Written by Mollie Adams

When it comes to the rules for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you should think of them as rules that will help you, not control you! Rules for SEO are so important to making sure your content gets in front of the right eye and your business and work gets noticed. We will cover five short, simple rules today. Let’s dive in with #1!

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SEO Rule #1: Only One “Heading 1” per Web Page

When you go to upload a blog or copy onto your website, you have options for how your text is classified or categorized. There are Heading 1’s, Heading 2’s, Heading 3’s and Normal Text. For this first rule, we will be focusing on Heading 1’s (or H1’s). Think of this as the title of your blog or webpage. It must contain the keyword that you have chosen for that page or blog. While it does not have to be at the top of the page, there must only be one H1 per page.

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SEO Rule #2: Multiple Headings 2 per Webpage

In Rule #1, I mentioned categories of text (H1, H2, H3 & Normal). In Rule #2, we will be talking about Heading 2’s (H2’s). H2’s are the subheadings of your blog or webpage. These H2’s do not have to contain your keyword but need to be relevant to your keyword. For example, all of the “rules” on this blog are H2’s. Unlike an H1 where you have only one per webpage or blog, you should have multiple H2’s, all relevant to your keyword.

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SEO Rule #3: Make Sure to Use Your Keyword and Related Keywords as You Write!

So we have talked about H1’s and H2’s. Now it’s time to talk about normal text on your website. In the body of your text on your page or blog, not only should the keyword be included, but there should be related keywords. Both your keyword and related keywords should come up multiple times on the page. For example, let’s say that I am writing a blog and my keyword is Finance, relevant keywords to layer into the blog would be: “Cash Flow”, “Budgeting”, “Revenue”, etc. We actually chose these keywords and layered keywords using a strategy that we talk all about in our freebie, SEO Blog Checklist. Check it out, here!

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SEO Rule #4: No Two Pages Should Have The Same SEO Keyword

This is SO important! Using the same keyword on 2 different pages of your website will actually cause them to compete against each other. You want to make sure you pick a unique keyword for each page or blog to ensure that this doesn’t happen. Now, you can have relevant or similar keywords on different pages, but if the keyword on one page of your website is “SEO Education” there cannot be another page with the keyword “SEO Education”. There could be pages that are similar such as “SEO Resources”, but again, the exact same keyword for different pages is a big rule that you shouldn’t break.

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SEO Rule #5: The URL Should Have The SEO Keyword in It

Finally, Rule #5 is your URL for the page you are on should have the SEO Keyword in it. Can you guess what the keyword is for this blog post? If you guessed “Rules for SEO”, you were right! Excluding your homepage on your website, each page on your website should have the keyword in the URL. This helps tell Google what that page is about, and ensures the page is unique, helping it stand on its own.

There you go! The Five simple rules of SEO. If you want to learn more about SEO and how to make it a major part of your business growth, go check out the links below!