You probably already get the basic concept that Google (or any other search engine) crawls the internet and stores every web page it finds in its index like a library catalog. To search for something, you type in a word or phrase, and Google sorts through its collection of pages and keywords and shows you its search engine results pages (SERPs). If you have a business, with a website and you want customers to find you, you want to be a part of this!
Getting on the list is simple, but getting a good spot on the list takes a little understanding of how Google's brain thinks.
Have you ever wondered how or why Website X appears at the top of the list while Website B is way out on page 10, even though its name is an exact match to what you typed in? Google's measure of “relevance” to what you searched for based on page title and keywords within the page is actually only the little half of its sorting process.
Google measures the “authority” of a web page using its own trademarked algorithm called Pagerank, named after one of Google's founders, Larry Page. Based on a project at Stanford University to determine the credibility/importance of an academic document by how many other papers make reference to that document, Google's Pagerank determines how “important” a webpage is by how many other webpages link to it. The more links your site gets, like getting “votes”, the higher you'll rate in Pagerank. AND, if you get a link from a high-ranking (“important”) site, your rank will jump even more!
Ok, now how or where do you start? Make your website something they'll want to come check out, create interesting content that they'll want to see, and tell others about. Google crawls all of your pages individually, not just your site, so make each page count. You're not going to make the top of the list overnight, so the sooner you get started, the better.
That's the game (the abridged version) you have to play if you want your business to be found by any of the billions of consumers that are on Google every day; and the kicker is, if you're not playing, you're sending them to your competition who is.
In my previous post Search Engine Optimization 101, we discussed the importance of good title tags, descriptions, page heading and use of keyword phrases in content. So by now you should understand why it is important that the title of your home page NOT be "Home". Traffic from Google comes because your web page has the content that the searcher is looking for. Is "home" on your keyword list? If the answer is no, and I'm reasonably certain that is true for most businesses, why would you send Google the wrong message by using "Home" as your page title.
Another common SEO mistake is using non-keywords for link anchor text. Anchor text is what visitors click on to follow a link on your web page. It is good SEO practice to link text on your web page to other pages of your site. Google sees that you've placed emphasis on a phrase by using it as anchor text. Is "Click here" on your keyword list? Wouldn't it be logical to consider your keywords when creating links? If you link your home page to your services page, which sentence do you think would send the best message to Google and your visitors?
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It's pretty obvious when you look at it from Google's perspective. Take a look at your web pages. Do you link your web site text to pages of your site? If not, do so. If you do, what words are you emphasizing by using them as anchor text? Are you inadvertently telling Google that "Click here" or "Home" are what your pages are about? If so, you are confusing Google and hurting your chances of getting found.
I love teaching people how to search engine optimize their web site. I am hooked on the "ah-ha" moment when they unlock the mystery. To be truthful, search engine optimization isn't difficult. To do it successfully, all you need to do is look at your web site pages from a different perspective.
My favorite way to start is to take a page and look at it from the perspective of Google. Google wants to know what the page is about. Notice I said the page not the web site. If there are keywords in the meta keyword field I start there. If not, I ask them to chose two to three keyword phrases for the page.
How does Google know what is important about the site? It is easy. If the page is about "plumbing supplies", you would expect that the words "plumbing supplies" would appear in the title of the page (the Title tag in the head section of the page), the description of the page (meta description tag), the heading at the top of the page (the H1 heading) and in the first paragraph at a minimum. Seems logical enough. Nine times our of ten what the web site owner finds that their web site does not use the keyword phrases in these places at all. What is typical is:
- The title is the company name.
- The meta description is a description of the company, not the page.
- If the H1 heading if used at all, it is something like "Our Products".
- The content while about plumbing supplies doesn't use the exact term. For instance it might say faucets, drains and pipe but not the term "plumbing supplies".
If asked most people can tell you what keyword phrases they think are important to draw visitors to their site (see my previous post: How to chose keywords for your website pages). What is lacking is an understanding of how to make sure that Google knows what the page is about. Take a look at each page of your website with a critical eye and you might find out that you haven't sent a clear message at all.
Here is an example to illustrate how you should NOT optimize your page. Note: to see your meta tags, go to your browser and display the page you wish to inspect. In the view menu, chose "View Source". The Title, meta description and meta keywords fields are in the section of the page at the top.
In my next post I will explore some more common SEO mistakes.
When companies start a website redesign project, they rarely consider organic search engine optimization. This, of course, is a bad idea. If you are redesigning your website because you think a new look will bring more visitors, stop. Good content that is optimized around the right keyword phrases is what will bring more traffic and, if done correctly, the right traffic. Traffic that converts to leads that result in increased profits.
When planning your redesign and/or seo project, take a hard look at the length of your website pages. Do visitors need to scroll to read the content completely? Does the content lend itself to being split into more than one page? If so, restructure your content for a number of reasons. One, visitors do not like to scroll and another more important reason, it will give you more pages to optimize for seo. Each page is an opportunity to be found for a different set of keyword phrases. When you create a long page, you have missed opportunities and, if it is very long, probably guarenteed that most visitors will not see or read the content "below the fold".
Why do we refer to a search term as a keyword when it is most often not a word but a phrase? This is one of the questions that clients often ask if they are new to Internet Marketing and SEO (search engine optimization). It’s true that it is not typical to have a single word as a search term. Too many search results would be returned and they would not necessarily be relevant to what the person was searching for. Two to four word phrases return much more relevant results. This is something to keep in mind as you research your keywords or keyword phrases.
Keyword research is very important to the success of your Internet Marketing Plan. How can you hope to attract visitors to your website and convert them to clients if you don’t understand what they are searching for. When choosing your keywords, you have to put yourself in the head of someone searching for your service or product. The search engine will return a list of pages that are most relevant to the phrase that the searcher “googled”. Most people have learned to be specific when searching for a product or service. Here are some things to keep in mind when you research keywords for your website pages.
- Start with keyword phrases that visitors have used to find your site previously.
- Look for keyword phrases that get a high number of searches per month if possible. There are tools available to find this information.
- Who are you competing with for the top 20 search results? Google it and find out. If your direct competitors have the first two pages tied up look for a similar keyword phrase with less direct competition. The search volume of a singular versus the plural of a term can be thousands of searches.
- If your keyword phrases are too specific to your product or are too technical, try to find a different way to describe it. For instance, describe what it does rather than what it is. Many times people are looking for solution to a problem, not necessarily a product.
- Consider specifying the geographic area in which you do business as part of your keyword phrase. A lawyer that is practicing divorce law in Westborough, Massachusetts does not necessarily want leads from all 50 states or other countries. By adding the words Massachusetts, MA, Westboro (it can be spelled two different ways) or New England to the term divorce lawyer he or she will get leads that much more likely to convert to a client.
When you have a list, optimize your pages or blog using the keyword phrases (a topic for another post) and then monitor your traffic. If you are not successful in drawing the right type or amount of traffic to the page, try different keyword phrases