Q: I understand that SEO is a science. But are there any SEO basics an affiliate should know to help them rank better?
– Samuel
In addition to getting backlinks from other sites, there are three sets of “on-page” SEO basics that every webmaster should know to help their sites perform better on search engines. First, there is the “meta info” of your web pages; secondly, there is actual page content; and finally, there should be consistency between the two.
Meta Info
Meta information is used to categorize and label web pages, and is very important because it determines how site listings appear on the search engine result pages (SERPs). When your affiliate pages have the proper meta information attached to them, you are likely to get more organic traffic because your pages (1) show up in relevant search results, (2) have the appropriate listing information when they do, and as a result (3) experience higher click-through-rates (CTR).
Title Tag
This piece of information is simply the title of a webpage. The title tag should be used to describe the page it is actually for and should not exceed 65 characters. It appears in two places that can affect how well users convert into player sign-ups:
- As the title of a search engine result.
- At the top of a browser window.
There are two negative implications when your title doesn’t actually reflect the page that it is for: (1) you rank less effectively in the SERPs, and (2) users can become suspicious when they land on a page that does not meet their expectations.
Meta Description
The meta description is what generates the description in the SERPs and should not exceed 200 characters. However, search engines only display the first 150 characters, so it’s important to include the punchiest, most relevant description of a page in only 150 characters. Think of it as a sales pitch: there should be descriptive information, product highlights, and anything else to encourage users to click through.
Meta Keywords
This set of meta info pertains to keywords that are pertinent to the page. Traditionally, here you would’ve included the search queries that you believe are most common for users that might be looking for the page you’re tagging. However, the major search engines stopped indexing this field several years ago, so there is no benefit to filling in this field. In fact, many SEOers regard it as doing keyword research for your competition.
Content
On-page content is the most important part of on-page SEO. After all, this is what search engines assume your users are looking for. It’s important, then, that all you pages have actual content for both search engines and users to consume, and that that content contains the keywords you’re trying to rank for.
You should never, however, compromise the usability/readability of page content for a higher keywords density. To avoid doing so, try focusing on one keyword per page.
Consistent SEO
Since search engines are using your meta-info and page content to index and rank your affiliate pages, it’s imperative that there is consistency between the two. So make sure that the keywords you’re targeting appear in the title, page description, and on the page.
Organic traffic should comprise the majority of your traffic. So your on-page SEO is integral to the success of your affiliate site. Although advanced SEO is a delicate science, basic SEO is fairly straight forward and is often sufficient to generate relevant traffic.
Olland, SEM Specialist
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