What Does It Take for Search Engine Optimization to Actually Help Your Business?
It seems like more and more of my clients are asking about search engine optimization (SEO) for their website, but really have no idea what that means beyond 'something on the Internet.' I decided to put this article together to help explain the SEO goals and process in non-geek-speak.
It seems like more and more of my clients are asking about search engine optimization (SEO) for their website, but really have no idea what that means beyond 'something on the Internet.' I decided to put this article together to help explain the SEO goals and process in non-geek-speak.
Just like any good marketing strategy, before any SEO takes place, we need goals. What does the website do for its visitors? What new types of visitors do you want to attract? What are these people searching for? By answering these types of questions, we can get an idea of the keywords we should be targeting and the competition involved.
These phrases are known as 'target phrases' or 'target keywords,' and they should be specific to the actions you want your visitors to take. I'll give you an example from my business. The keyword 'web design' is a very popular search term, and if we ranked on the first page, we would likely get a lot of traffic. Unfortunately, this keyword is very competitive, and not very specific to what we do. People searching for 'web design' might be looking for any number of related topics, like code, samples, tips, or schools. We want to focus on key phrases that bring in exactly the type of visitor we're looking for - a buyer. By optimizing for the key phrase 'Portland Website Designer,' we're zero-ing in on a smaller audience, but the traffic we receive from this term will be more likely to find exactly what they're looking for.
Additionally, we chose specific phrases (like Portland website designer) because they are less competitive and easier to dominate. This amounts to a smaller investment, and a quicker time frame for reaching the top. We can always focus on the more competitive key phrases later if we choose to go that route.
So what do you have to do to get listed #1 for your term? Your site has to be relevant and credible in the eyes of the search engine. The exact scientific formula (called an algorithm) is specific to each search engine and privately-owned by the search engine company - think of it as a trade secret. The algorithm is programmed to display the results that have the best combination of relevancy and credibility for the search phrase. This means, the top spot on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is reserved for the most relevant and credible website on the Internet! Feeling overwhelmed yet?
Let's look at these qualifiers one at a time - starting with relevancy. Relevancy is determined by many factors, including page title, description, keyword-to-content ratio, and related pages on your site. If you build your site and write your content with these factors in mind, it's not difficult to be in a great spot when it comes to relevancy. Unfortunately for those of us short on patience, it is much less powerful than credibility - something that takes time to build.
Because of all the junk and spammy sites on the web, search engines had to come up with a way to assign credibility to websites. They do this to prevent a fly-by-night operation from stealing the #1 spot with a super-relevant page, and disappointing a lot of searchers. The measurement of credibility is a very important function of the search engines, because it's one that takes time to prove.
Search engines use back-links to measure credibility of websites. If you want to move up the rankings, you need a larger number of links pointing your site than the sites you're trying to pass. Those links should have anchor text that's relevant to your keyword, and it helps if they're surrounded by content on the same topic. "Anchor text" is the techie phrase for the words that are used as the link. These are usually the words that are underlined and blue (or a different color than the rest of the text). As a general principle of SEO, you want to get as many good links as possible, preferably with your target keywords as the anchor text.
Now you know how search engines work and how to design your strategy around building your credibility and relevance. Best of luck, and see you at the top!
It seems like more and more of my clients are asking about search engine optimization (SEO) for their website, but really have no idea what that means beyond 'something on the Internet.' I decided to put this article together to help explain the SEO goals and process in non-geek-speak.
Just like any good marketing strategy, before any SEO takes place, we need goals. What does the website do for its visitors? What new types of visitors do you want to attract? What are these people searching for? By answering these types of questions, we can get an idea of the keywords we should be targeting and the competition involved.
These phrases are known as 'target phrases' or 'target keywords,' and they should be specific to the actions you want your visitors to take. I'll give you an example from my business. The keyword 'web design' is a very popular search term, and if we ranked on the first page, we would likely get a lot of traffic. Unfortunately, this keyword is very competitive, and not very specific to what we do. People searching for 'web design' might be looking for any number of related topics, like code, samples, tips, or schools. We want to focus on key phrases that bring in exactly the type of visitor we're looking for - a buyer. By optimizing for the key phrase 'Portland Website Designer,' we're zero-ing in on a smaller audience, but the traffic we receive from this term will be more likely to find exactly what they're looking for.
Additionally, we chose specific phrases (like Portland website designer) because they are less competitive and easier to dominate. This amounts to a smaller investment, and a quicker time frame for reaching the top. We can always focus on the more competitive key phrases later if we choose to go that route.
So what do you have to do to get listed #1 for your term? Your site has to be relevant and credible in the eyes of the search engine. The exact scientific formula (called an algorithm) is specific to each search engine and privately-owned by the search engine company - think of it as a trade secret. The algorithm is programmed to display the results that have the best combination of relevancy and credibility for the search phrase. This means, the top spot on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is reserved for the most relevant and credible website on the Internet! Feeling overwhelmed yet?
Let's look at these qualifiers one at a time - starting with relevancy. Relevancy is determined by many factors, including page title, description, keyword-to-content ratio, and related pages on your site. If you build your site and write your content with these factors in mind, it's not difficult to be in a great spot when it comes to relevancy. Unfortunately for those of us short on patience, it is much less powerful than credibility - something that takes time to build.
Because of all the junk and spammy sites on the web, search engines had to come up with a way to assign credibility to websites. They do this to prevent a fly-by-night operation from stealing the #1 spot with a super-relevant page, and disappointing a lot of searchers. The measurement of credibility is a very important function of the search engines, because it's one that takes time to prove.
Search engines use back-links to measure credibility of websites. If you want to move up the rankings, you need a larger number of links pointing your site than the sites you're trying to pass. Those links should have anchor text that's relevant to your keyword, and it helps if they're surrounded by content on the same topic. "Anchor text" is the techie phrase for the words that are used as the link. These are usually the words that are underlined and blue (or a different color than the rest of the text). As a general principle of SEO, you want to get as many good links as possible, preferably with your target keywords as the anchor text.
Now you know how search engines work and how to design your strategy around building your credibility and relevance. Best of luck, and see you at the top!
Robots,robotics,humanoids:
Tony Kau operates Vanivo Business Solutions, as a Portland website designer, specializing in Internet marketing and search engine optimization. Vanivo is currently seeking 3 new long-term clients that want to grow their business using the web. Get in touch with them today by filling out the form on their website. Learn more about their Portland SEO service on their website.