It is truly difficult to keep up with all the algorithm changes. An understanding of the basics of search engine optimization will help.

Play by the rules. Simply do not engage in any "black hat" tactics.

If you do, you will eventually suffer. It just isn't worth it.

Google has made it very clear. Behave poorly and you will drop down the search results or worse!

Your title tag is a primary on-page SEO element.

Start your page titles with a keyword. Don't put your keywords in the middle or end of the title.

Pages with keywords at the beginning of the title rank higher (according to SEOMOZ).

Use multimedia (Images, charts, diagrams, video) for visual impact.

Google ranks you for bounce rate and duration of time spent on site. Using impactful visuals will help to attract visitors and increase the time spent on your site pages.

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text. (Sources: 3M Corporation and Zabisco)

Place your keyword right at the beginning of your communication.

Rule of thumb! Include your primary within the first 100 words.

We've all done it! Ended up with a fairly permanent piece of content with a incomprehensible URL.

Take care to make short, keyword rich urls.

Google tip? Google gives the most weight to the first 3-5 words in the address.

Outbound links to authoritative websites boost your page rank.

Tip? Make sure your outbound links are relevant.

We know this seems obvious but we keep seeing websites without social media sharing buttons!

It's no mystery that if you provide an easy way for people to share your content, more people are likely to share your content.

This increases your reach exponentially with each and every share.

No one wants to wait for anything any more. We have come to expect instant gratification.

If your page loads are slow, your abandonment rate will be high.

Keep your pages "sticky" by making sure they load in less than 4 seconds.

Make your content easier to identify. Use descriptive identification by adding modifiers like best, tops, 2014, guide.

Audit your keywords. Create long tail keyword phrases to increase page rank.

Don't write a novella, but rather ensure your content length is appropriate to your content type.

Blog articles should be in the 400 to 600 word range. White papers and ebooks obviously need to be far longer. Use sub-headers, images, graphics and videos to break up

Whatever the length of your communication, get your keywords worked in. Be careful, though. Repeating a keyword too often can make you look spammy.

If you're lucky enough to use Hubspot your SEO is automatically assessed as you compose. You'll get a complete analysis of your SEO impact AND helpful suggestions for improvement.

Here's a tongue twister! Latent Symantic Indexing.

Simply put, LSI keywords are synonyms for your keywords. How do you find them?

Go old school. Use a thesaurus.
Pay attention to the related search suggestions Google shows you.
Use Google Keyword Planner.

Using keyword synonyms will also reduce keyword stuffing. You will get penalized for over-optimization (too many keywords and/or repeating keywords too often).

If you use Hubspot, it will analyze your optimization "on the fly", making recommendations to help you finesse your optimization efforts.

Your title is the "headline" of your content. Your headline needs to be direct, descriptive, impactful and not too long.

It also needs to be tagged to be easily recognized. If your composition tool doesn't automatically add H1 tags, go back and add them to boost your "recognizability".

Search engines measure your bounce rate. How long a visitors stays with you affects your page quality scoring.

To lower your bounce, engage your audience. Write compelling, relevant, useful content your audience will find valuable.

Clean up your site. Get rid of clutter. Organize your navigation. Make it easy to identify and locate the information your visitors want.

Take a good, hard look at your home page. Be objective. Try to think like a user.

Consider asking someone who isn't familiar with you - your site, your products or services, your content - to visit your site. Then, interview them about their experience.

Your marketing needs to be as unique as you are!

Our process is highly analytic, allowing us to determine how to create style and messaging to best represent your brand.

Please visit us at http://www.whitespace.on.ca