Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential to driving visitors to a website, but delivering a consistent stream of compelling content can leave little time for SEO. How can you accelerate content creation while also being thoughtful and strategic?

You need a comprehensive SEO strategy, which requires time and resources. If developing an SEO strategy is on your to-do list, but your day-to-day responsibilities push it to the back burner, take it page by page and plan as you go, because content creation can’t wait if you want to compete.

According to a HubSpot study of more than 4,000 businesses, websites with 401 – 1,000 pages get 6x more leads than those with 51 – 100 pages.

That should motivate you to keep churning out new content.

Use these fundamental, yet quick and easy, on-page SEO steps every time a new page is created, whether it’s a blog post, news release or other web page. Making these steps part of your content creation process ensures that search engines will have no problem ranking and indexing your web pages according to your target keyword phrases and topics.

You don’t have to be a web developer to implement these steps; any content management system worth its salt lets you make these changes as part of its core functionality. And it takes less than 30 minutes per page.

Choosing and Using Keywords

Your text content is one of the most important factors in determining your page-rankings. To make sure your pages rank for your targeted keywords, use them at least four times throughout the page copy. On the flip side of that is keyword stuffing. This is using too many keywords in your copy. Find a balance by using four to six keywords for every 300 words and avoid rank penalties by using your keyword phrases in moderation.

Know what keywords you’re targeting before creating content and you’ll work them into your copy naturally. If you have to go back and optimize your pages after they’ve been drafted you run the risk that your copy won’t flow, creating an awkward reader experience. If you’re not sure what keywords to target, use Google’s Keyword Planner (replaced Keyword Tool) or check your web analytics to see which keywords are driving traffic. You will need a free Google AdWordsaccount to access the Keyword Planner tool.

In addition, be sure to use keywords in the alt attributes of your images. This practice not only correlates to good rankings, it also helps with image search.

Search Engine Optimized Copy Length

Your content needs to be long enough for search engines to see your page as readable content and a minimum of 50 words or 300 characters per page will do it. But, unless your content is an info-graphic, you’re going to end up writing more than 50 words. To get in your keyword phrases at least four times and avoid keyword stuffing, write a minimum of 250 – 300 words, which is about one double-spaced page in Microsoft Word.

Search Engine Optimized Page Titles

Search engines consider page titles the most important place to find keywords and associate them with a topic, and it’s probably the easiest step to implement. Simply use the exact targeted keyword phrase at the front of the page title for best results. And keep your page titles to fewer than 70 characters.

Search Engine Optimized Page Descriptions

There was a time when keywords in page descriptions helped your Page Rank. That’s no longer the case, but page descriptions are still important. Think of them like your ad copy; this is your last chance to tell the user why they should (or shouldn’t) visit your page over the others. Keep these descriptions to fewer than 156 characters to avoid truncation.

Search engines will bold keywords and keyword phrases in the page description that match queried keywords. This helps your page stand out on search engine results pages and gives the description a much better chance of being used by the search engines.

Page descriptions are also a great way to filter out irrelevant visitors. Say you’re a business that serves only a local customer base. Add local keywords to your page descriptions to tell the user where you’re located or where your product or service is offered. This will help to avoid driving irrelevant traffic to your site and save you some time following up on unqualified leads.

Search Engine Optimized URL Structure

Simply structure your URL like this: domain.com/blog/keyword-rich-page-title. Many content management systems come with URL rewriters, which makes it really easy to manage URLs. If yours does not, understand how the URLs are created, and name your pages accordingly.

Search Engine Optimized H-Tags

I’ll make this one quick. Use H-tags (h1, h2, h3, etc.) for the titles on your page. Here’s a general hierarchy:

• H1: Page or blog post title
• H2: Page or blog post sub title
• H3: Page or blog post section titles

Use this best practice and you’ll be speaking the same language as search engines in describing your content. Use your target keywords only one time in each H-tag.

Search Engine Optimized Keyword Emphasis

Finally, top off your effort by emphasizing your target phrases throughout your page copy with a bold tag (<strong>). Italics can also be used for emphasis, but aren’t recommended. Since we italicize titles of books, magazines, newspapers, films, television shows, academic journals, etc., italicized phrases can be confusing to the reader.

Give Them What They’re Looking For

Search engines are in the business of providing the most relevant content based on the keyword phrases for which we are searching. They’re actually in the advertising business but their business is based on how many of us use their search engine. After all, no one is going to advertise to an empty room. The only way search engines know what your pages are about is if you tell them. Follow these easy on-page SEO steps and you’ll be speaking their language.