Lately, I have been talking to a lot of people about Search Engine Optimization and Submission (SEO). I am amazed when I find out that website owners might be working with a firm on their SEO but have no idea what they are paying that firm to do. Surprisingly, many know little about what good SEO is and how to achieve it and the firm they are working with has done little to explain the process to them.What all website owners should know is that every SEO specialist has their own philosophies on what makes for good SEO. It takes a lot of explaining so I decided to jot down mine. This way I will have a place for prospective clients to go and read about my philosophy on SEO and what really works! I hope you enjoy it and also please contact me if you have any questions at all! Thanks
PART I: Keyword Optimization
The first step in a search engine optimization campaign is to choose your keyphrases for each of your web pages. Keyphrases are the terms that search engine users type in the search box to conduct a query. The right keywords are those that:
1. clearly describe the purpose and content of your site (what you do or sell & where you do it)
2. allow your site to show up as close to the first results page as possible.
Look at your business carefully and write down the words and phrases that best define what you do and where you do it. Try to form two or three word phrases, since competition for one-word keyphrases is fierce, and it is virtually impossible to get a top position for them. Once you have developed your list of potential keyphrases you are ready for the next step: to analyze the demand and supply for those keyphrases, and choose the best ones (those with good demand and not enough supply).
My favorite way to do this is using Google's keyword selector tool https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox Using this tool will let you type in your selected keyphrases and then give you the amount of times these were used in a search. It will also suggest new keyphrases.
The next step is to check the supply, or, in other words, to see how much competition there is for your selected keywords. You want to focus on keyphrases where competition is less fierce so the more unique your keywords are the better! For this step, go to Google and type-in each of your keyphrases in the search box. Enter your keyphrases with and without quotation marks and see how many results each individual query produces, making a note of those with a relatively small number of results (less competition).
You will stick with the keyphrases that:
1. Best describes what you do where you do it
2. Is a popular search term according to Google's keyword selector
3. Generates a relatively small number of results after performing the Google search.
PART II: Web Page Optimization
Once you have chosen your keyphrases, the next stage is to optimize your page for those keyphrases. You do that by positioning your keywords in strategic locations within your page.
• Create a descriptive title for your page: Your web page title is very important because it is what the search engines display as link text as the result of a search. The title must include your main keyphrases!
• Unless your business is big and well known (like Microsoft or Coca Cola) don't start your page title with the name of your company. Start your title with the words search engine users will most likely use (your keyphrases)
• Put your main keyphrases at the beginning of your page title (keyphrase prominence) and keep your keyphrases together (keyword proximity).
• Keyphrases in your Keyword Meta Tag: Search engines rarely use the Keyword Meta Tag any more (Google completely ignores it). However, place a list of your main and secondary keywords in the Keyword Meta Tag of your page, just in case search engines decide to use them again in the future.
• Keyphrases in your Description Meta Tag: The Description Meta Tag is still important, since some search engines use them to elaborate on the results link.
• Keywords in the body of your page: It is important to use your keywords heavily on your page, since this will help the search engine determine the topic of your page.
• Use your keyphrases several times in the text of your pages, and place them as close to the top of the page as possible.
• Place your keyphrases between Header Tags (H1, H2 or H3) in the first two paragraphs of your page.
• Place your keyphrases in the alternate image tags on your site
• Repeat your keyphrases often to increase your keyphrase density.
• Since you have to repeat your keyphrases often, you must be especially careful not to make your text sound awkward.
• You must make your page easy to navigate by the search engines. Search engines heavily favor text over graphics, and HTML over other editing formats.
• Use text heavily, especially in your navigation bar. Avoid placing text in graphic format since the search engines won't be able to read it.
• Avoid frames. Search engines have trouble following them, and they may index only the framed content page and not the navigation frame.
• Avoid Flash and JavaScript: search engines don't follow either one.
• Create a Site Map that includes all the pages in your site and submit it to the search engines. When the search engine follows the site map link, it will find and index all the pages in your site!
• Make sure that all your internal pages link to your homepage.
Part III: The next and final step to increase your site's ranking is to get as many links to your site as possible, from quality sites that have a topic related to yours.
Once you have selected your keyphrases and optimized your pages for them, the last step is to make sure that you get linked from the best directories, and from lots of quality sites with a topic related to your site's. The best search engines, and in particular Google (who alone can deliver 80% of the search engine traffic to your site) "crawl" the web looking for links to your site. They interpret a link to your page as a vote, and the more links (votes) you have coming from quality sites the higher your page rank will be, and the higher the possibility that your page will achieve a good position in the search results pages. The best way to do this is to seek out other websites and directories that will give you a free link back or a reciprocal link back.
