Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization is what you do to try and enhance a site's position in search engine reports so that more visitors are likely to visit. Search engines such as Google try to figure out which sites are actually more popular or more informative, and therefore they keep their techniques for how they figure out the "best" sites secret. They don't want us to break the code and list our sites artificially high. However we want to get our sites as high as possible. But there really is no way to "cheat" - we have to do our homework and this means traditional business methods:
- Marketing
So we start by making sure we understand our market and audience and improve our site to represent that "brand". Then we do what Google recommends in terms of how our site is written and marked up in html. - Networking
The next set of steps has to do with networking and getting our site known - as more people link to our site or reference it that will drive up the "legitimate" authority of our site and therefore its ranking.
Keyword Targeting
Nothing can substitute for knowing your audience and the keywords they use to find you or your products. Here are Lance's ideas:
- Brainstorm a list of keywords/phrases. These words/phrases should be 1-5 words each - ideally 2-3. I suggest that if your product is something normal people would shop for (as opposed to a B2B product) do some informal surveys among friends and neighbors to find out what words and phrases people naturally think of when they look for what you're offering. Check various parts of the country if you have a national market.
- Verify and extend the list with keyword research tools.
- Keyword Discovery (free) note: the captcha image is case-sensitive
- Google AdWords (free) note: this address has changed from the pdf above
- Use other resources
- Pay-Per-Click ad campaigns - note the number of impressions (not clicks) to gauge search volume
- Competitor's pages - just to make sure you're not missing anything BUT don't use their brand names or company name!
- Filter, focus and map. Once you have some candidate phrases, use this list to test and refine them:
- Relevance - does your page content really represent this keyword - make it clear if it's not
- Visitor Experience - if the user lands here after this keyword - will they be happy or puzzled?
- Search Volume - is there enough volume to care? If the market isn't developed yet is it worth it to optimize for it?
- Compatibility - can the keywords be used in combination and still make sense? Do they fit together or are you trying too hard to mix apples and oranges?
- Strategy and page power - if this is a high-volume keyword, do you have a chance at being in the top page or two? If not, maybe you can refine the keyword to take a slice of that larger market and have fewer competitors.
- Strategy and internal competition - make sure you have a clear idea of which pages in your own site should be targeted for which keywords - you shouldn't be competing with yourself.
Use your HTML <head>...</head> section well
Know where most search engines get the information they use when they display the Search Engine Results. If you don't supply the correct fields the search engines will usually pull the information from the content nearest the keyword they're matching - will this represent your product well? Or supply these meta fields to make sure they display the right information.
<title>...</title> this is used in the Search Engine Results page (see above) so should clearly define what keywords this page is about
The Title should be:
- uniquely descriptive for each page of your site
- clear and motivating to user to click on link
- no more than 10 words - ideally 5-7 with company name at end if it fits
- leave out unnecessary words (of, web, the, and... )
<meta name="Description" content="Your descriptive sentence or two goes here.">
The meta Description tag should be:
- up to 25 words focusing on clearly describing the page content
- with keywords as early in the content as is natural
- it is not useful to repeat keywords or company name
<meta name="Keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2">
The meta Keywords tag should :
- contain no more than 12 keywords or 250 characters
- have keywords listed in order of importance - most important early in list
- have all keywords echoed in content of page - it's not a list - it's how you talk about your product / service
Use your Keywords and Content well
Page Content / text
- Include at least 100 words of visible text per page - not just links!
- Use your keywords in this text at least once, ideally 3 times
- Make sure your content is clear - that the user understands exactly what you're offering. Pictures and diagrams can help the user understand - content helps the search engines find you.
Keyword use in page
- Use early in visible content - first paragraph
- Use in Headings tags <h#>
- Use each keyword at least once or ideally 3 times in text
- Use keywords in a NATURAL manner - the keyword should be the way you talk about your product
- Bold or italicize keywords when possible and natural
- Use keywords as the text link to your other pages - in this case the keyword should be the keyword for the linked-to page, not the one you're on. Likewise, cross link throughout your site using the relevant keywords for each page.
- Use keywords in the "alt" attribute of the image tag for important images
- Label the filename with the most important keywords "handmade_jewelry.shtml"
These notes are from Lance Loveday's "SEO Quick Reference" that he handed out at a web design conference in May 2008. He has given me permission to use this material, with attribution, in my webdesign classes. If you want the whole scoop from him the book that follows is fairly recent, published 2008. If he writes as clearly as he spoke at the conference, it's a good book, but I haven't read it.
"Most design books are about making your web site pretty. Others are about understanding the technical aspects. Web Design for ROI is the rare book that focuses on your web site doing what you want it to: make you money."
-- Bryan Eisenberg, bestselling author of Call to Action