SEO Keyword and Ranking: Absolute Website Basics
Let’s talk about SEO and how it’s single-handedly the most important thing to always keep in mind when designing and maintaining a website. This can be helped by using a good SEO Keyword. First off, what is SEO? Search Engine Optimization, for those that have heard the term thrown around, is how websites like Google will find you.
Think of it like this. You make a website, right? It’s beautifully crafted, likely using some fantastic theme. Maybe it’s all about the esports team you created or it’s about your favorite game. The reason doesn’t matter if no one sees it. Sure, you can always use word of mouth or buy some sponsored marketing. But, you want people to visit your website on their own, organically. How can you do that?
This is where search engine optimization comes into play. There’s tons of information out there on more advanced tactics, but let’s keep this to some basics here. I’ll give you some quick tips on helping you raise your ranking on Google, but it is important to always start off your strategy with gaming wordpress themes that will give you an advantage.
Picking A SEO Keyword Isn’t Always Easy
When you think of keywords, you likely immediately try for more simplistic terms, like “Fortnite” or “esports”. Think about it for a minute and consider just how many people are trying to rank on Google for the exact same single SEO keyword. Let’s take Fortnite for a perfect example, in fact. The game isn’t brand new, with the original version coming out in 2017, then being a worldwide household name by 2018. In 2020, however, it’s been done to death. There have been thousands of other websites prior to you that want that coveted Fortnite ranking on Google. Instead, your keyword could be something a tad longer, such as “Fortnite esports team”.
Now, what do you do with a keyword? If you use an SEO program like Yoast SEO, you’ll drop it into the plug-in for a particular page on your website. Then what? How do you maximize your keyword usage? There are a ton of places that you’d want to have your SEO keyword. I’ll go into a few of the important ones here, but there are plenty more.
First off, it needs to be in your headline. In a blog, this is simply the title of the article. On a website, it could be in the title or the first line of the main page. In addition, try to fit the keyword into a header on the page, as well as the first paragraph of the page or post. As mentioned, there’s a lot more you can do, but these are some of the more important spots. This helps give Google a heads up that the keyword is something you want to rank as on their website.
Rank This, Rank That
What is “ranking”? Let’s say you did type in “Fortnite esports team” into Google. You’ll notice there’s a ton of websites found. In fact, you’ll even notice that they head into “page 2” and keep going for several pages. This is your ranking. If you rank first, you’ll be the first thing seen when you search on Google, generally under the paid ads. But, the further in you get, heading into page 2, the less likely someone is going to click on your site.
You also want to consider what people will actually type to search a term. For instance, will someone type “Call of Duty”, or are they more likely to type “COD”? As much as you’d think it’s the full name of the game, convenience nearly always wins out.
While you’re here for your website, you should check out some of the coolest gaming website templates out there.
