Search Engine Optimization:
New and Improved 10 Tips to the Top
Having a website that gets found in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, etc. isn't hard to
do, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are our latest and greatest
tips to get you started:
1. Do not purchase a new domain unless you have to. Due to Google's aging
delay for all new domains, your best bet is to use your existing domain/website if
at all possible. If you're redesigning or starting from scratch and you have to use
a brand-new domain for some reason, you can expect to wait a good 9-12
months before your site will show up in Google for any keyword phrases that are
important to you.
2. Optimize your site for your target audience, not for the search engines.
This may sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. The search engines are
looking for pages that best fit the keyword phrase someone types into their little
search box. If those "someones" are typing in search words that relate to what
your site offers, then they are most likely members of your target audience. You
need to optimize your site to meet *their* needs. If you don't know who your
target audience is, then you need to find out one way or another. Look for
studies online that might provide demographic information, and visit other sites,
communities, or forums where your target audience might hang out and listen to
what they discuss. This information will be crucial to your resulting website
design, keyword research, and copywriting.
3. Research your keyword phrases extensively. The phrases you think your
target market might be searching for may very well be incorrect. To find the
optimal phrases to optimize for, use research tools such as KeywordDiscovery,
Wordtracker, Google AdWords, and Yahoo Search Marketing data. Compile lists
of the most relevant phrases for your site, and choose a few different ones for
every page. Never shoot for general keywords such as "travel" or "vacation," as
they are rarely (if ever) indicative of what your site is really about.
4. Design and categorize your site architecture and navigation based on
your keyword research. Your research may uncover undiscovered areas of
interest or ways of categorizing your products/services that you may wish to add
to your site. For instance, let's say your site sells toys. There are numerous
ways you could categorize and lay out your site so that people will find the toys
they're looking for. Are people looking for toys to fit their child's stage of
development? (Look for keyword phrases such as "preschool toys.") Or are they
more likely to be seeking specific brands of toys? Most likely, your keyword
research will show you that people are looking for toys in many different ways.
Your job is to make sure that your site's navigation showcases the various ways
of searching. Make sure you have links to specific-brand pages as well as
specific age ranges, specific types of toys, etc.
5. Program your site to be "crawler-friendly." The search engines can't fill out
forms, can't search your site, can't read JavaScript links and menus, and can't
interpret graphics and Flash. This doesn't mean that you can't use these things
on your site; you most certainly can! However, you do need to provide alternate
means of navigating your site as necessary. If you have only a drop-down
sequence of menus to choose a category or a brand of something, the search
engine crawlers will never find those resulting pages. You'll need to make sure
that you always have some form of HTML links in the main navigation on every
page which link to the top-level pages of your site. From those pages, you'll
need to have further HTML links to the individual product/service pages. (Please
note that HTML links do NOT have to be text-only links. There's nothing wrong
with graphical image navigation that is wrapped in standard <a href> tags, as the
search engines can follow image links just fine.)
6. Label your internal text links and clickable image alt attributes (also
known as alt tags) as clearly and descriptively as possible. Your site visitors
and the search engines look at the clickable portion of your links (the anchor text)
to help them understand what they're going to find once they click through. Don't
make them guess what's at the other end with links that say "click here" or other
non-descriptive words. Be as descriptive as possible with every text and
graphical link on your site. The cool thing about writing your anchor text and alt
attributes to be descriptive is that you can almost always describe the page
you're pointing to by using its main keyword phrase.
7. Write compelling copy for the key pages of your site based on your
chosen keyword phrases and your target market's needs, and make sure
it's copy that the search engines can "see." This is a crucial component to
having a successful website. The search engines need to read keyword-rich copy
on your pages so they can understand how to classify your site. This copy
shouldn't be buried in graphics or hidden in Flash. Write your copy based on your
most relevant keyword phrases while also making an emotional connection with
your site visitor. (This is where that target audience analysis comes in handy!)
Understand that there is no magical number of words per page or number of
times to use your phrases in your copy. The important thing is to use your
keyword phrases only when and where it makes sense to do so for the real
people reading your pages. Simply sticking keyword phrases at the top of the
page for no apparent reason isn't going to cut it, and it just looks silly. (Purchase
and read our Copywriting Combo for exact tips on how to implement this
correctly.)
8. Incorporate your keyword phrases into each page's unique Title tag. Title
tags are critical because they're given a lot of weight with every search engine.
Whatever keyword phrases you've written your copy around should also be used in your Title tag. Remember that the information that you place in this tag is what
will show up as the clickable link to your site at the search engines. Make sure
that it accurately reflects the content of the page it's on, while also using the
keyword phrases people might be using at a search engine to find your stuff.
9. Make sure your site is "link-worthy." Other sites linking to yours is a critical
component of a successful search engine optimization campaign, as all of the
major search engines place a good deal of emphasis on your site's overall link
popularity. You can go out and request hundreds or thousands of links, but if
your site stinks, why would anyone want to link to it? On the other hand, if your
site is full of wonderful, useful information, other sites will naturally link to it
without your even asking. It's fine to trade links; just make sure you are providing
your site visitors with only the highest quality of related sites. When you link to
lousy sites, keep in mind what this says to your site visitors as well as to the
search engines.
10. Don't be married to any one keyword phrase or worried too much about
rankings. If you've done the above 9 things correctly, you will start to see an
increase in targeted search engine visitors to your site fairly quickly. Forget
about where you rank for any specific keyword phrase and instead measure your
results in increased traffic, sales, and conversions.
It certainly won't hurt to add new content to your site if it will really make
your site more useful, but don't simply add a load of fluff just for the sake of
adding something. It really is okay to have a business site that is just a business
site and not a diatribe on the history of your products. Neither your site visitors
nor the engines really give a hoot!
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