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SEO Search Engine Optimization
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SEO Search engine optimization strategy for search engine marketing
Why is search engine optimization so important? The best way to describe why search engine optimization is important is to show you the actual statistics of research done that shows exactly why we need to take the search engine optimization process so seriously.
- Over 180 Million Internet Users in North America cyberatlas.internet.com
- 84.8% of Internet users utilize search engines to find web sites.
*GVU Users Survey
- 71% of all Internet surfers reach web sites through Search Engines.
*Nielson Media
- Research has proven that 93% of global consumers use search engines to find and access websites.
*Forrester Research
- 85% of qualified Internet traffic is driven through search engines, however 75% of search engines users never scroll past the first page of results
*Georgia Institute of Technology: Seventh WWW User Survey
- Over 300 Millions searches performed everyday on search engines
http://www.wordtracker.com
- 55% of all Internet sales result from buyers finding the sellers website through search engines.
- Search Engine Marketing was ranked as the #1 website promotional method used by e-Commerce sites.
*ActivMedia Research
- 73% of global chief executives (CEOs, CIO’s, etc.), say that they prefer to find out about new products online.
*Research.net
The following are the search engine optimization techniques that we follow when building the web site design for each and every client.
Every client web site we build is built to target keywords that are searched for by your target market. We get to know what are the best keywords by doing the keyword research first before even starting the development process. Knowing what keywords to target is the most important factor to start the search engine optimization process. There are many variables that affect search engine rankings, all of which are keyword issues including:
- Keyword density
- Link Popularity
- Click popularity
- Keywords in the title
- Keywords in the description tag
- Keywords in the keywords tag
- Keywords in the names of linked pages and in the linked words
- Keywords in the domain name or page name
- Keywords in the alt tags
- Keywords in names of images
- Paying for rankings
- Listing in online directories
Keyword Research
We research every word that has to do with your business to determine what are the most targeted words in your industry. This also tells us what are the most popular search terms for your industry by telling us how many searches are done each month for each word. We analyze your competitor’s web site to see if they have come up with any keywords we are not thinking of. We compile a list of hundreds of related keywords. We then decide how the site will lay out and determine what words should be described on each page. If you are developing this site from scratch we write the Meta tags for all pages first. If you are redeveloping the web site and optimizing to rank for search engines we rewrite the Meta Tags and then have you write the content around the Meta Tags. Use Wordtracker or the Overture suggestion tool to research your keywords. These tools will show you how many times a particular keyword was searched for each month. Using keywords in your web pages that nobody searches is pointless.
Meta Tags
The most important Meta Tags are the Meta Title and the Meta Description Tag. Search engine optimization is marketing words, the first place a search engine looks to see if a page is relevant to a keyword is in the title tag and is displayed at the top of your browser. The title tag is restricted to about 50 characters and should be the words that are most relevant to the information on the page and target a specific audience. The next step is to write the Meta Description Tag. This is the place a search engine often gets the description to show searchers a description of what this page is about. This should also be keyword rich and target the first & secondary keywords for the page.
Header Tags
H Tags or Header Tags are another place that a search engine will look to see what the page is about. H1<keyword>H1 There should be 2 header tags the first should contain the most targeted keyword to the page (Same keywords as Title Tag) and the second Head Tag should have several words that describe what’s in the page. (Same keywords as Meta Description Tag)
Domain Name
Another search engine optimization technique is to select a domain name that is keyword based for example one of our client’s uses the name www.10-best-credit-cards.com instead of using www.creditcards.com as it has most definitely been selected already. Using keywords in the domain name is a great way to ensure that the search engine knows that this information is available but the rest of the techniques here must still be applied. A great example is one client of ours that managed to get many different keywords and key phrases to rank high on search engines was wood-veneer-manufacturer-supplier.com this site was ranked in the top 20 for wood veneer, wood manufacturer, wood supplier, wood veneer manufacturer, wood veneer supplier, veneer manufacturer, veneer supplier, Veneer, wood, wood veneer, etc. you get the idea. By finding a good search phrase to use as a domain name really helped in this case. The techniques of selecting search phrases that are able to make up many search words or phrases are a great way to get multiple keywords to rank for each page. We use the keyword research to find unique situations like this one.
Page names
One of the simple search engine optimization techniques that are often overlooked is a proper page name. If you know what the Title Tag is then you should know exactly what the page name should be. For example if you are writing a web site about cell phones you might name your web site all-cell-phones.com then you might have a page that describes cell phone accessories your page name should be www.all-cell-phones.com/cell phone accessories.html makes sense right.
Image Names
Search engines cannot see the images on the page so to make an image work for you make sure you name the images keywords.
Alt Tags
Alt tags are the little popup you see in the cream colored boxes when you place your mouse over an image. Use keyword based descriptions to describe what the picture is about and increases the keyword density to that page by placing keywords in the Alt Tags.
Keyword density
This is the ratio of a keyword or key phrase to the total words (depth) on a page. It is one of the most critical aspects of search engine optimization. To improve search engine ranking, your keyword density must not be too high or too low. Try to aim for a keyword density of 1% to 7%. To achieve 1% you would need to insert your keyword or keyword phrase once for every hundred words. If you only used your keyword once in one thousand words, this would result in diluting your keyword density. Don't try to stuff all your keywords together, separated by commas. Search engines may see this as Spam, penalizing your rankings. . Keyword density analysis - use a keyword density analyzer to check the keyword density of your web pages. This will tell you if you have used too many or too few words in your web copy. KeyWordDensity.com
Keyword Rich Content
Use your keyword research to write keyword rich content. Avoid using words that may be popular but that are not related to your site (i.e. sex). This will not improve your search engine ranking and will only frustrate your visitors who are searching for relevant content. A good method is to write at least 250 words (or longer) for each of your web pages. Search engines will spider the text near the top of the page, rather than at the bottom. Therefore, include your keywords in the first 250 words on your page.
Link Popularity
Building Link Partners is one of the most important search engine marketing techniques that brings in more traffic and secures top search engine rankings. Learn more about the importance of link popularity and how it will affect your success. Without link popularity you will never rank in the top 20 on Google MSN and many other top search engines. We have a link popularity formula that is working fantastic for all of our clients.
Search Engine Submission
Proper search engine submission is a tedious procedure that is done manually. Using Automated Placement Software as a submission shortcut, will jeopardize the value of your URL some search engines will ban you for using this method if you continue to try to successfully submit through some sort of software. We carefully hand submit to all the major search engines in a strategic order that has been proven to get the best results according to search engine affiliations with each other. We manually submit to the following search engines: Inktomi, MSN Search, HotBot, Iwon, Goto/Overture, About, Anzwers, AOL, ICQ, Goo, Looksmart, Google, Yahoo Search, AT&T Wireless, Palm, Nextel, Netscape, AltaVista, Excite, WebCrawler, Direct Hit, AT&T WorldNet, Lycos, Go2net, Bomis, Apple, Ask Jeeves, Fast, Alltheweb, Northern Light, Dogpile, ODP, CNN & many more. Another method we use that is the fastest way to get indexed is to place a link to your optimized web site on another site that is in the search engines index. Knowing how the search engines work together helps us to know exactly how to best get your site listed on all the major search engines.
Paid Search Engine Submissions
More and more search engines are asking us to pay submit our websites due to the large amount of search engine submissions that occur each day. We knew this would happen it was only a matter of time. We have had a very common question "If I pay submit does that mean I am guaranteed a top ranking?" The answer is "no it only means that the search engines will index or rank your website a lot sooner!" So with the high costs of paid search engine submissions it is becoming smart business to hire an expert to get it right the first time otherwise thousands of dollars are spent achieving poor rankings. Remember any search engine ranking past 30 is rarely ever seen by anyone. We have been pay submitting for years to several search engines for a couple of obvious reasons.
· Inktomi – A database of websites that supplies result for MSN Search, HotBot, Iwon, Overture, About, Anzwers, AOL, ICQ, Goo, Looksmart, and many more. If you are not in the Inktomi database and you submit to any of the following sites you will not rank as high as websites who do, as long as they are optimized according to that months search engine algorithms or criteria. Plus Inktomi will re-index your site every 24 hrs after the first time, which is great if an algorithm changes and we need to make a change. Your site may have just dropped and we can make the change and within 48 hours you're right back on top. Inktomi costs about .00 to index your home page and .00 for every other page you want to get keyword rankings from.
· Looksmart - A search engine that supplies result for MSN, Excite, AltaVista, Iwon, CNN and more. Due to MSN's use of Looksmart as the provider of their top search results, this directory is a must do submission, in most cases. Only nonprofit organizations can submit free, everyone else pays. Automated Submission Software will not get you in.
· Yahoo - Yahoo is a free submit for noncommercial sites. Commercial sites require payment. Again, automated placement software will not get you in. You have to pay to get into Yahoo. Yahoo is the hardest to make changes to if you have been placed in the directory in a category it is almost impossible to change the placement without attempting to change categories. The moral of the story with yahoo it will cost you to get in so you have to get it right the first time. We know exactly what Yahoo wants to see in your site.
There are many other search engines that are offering the express inclusion or paid submissions process. Some are vital to pay as it will make a serious difference and others are not so important. Our research team keeps track of this criterion in order to maintain a leading edge for our clients.
An important part of this express inclusion or paid submissions process also includes priority indexing to get search engines to rank or index your site faster in some cases within 48 hours. After we do all the market research and development to your site you will definitely see the value in priority indexing. In most cases you will get indexed 2-3 months faster, plus at the time of submission your site will be optimized to rank high. If you have to wait for 2 months before your site is indexed, criteria will have changed and you will rank low. Our research team keeps up with the changing algorithms and adjusts the site accordingly.
Please take some time to view our other marketing avenues we feel are equally important when promoting your online business!
