In my previous article on SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, I shared why our partners should care about it, and how it can positively impact attracting new leads. The next step is to figure out how to quickly get started, so you can begin to see returns on your SEO efforts.
Disclaimer: As before I must note that I am by no means an expert on SEO, but would like to share highlights, getting you started quickly, and relatively painlessly.
#1 Begin with your Page Titles. The page title is the text that will appear in the titlebar of the browser window, and is one of the first items a search engine uses to determine what the content of your page is about. In Google, it is also the title of the entry of your page.
#2 Next, modify (or create) your Description Tag. Not only is the description tag important for SEO in that search engines use this to determine the content of your page, but it is the first chance you have to tell the reader what you do, but keep it simple and brief! The Description Tag should be relevant for each page, so it probably won't make sense to use the same description for every page in your site.
#3a Keywords. This may seem like a no-brainer, but what you believe your prospects are searching on in order to find your products or services isn't always the reality. Begin this step with some research. Start with your top 5 or 10 keywords that you believe people are using to find you. Now try expanding those keywords with different keyword tools, such as Google's Keyword Tool or their latest tool for keyword research, the Sktool.
#3b Which keywords should be used in the Keyword Tag? When choosing keywords for your website, you should consider the keyword popularity and the keyword competitiveness. Some keywords are more competitive than others, meaning after doing your research, you could still find yourself on the 15th page on a search, rather than the first few pages. It will require a lot of time and energy to make your website rank for a highly competitive keyword. Assuming you don't have a lot of time to invest, it is always wise to target less popular keywords and phrases and get a higher ranking on those keywords.
#3c How many times to use a keyword? Before you dive in and stuff each keyword tag with the same 2 or 3 words over and over, you need to know that search engines caught onto this trick years ago. Now it will more likely harm your site rather than help it to use the same keywords more than a few times in the Keyword Tag for any individual page.
What do Steps 1-3 look like in HTML? See below:
#4 Content needs to be relevant. If you want to attract someone who is looking for your "Widget", be sure to use the word "Widget" at least a few times throughout the page, but don't overdo it. While it is very important to get the keywords a minimum of 2 – 4 times on the page if possible, it needs to read well. Once you've modified the content of your page, step away for a bit, then go back and re-read it. Does it make sense, or does it feel "stuffed" with your keywords?
#5 Use Heading Tags in page titles. The heading tags (H1, H2, H3, which are the different html content title tags) play another important role in Google's search spider to determine the structure and the topic of your webpage. So, structure your page well by making sure your keywords are in these header tags. Also, set up your page in such a way, that one can see what the page is about, by only reading the text between the header tags.
Now you're ready to roll! Almost.
If you haven't yet set up Google Analytics on your site, you need to. There are other traffic tools, but Google Analytics is free and about as robust as it gets. Remember #3(a & b) above? With GA, you can see what keywords are successfully drawing visitors to your site, and which pages are most clicked and which aren't. You may decide to focus on the most clicked pages, and update that copy. Or focus on pages that aren't visited often, and rewrite the copy to attract more visitors.
Remember, this is just a start for getting SEO up and running on your site. As Bill Murray says, take Baby Steps. Every little bit that you can do will help your business bring in more, relevant, leads.
Great overview when you ars struck and overwhelmed by the internet
Posted by: Lennart Kolberg | 01/11/2011 at 07:25 AM