How to build
a high-performance website and get top ranking on all search Engines. outlines
a broad strategy for successfully optimizing your website.
The goal of
search engine optimization is to have the search engine spiders not only find
your site and pages but also specifically rank the page relevance so that it
appears at the top of the search engine results. The process of optimization is
not a one-time process but requires maintenance, tuning, and continuous testing
and monitoring.
Below is a
broad four-step process for a strategy for search engine optimization. Use this
as your top-level checklist.
Step 1:
Target Market Business Analysis
Website analysis. Analysis of meta
sets/keywords, visible text and code to determine how well you're positioned
for search engines. For example, how much code do you have on a page compared
to text?
Competitive analysis. Examination of
content keywords and present engine rankings of competitive websites to determine
an effective engine positioning strategy. Pick the top five results in the
Google listing results to begin this process. Expand as necessary. Use tools
such as Semrush.com and Keywordspy.com.
Initial keyword nomination. Development of
a prioritized list of targeted search terms related to your customer base and
market segment. Begin with this: What would you type into a search engine to
find your business website or page? Then, ask your customers!
Step 2:
Keyword Research and Development
Keyword analysis. From nomination, further
identify a targeted list of keywords and phrases. Review competitive lists and
other pertinent industry sources. Use your preliminary list to determine an
indicative number of recent search engine queries and how many websites are
competing for each keyword. Prioritize keywords and phrases, plurals,
singulars and misspellings. (If search users commonly misspell a keyword, you
should identify and use it). Please note that Google will try to correct the
term when searching, so use this with care.
Baseline ranking assessment. You need to
understand where you are now in order to accurately assess your future
rankings. Keep a simple Excel sheet to start the process. Check weekly to
begin. As you get more comfortable, check every 30 to 45 days. You should see
improvements in website traffic, a key indicator of progress for your keywords.
Some optimizers will say that rankings are dead. Yes, traffic and conversions
are more important, but we use rankings as an indicator.
Goals and Objectives. Clearly define your
objectives in advance so you can truly measure your ROI from any programs you
implement. Start simple, but don’t skip this step. Example: You may decide to
increase website traffic from a current baseline of 100 visitors a day to 200
visitors over the next 30 days. Or you may want to improve your current
conversion rate of one percent to two in a specified period. You may begin with
top-level, aggregate numbers, but you must drill down into specific pages that
can improve products, services, and business sales.
Step 3:
Content Optimization and Submission
Create page titles. Keyword-based titles
help establish page theme and direction for your keywords.
Create meta tags. Meta description tags can
influence click-throughs but aren't directly used for rankings. (Google doesn't
use the keywords tag anymore.)
Place strategic search phrases on pages.
Integrate selected keywords into your website source code and existing content
on designated pages. Make sure to apply a suggested guideline of one to three
keywords/phrases per content page and add more pages to complete the list.
Ensure that related words are used as a natural inclusion of your keywords. It
helps the search engines quickly determine what the page is about. A natural
approach to this works best. In the past, 100 to 300 words on a page was
recommended. Many tests show that pages with 800 to 2,000 words can outperform
shorter ones. In the end, the users, the marketplace, content and links will
determine the popularity and ranking numbers.
Develop new sitemaps for Google and Bing.
Make it easier for search engines to index your website. Create both XML and
HTML versions. An HTML version is the first step. XML sitemaps can easily be
submitted via Google and Bing webmaster tools.
Submit website to directories (limited
use). Professional search marketers don’t submit the URL to the major search
engines, but it’s possible to do so. A better and faster way is to get links
back to your site naturally. Links get your site indexed by the search engines.
However, you should submit your URL to directories such as Yahoo! (paid),
Business.com (paid) and DMOZ (free). Some may choose to include AdSense
(google.com/adsense) scripts on a new site to get their Google Media bot to
visit. It will likely get your pages indexed quickly.
Step 4:
Continuous Testing and Measuring
Test and measure. Analyze search engine
rankings and web traffic to determine the effectiveness of the programs you’ve
implemented, including assessment of individual keyword performance. Test the
results of changes, and keep changes tracked in an Excel spreadsheet, or
whatever you're comfortable with.
Maintenance.
Ongoing addition and modification of keywords and website content are
necessary to continually improve search engine rankings so growth doesn’t stall
or decline from neglect. You also want to review your link strategy and ensure
that your inbound and outbound links are relevant to your business. A blog can
provide you the necessary structure and ease of content addition that you need.
Your hosting company can typically help you with the setup/installation of a
blog.
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