Citations and Web2 Properties

 Using Web 2 properties and citations can help you get your website indexed quicker. Using tools such as Google search console or Bing webmaster tools that allow you to submit a sitemap are great but setting up some web 2 sites where you can link to the important pages on your site is an additional step I would recommend.

I personally like to create web 2 sites, such as this one you are reading, as it allows me to create what I would call mini blogs where I can write about topics around my main site and then link to the pages I want to push. These could be my main pages or new blog posts.

I also like to use these sites to link to other properties such as my social sites and any backlinks I might be able to get. 

Getting a backlink on a relevant directory is great but if the category page your link is on isn't indexed by the search engines then it is useless. Adding a link to it from a page that is already indexed can help the search engines to find that page and index it.

Here are some of the backlinks I have managed to get.

Skillshare is all about creating a great profile and sharing your information.  

Linktree is a great place to store all your favourite sites. Here is another linktree profile

Pbase allows you to create a profile and share photos and stories.

Recommended Company is a great site that allows you to showcase your business.

Business directories are a great place to list your business and get visits and a backlink. This is Cultrix on the same directory.

Ello lets you create a profile and share your latest blog posts.

SEO is a Complex Topic

 SEO is a complex topic or are we just overcomplicating it?

When you find out that Google looks at over 200 factors to decide on where to rank a web page you could be forgiven if you think that this is too complicated to take on yourself.

However when we break down each of these factors not many of them are that complicated. We are going to go through all 200 plus factors but here are some of the most important ones:

Meta tags

You should all know what meta tags are. But if not they are simply tags that tell the search engines what the page is all about. There are 3 tags; title, keywords and description. Keywords isn't used anymore because people used it to stuff keywords in there hoping they would rank high for all the keywords so you can ignore that one. The title tag is probably the most important one as it directly helps you move up the rankings for keywords to enter into it. The description tag doesn't directly help with rankings however if you write a good description of what the page is about then this could entice someone to click on your listing which over time will help rankings because the search engines will see that you are getting a good click through rate.

Content

Content has always and will always be important. Without good content it is extremely difficult to get your page ranked high on search engines these days anyway. Focus on quality but also quantity. Search engines like in depth articles.

Internal Link Structure

Having a good menu system will help both users navigate quickly to the product or service they are looking for. Search engines will also use the links in the menu to work out which pages they see as being important. 

Backlinks

Search engines and in particular Google use backlinks to work how much authority a site has. So if a website has 5 low quality backlinks it is likely to have a low domain authority whereas a site with 50 quality backlinks is highly likely to have a good domain authority. Sites with a high domain authority will find it easier to rank high in the search engines that low authority sites.