Search Engine Optimisation Explained: Part 2
Keywords: web design, web site design, seo, search engine optimisation
What vs who – clarify what it is your site offers, and ensure that this is clearly articulated throughout its content. Unless you are a “household name” brand, the focus should be on what you produce, sell or service, not on who you are.
Searchers usually refine a query with 2-4 words, e.g. “stainless steel spade” It is amazing how many sites waste vital opportunities with fatuous lines like “Welcome to my web site.”
Define the key words or phrases that potential customers would use to find you. Ensure that those are prominent components of every title, description, heading and paragraph, and part of a coherent sales pitch. For example the Johnson spade manufacturer’s site title ought not be “Welcome to the Johnson Agricultural Implements Web Site.” Instead, a minimalist “Stainless steel spades by Johnson” would provide maximum keyword density.
Content is King
The goal of search engines is to deliver the most relevant content for each search
Your goal is to make sure your content is relevant to any search made for products or services you offer! The best way to ensure “free” prominence for your site is to provide valuable, in-depth, relevant content. A few lines of explanatory text buried inside a Flash animation do not do this. Product reviews, case studies, white papers, client testimonials, newsletters and manufacturers specifications are good content creation sources.
Make each page unique, and target a specific key word or phrase in meta-tags and body text.
Sites constructed entirely in Flash might look great, but they are destined for mediocrity in the “free” search engine traffic stakes.
No Page More Than Two Clicks Away
Wherever you are within a site, no page should be more than 2 clicks away from you. The search engines will usually only drill 3 layers deep. If you want all content indexed, this is a crucial issue, usually resolved via a Home page link to a site map page which in turn has text links to every internal page. A recent alternative is the Google Site Maps submission service which is well worth the effort of signing up to, not least for the excellent statistical information Google will provide you!
It is also important to provide hyperlinks to main internal pages from within Home Page body text. This elevates their importance, and reinforces keywords or phrases within the Home Page with relevant supporting content.
Mighty Meta-tags
There are many meta-tags. Most are ignored. Some, like the “keyword” tag are now less used by search engines due to persistent abuse. However, there are still two “Head” section elements crucial to your goal of a steady stream of qualified traffic. Both provide an opportunity to control exactly what viewers see by way of search engine results, and thus influence viewer’s decision to select your site from that list. Both provide valuable information to the search engines as they try to determine the site’s theme, category, type etc;
First is the Title, the content of which is displayed on the top line of the browser when viewing a site. The page title is also used as the “headline” displayed when/if it appears on a search engine’s search results page. This is a crucial 1st impression, and again, “Welcome to My Web Site” does not cut the mustard. Summarise your offerings in less than 10 words, ensuring that the primary keywords or phrase is pre-eminent, thus ensuring maximum keyword density.
Second is the Description tag, often used verbatim in search engine’s search results page. Again, this gives you an opportunity to influence a searcher’s click-through decision, and should reinforce the message in the title in less than 25 words / 200 characters. Again, the primary keywords or phrase should occur at the start of the description to ensure emphasis, and total character count should be restricted to 200 in order to maintain maximum keyword density.
Dubious Practices
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the vital importance of Top 10 search engine rankings has spawned some seriously dodgy mechanisms to enable sites to climb to the top of the heap. These have ranged from the simple tricks of hidden text to the mysteries of doorway and hallway pages, link farms, and on to the intricacies of cloaking and redirection.
Basic rule of thumb should be – don’t do anything which might be construed as spamming, or subverting the search engines indexes.
Once a site is banned from a search engine index, it’s pretty much dead in the water. The search engines are always on the alert to newly discovered loopholes and close them quickly once discussion of new “trick” begins in search engine forums and list servers. Instead, rise to the top of the heap on merit, it’s a better long-term strategy!
Site Submissions
Having rebuilt your site in a search engine friendly fashion, how do you ensure it’s included within the indexes of the various search engines. This is another area which has changed dramatically. A few short years ago, listings were free. Not that long ago, you’d have to buy into a 48 hourly indexing process on Inktomi etc to ensure you stayed listed. Such a system delivered good value to the customer whilst generating good revenue for the search engines.
The state of flux seems to have eased. Indexing footpaths have been constructed between linked sites – to the point where if you have no good links TO your site, you may not be indexed at all, regardless of manual submissions.
The “Submission to 10,000 Search Engines for $99.95″ was never good value, and is even less so today.
Summary
In terms of total traffic potential, the three main search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN, each of which feed their results into sundry subsidiary search engines and portals. The Big Three account for around 90% of all searches performed on the Internet. They are all now “spider” type engines, which index the content of web sites in an automated manner, and are not hierarchical, human-edited directories. They all have supplementary “sponsored listings” derived from PPC advertising subscription systems.
For a site owner, search engine optimisation of your web site is now even more important than it ever was. Your goal of a steady stream of qualified traffic is best met by ensuring you have the best content, organised/optimised in the best manner, and supplemented by well designed and managed PPC campaigns.
If you are a web designer, you have an obligation to your clients to ensure their sites are built in a manner which facilitates search engine indexing, instead of impeding it. Establish the function first, and the form as a secondary issue.
If you are business planning a new web site (or contemplating reconstruction of an existing site), insist on making SEO the most important design criteria, it will save you money in the long term, and ensure the return on investment (ROI) timetable is substantially shortened.
Ben Kemp is a free-lance IT consultant and one of NZ’s longest serving SEO practitioners.
The SEO Guy (NZ)
Email: bjk@TheSeoGuy.co.nz
Web: www.comauth.co.nz (+64) 09 9743553
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Do You Believe These MLM Lies? (1)
While this gets results in the short term, in the long run it tends to fail. Great big lie number three: You never have to sell product, that's what your downline is for.
What Might Actually Determine The Value Of Your Coin Collection (2)
One of the best ways of valuing your coin collection is by using a coin dealer. These are experts in their field and they are likely to stay abreast of prices, auctions, information and news related to coin collecting.
Correct Your Smile With Cosmetic Dental Veneers (3)
Basically, 90% or more of us could really use a complete dental makeover and it is so expensive and so outrageous a concept that it really never crosses our mind as it is disregarded as an impossibility.
Reggae Island Of The Caribbean (4)
The affluent landowners were worried about Negril becoming a Hippie Haven. This town is famous for is sunsets, cliff jumping water sports and Rastafarian culture. Ocho Rios is well known for its nightlife, and has a laid back attitude.
The Home Of The Jarrow Marchers (5)
The North East of England, suffered more than the rest of England during the Great Depression. Jarrow is famous for the Jarrow Marchers or the Jarrow Crusade as a term used on the banner carried by the marchers.
Ink Cartridge Refill Kits (6)
Recycled ink refill cartridges arrived on the market as a result of manufacturers obtaining empty ink cartridges that were in perfectly good condition and refurbishing them into new condition, refilling the ink reservoir with new ink.
Cheap Ink Cartridges: Does Your Printer Use Them? (7)
Even when ordering online, cartridges for some printers are much cheaper than for other printers. Make your printer shopping a two-step process. First, look for a printer that has all the capabilities you need and that produces the quality output you desire.
Historic Town Of Hexham (8)
It was first launched in October 2003 and continues to serve both the local community as well as to visiting tourists to the Tynedale area. Douglas Scott writes for www.carrentals.co.uk and has written a brief description about Hexham.
How To Purchase The Most Cost Effective Printer For Your Ink And Toner Cartridges (9)
But do not stop there, because there are after-market brands of printer ink cartridges, many of which work perfectly, and even recycled, reconditioned and refilled ink cartridges. Compare all these prices and determine which offers the best price for use with the printer you choose.
Morpeth Market Town (10)
Morpeth is convenient for the city centre attractions of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is a desirable town in which to live with quality schools good housing and an excellent location.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Outsourcing SEO - Web Designers Take Note! (1)
If the site doesn't rank in the Top 30 results, it has minimal chance of achieving success as barely 10% of searchers will go to (or past) the 3rd page of results.
How To Add Your Blogs RSS Feed To Your HTML Site (2)
Yep, that's right - a complete waste of time if you are trying to deliver "fresh" content that a search engine spider will find and index. RSS to HTML - use a hybrid PHP solution?
Location, Location, Location - Is Your Site Located Where Your Customers Are? (3)
Conversely, for a business located in the United Kingdom, Australia, or New Zealand, with a focus on delivering products or services in another specific geographic region, you should have your web site physically located on a server in that country to gain the most traction in your search engine rankings.
How To Market Your Blog For Optimal SEO Gains (4)
2.) Do your postings contain a "clickable" link or two back to your site? By this I mean a "proper" link in the format (a href="www.example.com") Link(/a) and not just your plain URL.
Multiple Domain Name Penalty (5)
If your have two domains; www.domain-no1.com and www.domain-no2.com and BOTH load the same pages but with the different domains showing, then you have a problem. If you can also load the sites as domain-no1.com and domain-no2.com then totals 4 different ways of indexing the SAME content!
Leadership Styles - Practice Effective Leadership (6)
Keywords: leadership styles, leadership skills, effective leadership, leadership seminar, leadership training There is much that is written about leadership; like books on leadership styles, techniques and also biographies of leaders that have inspired people to action.
A Cramlington New Town (7)
This large-scale mining brought an enormous amount of people to the area. The present Anglican church of St. Nicholas, built in the Gothic style, was consecrated in 1868 responding to the rapid increase of the population in the area.
A Fishing Village Of Estartit (8)
The shops cater for all your holiday needs. The beach is long and sandy and offers all kinds of water sports for you to try. There are diving schools which offer beginners courses for tourists which are ideal, for exploring the coral and aquatic life found just off the coast.
The Capital Of The North East Of England (9)
It has a population of Geordies and many other immigrant groups. It can be seen as cosmopolitan and famous for its hospitality. Central areas of Newcastle include the Bigg Market, Grey Street, Haymarket, Quayside and Stowell Street.
Olu Deniz Meaning Dead Sea (10)
The resort Olu Denizs offers traditional Turkish baths no trip to Turkey is without one. Wrap yourself in an sarong relax on a heated marble slab and enjoy the invigorating body loofah scrub and get covered head to toe in warm bubbles.