Which is Most Important for SEO

1. 96

   lbrummerposted 9 years ago

   Which is the most important for search engine searches: the Hub summary or the first paragraph of the Hub?  I thought the summary was most important, but I notice that sometimes searches show the first sentences in the hub.  Are both equally important?

   replyreport
   1. 94

      Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think the most important thing for SEO is the title.
      
      The  summary and the first paragraph are ideally used to grab the reader's attention and get them wanting to read more. I see them as opportunities to engage....if you miss it, then you miss  readers and if that happens a lot it lets google know that your page doesn't meet searchers expectations.
      
      Obviously that's not going to do you any good!

      replyreport
      1. 68

         bigfeetposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I'm gonna have to agree with title. If you have good title, you're going to get more weight. For instance search "what are diabetic shoes" and
         "medicare diabetic shoes" and I show up on page 1.

         replyreport
   2. 84

      rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If you enter a search query (for example); 'net worth of max martin',  the search engine will find the closest match on specific pages to show in the serps.  The snippets in the results bold the key words.  A summary or the first few lines of a paragraph may not successfully answer a query.  In my understanding, the summary is used to properly index a page.  I think knowing your audience and giving them the best user experience is what google is looking for.  The Hummingbird algorithm changed how pages rank and they fluctuate.

      replyreport
   3. 71

      Marie Flintposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If I had to rank the importance of SEO (at which I'm horrible), my ranking would be as follows (from most important to least): 1. title  2. summary 3. opening paragraph.
      
      I do try to conclude my hub articles with a decisive ending, but this is not always an effective summary in accordance with journalism standards, rather my writing tends to be creative. (Probably why I'm not making much money.)

      replyreport
   4. 82

      peachpurpleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      i say, it is the title but on hubpages, the title and the first paragraph shows up

      replyreport
   5. 71

      chefmancaveposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Surprisingly, no one has mentioned keyword research. Is this a dead art or has keyword research been rendered irrelevant by Google's new algorithms? It would appear though there are two camps: Title versus Content. I think attention has to be paid to both. A SEO friendly title will help you climb the search engine rankings ladder. But well written content is vital to maintaining your position in search engines.

      replyreport
      1. 30

         Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         +1
         Keyword research is primary and it is the first thing you should do before even writing a Hub.

         replyreport
      2. 88

         NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Totally agree. Keyword researched titles and very good content; winning combo.

         replyreport
   6. 61

      zinfoway-muraliposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Generally, Mapping Keywords are really important in your title and the content as well.
      It means use the best keywords in your title and content.

      replyreport
   7. 58

      swetasingh513posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Basically Meta Title,Meta Keywords ,Meta Descriptions is important for seo.

      replyreport
      1. 54

         agens1288posted 4 years agoin reply to this

         meta title, meta keyword is very important for onpage SEO.

         replyreport
   8. 57

      isparmopakarseoposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The most important think in SEO is Title and Keyword in the content.

      replyreport
   9. 0

      Alma Evansposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      In my opinion, the content is the most important factor and you should never compromise the quality of the content for the sake of SEO.

      replyreport
2. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 9 years ago

   The copy in the article is by far the most important. This is what engages readers.  Descriptions can add value, but they're secondary.

   replyreport
   1. 97

      sallybeaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Fancy, I always thought it was the summary, seems I should be looking at things rather differently, thanks Paul.

      replyreport
      1. STAFF

         Paul Edmondsonposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I see a lot of people do more damage than good with summaries by packing too many keywords. Doing this can make a good article spammy.

         replyreport
         1. 96

            lbrummerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for your explanation, Paul.  I'm to keep the summary brief and concise.  And my first paragraph should be interesting and includes a sentence with a keyword or phrase that tells what the hub is about.

            replyreport
            1. 92

               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I like Paul's explanations. I use the first 60 words of the hub's first paragraph to get in the title words and a clear description of what the article is about. In the summary I copy a part of the article that will entice readers to read more.

               replyreport
            2. 77

               colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               This is going to get me checking those summaries and opening paragraphs. That should not take too long (one advantage of not having a lot of hubs).

               replyreport
         2. 59

            paradigmsearchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Your post caused me to go check my summaries yet again. I edited a few more that might have been borderline. All is well.
            
            To anyone who is interested, just editing a summary will not change your article date and therefor will presumably not get your hub tortured by QAP.

            replyreport
         3. 85

            TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, and yet when I have reported them, the hubs have not been removed.  Why?

            replyreport
   2. 82

      psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      But for "SEO" search engine optimization (the question here) the issue is getting rank, not engaging readers.

      replyreport
      1. 91

         aesta1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Engaging readers means more traffic and if they read your article the bounce rate gets lower.

         replyreport
   3. 88

      Cardisaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I thought the most important thing for SEO was content.
      
      I think they all walk hand in hand. If you have the best optimized title with bad or irrelevant content you lose. A title could be  average with great content and get a lot of traffic.

      replyreport
   4. 88

      NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. Search engines pick up on keywords that naturally occur in text of the article anyway. And the body of the article is what mostly engages readers, keeping them on the page.

      replyreport
3. 64

   lawrence01posted 9 years ago

   One of the things I was always told was that best practice was keep the articles to the point (keeps the readers engaged) with good grammar and don't worry so much about the right 'keywords' as a well written article of a reasonable length will naturally have those.
   
   I'm still fairly new to hubpages so I'm still working that all out. I do find the 'hints box' (that's what I call it) helpful as it reminds me to put photos, video and other stuff in that can make the article 'interactive' and the readers can enjoy 'playing' on the article. I just need to learn more about the tools we're given. Hope some of these ideas help.

   replyreport
4. 85

   DzyMsLizzyposted 9 years ago

   What I have noticed seems to be that the first sentence of the text shows up only if there has been no summary filled in.
   
   Fill in the summary box, and that should always be what appears in searches, at least according to what I've seen. 
   
   If I'm wrong, I'll happily accept correction on the matter; but you do notice that here, on HP, when a new hub shows up on the front page, with a brief description--if there's no summary, you get the first line or so of the body text.

   replyreport
5. 0

   promisemposted 9 years ago

   The most important is the keyword that you want search engines to use to find your Hub. That keyword should go into the title, the first paragraph and at least a few more times throughout the Hub.
   
   If the Hub doesn't have a well-defined keyword (which is another way of describing the theme), it will be much harder to attract attention.

   replyreport
6. 68

   Ibiza Styleposted 8 years ago

   with regards search positioning only (ie nothing to do with readers) the title is by FAR the most important thing, to give the page it's "core" ranking potential. 
   
   content is secondary, and will then allow the page to pick up longer tail queries, from any extra content words.
   
   if you want rankings for blue widgets, you 100% need blue widgets in the title, after which any extra content then allows variations on any blue widget theme.
   
   but even in these days of almighty Google, it is still possible to rank a page with page titles and linkpower alone, content is soooooo definitely not king.
   
   given that most hubbers couldnt tell a good link from their elbow, you definitely want to get the titles right.

   replyreport
7. 41

   pitechindoreposted 8 years ago

   For Search Engine optimization of any business website or blog or hub the most basic fundamentals remains the same. For search engine optimization of the most two important factors are on-page SEO and Off Page SEO. If on page optimization is done efficiently then you have won half of the race after that off page optimization comes. To generate sales and genuine traffic proper off page SEO is the most important factor. To develop organic traffic it is necessary to link you hub, blog or website to the relevant sources according to your niche. If Link building is done properly then it helps tremendously help in generating quality and original traffic. Also keyword research also plays an important role before writing on anything that what users actually searches for.

   replyreport
8. 62

   jootavootafanposted 8 years ago

   generally use proper seo on page which helps to improve the website ranking in search engine result page.

   replyreport
9. 52

   docksonpaulposted 7 years ago

   According to me important factor for SEO is the target customer/reader/viewer.
   how target customer are perceiving particular website, content or any kind of business.
   On that basis researcher have to do (niche) keyword research and need to formulate online strategy.
   This step will help to attract prospect viewer/reader and keep engage them. Result of this website quality score will also improve. In this whole set up internal linking will play important role.
   Thank you
   GOOD LUCK

   replyreport
10. 59

    Ashley John11posted 6 years ago

    Most important thing in SEO is to get quality backlinks and rank your keywords

    replyreport
    1. 97

       theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       No it isn't.
       
       The most important thing for SEO is to write quality content that people are actually searching for. Too many backlinks can harm your page/site.

       replyreport
       1. 59

          Ashley John11posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Content is the King that is obvious. But if you get quality backlinks from good DA websites, then it'll definitely help you to rank in SERP.

          replyreport
          1. 97

             theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

             All that stuff is so out of date Stop paying attention to the 'gurus'; they know nothing. They are simply trying to sell their own 'expertise'.
             
             Best SEO:
             
             Top quality content
             Searchable title
             Judicious use of keywords/phrases
             Maybe some careful social media promotion.
             
             If a quality site backlinks to you **in a natural way**, then count yourself fortunate. However, if you go link farming, your content will soon disappear from search results.

             replyreport
    2. 86

       Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Creating your own backlinks is an outdated strategy.  So is keyword stuffing.

       replyreport
       1. 59

          Ashley John11posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          So, how will you do link building if you won't create any backlink for your own website?

          replyreport
          1. 0

             Alma Evansposted 3 years agoin reply to this

             Creating backlinks is really important in an SEO perspective.

             replyreport
             1. 97

                theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                Going around Hubpages, posting meaningless comments and asking if you can promote your blog on the English Language forum is not going to gain you any brownie points. You have the wrong idea about how the platform works.
                
                Learning Center, press Help, top right.

                replyreport
                1. 0

                   Alma Evansposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                   Okay

                   replyreport
11. 97

    theraggededgeposted 3 years ago

    Alma, for goodness sake research the platform.
    
    1. You can't self-promote in the forum; not even your own articles.
    
    2. Why is your article in the Literature category?
    
    If you aren't careful, you'll be banned for spamming.

    replyreport
    1. 0

       Alma Evansposted 3 years agoin reply to this

       Corrected. Thanks for the kind information. I Will be more careful and I'm working on learning the rules of the platform.

       replyreport
12. 82

    psycheskinnerposted 3 years ago

    5 year old thread

    replyreport
    1. 0

       Alma Evansposted 3 years agoin reply to this

       Is there really any problem with posting on such old threads? I'm new to this platform that's why I'm asking.

       replyreport