seven things you can do to make your web pages more appealing to search engines:

1. Include the right keywords and phrases 

Before anything else, you need to determine the words that people looking for your products, service or business type, are likely to use when they search online.

Unless you're in a highly specialised industry, it's likely you'll have a lot of competition for the top spots. Therefore, you probably won't be able to get a high ranking for a very general industry term, such as a travel related business using "travel" as a keyword.

You'll have a better chance of success using longer phrases that contain your keyword, along with related words and phrases that are more specific to your business, products and services. For example, "African travel company", "South African luxury safaris", etc.

Don't try to fit all your keywords onto one page. You should have a unique keyword list for each page, and rank the importance of every word that you want to include - as this will determine where you place them on the page.

How do I pick the right keywords?

I could talk for hours on the science of choosing keywords, but no-one deserves to be put through that in one sitting. Instead, I'll talk about it in greater detail in several future posts.

In the meantime, know that there is a science to it. A lot of businesses assume they know the words that people use to search for their products, service and industry. The problem with this approach is that we only see the world through our own eyes and experiences. Our customers are likely to be using completely different words and seeing our business/products in ways we've never imagined.

So in depth keyword research and cross-referencing a number of tools is a must.

Where to place your keywords once you have them

Now that you've gathered you precious keywords, it's time to weave them into the magic places that tell search engines your page is relevant to the request. Let's start at the very top...

2. Optimise your title and meta description 

The page title and meta descriptions aren't visible to people on your website, but they sit in the page html code. Search engines place a great deal of weight on the keywords in the title, so make sure they contain your most important words and phrases for each page - and put those words at the front.

While meta descriptions aren't as important, they still tell the search engines if a page is relevant or not to a search request.

Just as importantly, titles and meta descriptions are the headline and teaser that people see on search results. If you don't make the most of them, you're wasting your 'free ad' on Google.

3. Make your headline Google and people friendly

Aside from being the first place your audience will look on the page, the headline is the most important piece of copy to search engines too. An ambiguous headline isn't going to attract customers or Google & Co, so make sure you include your main keyword or phrase and a reason to read on.

4. Don't forget to use SEO subheads 

Like your headline, search engines think subheads are an important part of your content, so use them on the page and include a number of your main keywords. Impatient web audiences love subheads too, because they scan the page looking for something of interest to them.

5. Weave keywords into your body copy

This can often be the most challenging part. Ideally, you want to include enough of your keywords to make the search engines sit up and take notice, but not at the expense of your message.

If you pack in too many keywords, people won't read your content and search engines may actually lower your page rank because they think you're 'keyword stuffing' ie trying to cheat the system.

Most importantly, use your keyword or phrase in the first sentence of the first paragraph - towards the front if possible - and again somewhere in the first or second paragraph.

Also, bold words and bullet points are given more weight than regular text by the search engines, but don't go overboard.

6. Link between pages on keywords

When search engine spiders come creeping around your website code, one of the things they look out for are the links between pages. Or more to the point, the words that link those pages.

By hyperlinking to another page on a relevant keyword or phrase eg linking from your African safaris page to your African hotels page on a phrase like "African hotels" or even "Kenyan accommodation" will add SEO weight to both pages.

7. Get others linking to your page

We'll examine all the other factors that influence SEO in future posts, but not enough can be said about the role of incoming links to your page from other sites, social networks, etc.

It takes time and effort to get other websites to link to your content. The best and fastest way to make it happen is to create content that other people and businesses feel is worth promoting to their audience.

What do you struggle with when it comes to creating optimised web content?