Search Engine Optimization Tips
Google’s taking over the world. Seriously. Think about the different types of marketing that search engines have wiped out or eroded in the past few years: direct mail, print advertising, yellow pages (now virtually extinct), even word of mouth. Then consider the fact that Google is in charge of 81% of all searches, up from 66% just three years ago, and you should be afraid. Very afraid, if your website isn’t optimized for search engines.
TIP: Stop focusing on where you rank for certain search terms, and focus instead on the amount of visitors that came to your site from search engine referrals and the keyword phrases they used to get there. SERPs (search engine ranking pages) have always been a moving target, but more so today than ever. Because Google relies heavily on a user's past history, no two people will ever get the same Page One results. And even for the same user, on the same computer, in the same five-minute span, the results can vary dramatically. Remember, trying to rank well for 4-5 phrases isn't the point. Driving good, qualified traffic to your site (from hundreds of phrases) should be the aim.
TIP: When you're setting up a domain name for your website, be sure to register it in your own name or the name of your company. Don't turn this task over to your website developer. It's vital that you have clear ownership of the URL and that you're in control of renewing it.
TIP: In "the olden days," SEO experts favored reciprocal links. You approached people in your industry and asked them to link to your website (typically to the "Resources" page), and you reciprocated by linking to their site. Today, reciprocal links don't hurt your site, but they don't help either. Essentially, the two links cancel each other out.
TIP: Be careful about adding external links to your website. Every link that you send out drains "juice" from your site. If you have a compelling reason to send visitors away from your site, include the link. If not, don't.
TIP: Internal links on your website (i.e. the links that go from one page of your site to another page of your site) help with SEO. They also make it easier for visitors to click around.
TIP: Google ranks pages 0 through 10, with 10 being the best. SEO experts have guessed that the algorithm uses a factor of 10 to bump a PageRank from one level to the next. Following this logic, here are the respective "point values" for the different PageRanks:
0 Page Rank = 1
1 Page Rank = 10
2 Page Rank = 100
3 Page Rank = 1,000
4 Page Rank = 10,000
5 Page Rank = 100,000
6 Page Rank = 1 million
7 Page Rank = 10 million
8 Page Rank = 100 million
9 Page Rank = 1 billion
10 Page Rank = 10 billion
What's all this really mean? Pat yourself on the back, big time, each time you see your PageRank go up a "notch."
TIP: There are distinct disadvantages to pay-per-click search engine referrals, the most dramatic of which is that the instant you stop paying for clicks, your traffic stops. Organic/natural search engine traffic, which is best achieved by developing a great site, with superb content and excellent search engine optimization, doesn't cost a cent.
TIP: While Google uses more than 200 parameters to determine which sites to put at the top of their results, PageRank holds, perhaps, the greatest sway. Consider this: In 2005, Stanford University redeemed the $336 million in Google stock that they were paid in exchange for their contribution to the PageRank algorithm. Every page of every website is assigned a PageRank, from 0-10. Brand new sites or sites that have duplicate content or worthless content (i.e. empty directory websites with nothing but paid ads and paid links) have ranks of 0, as do websites that Google has delisted for questionable practices. Most websites owned by small businesses have PageRanks of 1 or 2. And each step up, from 2 to 3, and 3 to 4, and 4 to 5 becomes increasingly difficult. What's it take to get better PageRank? Lots of pages of great content and lots of incoming links from other websites with high PageRanks.
TIP: Search engines hate "duplicate content," content that looks reminiscent, similar, or identical to copy on other websites. To avoid duplicate content, write all fresh content for your own site, and don't give anyone else permission to use it. Click here to read more about duplicate content and its detrimental effects.
TIP: There's an art form to picking keywords for your web pages. Choose words that are too broad (such as "jobs") and you'll find yourself competing against too many results. Choose something that's too narrow (such as "high tech jobs"), and you'll soar to the top...for keywords no one uses. To illustrate this point, "jobs" receives 27,517 searches per day, but you'd be competing against 960 million results. Contrast this with "high tech jobs," which only receives 11 searches per day, and still has 14 million results. Neither of those keywords would be appropriate. For assistance in choosing keywords that have robust traffic, and not too much competition, call Jennifer Croft, (303) 587-9647. Keyword research services start at $150.
TIP: Nothing stymies search engine optimization quite like Flash. While animation and graphics flashing across the page can look cool, search engines have trouble indexing pages with Flash on them. If you want to get to the top, skip Flash.
TIP: When you add new pages to your website, remember to add new metatags that are rich in keywords (titles, descriptions and sets of keywords). Also, include the new page in your site map and in the set of text links at the bottom of your pages. Be sure to insert internal links in the content of your new page, and link a few of your other pages to it so that the page isn't "orphaned." Take care with these steps - every page of your website is a potential portal to your site!
TIP: Many sites that are exquisitely designed fail miserably at search engine optimization because there are few or no words on the home page. Search engines look at your metatag title for a clue as to what's on the page, and they verify the accuracy of your metatag title by comparing it to the content on the page. If there's no content, there's nothing for the search engines to index, meaning you've just paid a lot of money for a stunning site that no one will visit.
TIP: Search engine optimization is built on the foundation of keywords and keyword phrases. Which means that it pays to do research in the beginning, to identify the most popular keywords and phrases, before you spread those words across your metatag titles and throughout your content. Did you know that the word "coffeecake" is searched for 12 times per day, while "coffee cake" is searched for 123 times per day? To learn how to conduct effective keyword research, contact Jennifer Croft, at (303) 587-9647.
TIP: Even if you're not ready to launch a website yet, it's a good idea to choose a domain name/URL and register it as soon as possible. The longer you've held your domain name, the more credibility you have in the eyes of search engines. Registering a URL can cost as little as $8.95 per year, so it's a tiny investment you can make now that could yield great results down the line.
TIP: Search engines love to see links on a site, even if those links are internal links between your own pages. Linking between pages of your site can help a search engine more easily crawl your site, and it can help ensure that no pages are "orphaned." In the links directing visitors to other pages of your site, be sure to include keywords and keyword phrases in your link verbage.
TIP: Once you've chosen the keywords you intend to use on a given page of your website, put them in your metatag title and then try to insert them at least five times on the page. Great places to insert keywords? In text, headings, subheadings, internal and external links, captions below photos, and alt tags (the coding behind the scenes that identifies images, such as photos, logos and banners).
TIP: Okay, yet another search engine optimization acronym to learn: SERP, which stands for "Search Engine Results Page." More simply put, this is where your website ranks when you type in keywords/phrases into a search engine and get back listings. Are you on page one, page five, or page sixty? It's a good idea to check your SERPs for your top five keywords/phrases at the beginning of your SEO efforts and then once a week as you begin to optimize your site. Instead of making note of the page you're on, record the actual position. For example, if you're the third listing on the fourth page, you're number 33 (because page four actually displays results 31-40). Start a running tally, and watch your site climb higher and higher (which means lower and lower numbers) as you implement the top SEO tips.
TIP: When you're writing your metatag titles for your website pages, watch the order of your words. Search engines assume that the first words are the most important, declining in importance from left to right. If you have to include your own name or your company's name (which isn't wise to begin with, since few people search using those terms), at least put them at the end of the metatag title, not the beginning. Remember, you only have 82 characters, including spaces, so use them wisely.
TIP: To conform to current search engine guidelines, your metatags need to be the following lengths, including spaces: metatag titles (up to 82 characters, including spaces); metatag descriptions (up to 200 characters, including spaces, the first 120 of which will be displayed by the search engines when they show your site as one of their listings); metatag keywords (300-500 characters, including spaces).
TIP: Every time you add a new page to your website, be sure to link your new page to and from other relevant pages on your site, and don't forget to update your site map. Site maps help visitors quickly find what they need, and search engines love them.
TIP: To ensure that your website can be found by search engines, you need to consider keywords every step of the way. For potential visitors, keywords are the terms they type into search engines to find what they need. For search engines, keywords are the clues they use to determine what’s on a website. Choosing appropriate and desirable keywords for your website and interspersing them throughout your content, as well as in your metatag titles and descriptions, can bring phenomenal results.
