Putting your business on the web is just the start – users need to be able to find your site. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one way to make your business more visible to the world.
SEO in a nutshell
Search engines can be a major source of traffic to your website, provided you use SEO to ensure people can find you.
A better ranking increases the chances of driving more users to your site. Getting your website to land on the first page of results will improve click rates. After that, the number falls rapidly.
Ranking highly should be a primary goal
The best SEO strategies are highly targeted. Your goal is to rank well when users search for terms that are relevant to your business. To succeed, you need to identify and then target very specific search terms that those interested in your business would use in a search.
Consider the following tips for starting the process:
- Brainstorm a list of relevant keywords. Include product types and names (or words) that relate to your target market.
- Narrow down your list and assign a priority to each search term.
Make use of online tools
Use online tools to identify the search terms with the highest volumes, such as Keyword Discovery®, Wordtracker™, and Google® AdWords Keyword Planner. These tools display the number of times a chosen search term has been used.
Record the volume of searches for each keyword or phrase in a spreadsheet. High-volume search terms often have many websites competing for the top rankings, which can make it difficult for smaller or newer websites to get near the top.
Crosscheck results by entering the exact search term into search engines that highlight keywords in the results. As a general rule, if most of the results on the first two pages contain the exact search term, the competition is high.
Consider disregarding very competitive search terms. Low-competition, high-volume words could be more important to target because they can send significant traffic to your site.
Take a look at low-volume search terms as well. If the terms are relevant to what you offer, keep them on your list.
Build your final list of target keywords, ordered by priority.
Optimize your website
Match pages on your website to the keywords in your list. Aim to target two or three search terms with each page on your website. Then:
- Get help from a web designer or an IT expert to incorporate your target search terms into page metadata. Page titles and descriptions have a significant influence, so try to include your keywords in both.
- Search engines check words in the URL for relevance, so be sure to include target search terms here. For instance, if your page is about men’s coats, you might name the page ‘mens-coats.html.’
- Work the target search terms into the text on your pages. Use the keywords in a natural way, so your text remains readable.
Harnessing the value of links
Links can make the biggest difference to your search ranking because search engines like Google© regard every link to your website as a vote of confidence in the site. Links from high-ranking websites are worth the most. Aim to:
- Ask your loyal customers, partners, and suppliers if they would be willing to link to your site.
- Try to make the linked text match the exact search term you’re targeting with the linked page.
- Post comments on forums and blogs. These outlets may allow you to link back to your website if you leave a comment or take part in discussions.
- Offer to contribute articles or resources to high-profile websites in return for links.
- Submit your site for inclusion in online directories that act as jumping off points to other websites.
- Run a business blog that contains interesting insights and debates – including relevant keyword links in your blog posts can help you gain links.
- Give people a reason to link to you – the best links are usually the ones that come naturally because what you offer is valuable.
Keep SEO in perspective
Regard SEO as just one element of your online marketing strategy and avoid spending too much time tweaking your site. Getting the basics right should be your main priority. If you have an interesting site with good content, then SEO will happen more naturally.
An SEO strategy will take time to show results; your site should climb the rankings gradually as search engines update their indexes. Three months is a reasonable period to measure results over, though new sites with poor rankings may take much longer to show significant improvement.
SEO rewards a long-term approach so be persistent and get help from an SEO expert.
Remember that:
- Ultimately, your website is for customers, not search engines. If your website copy is so keyword-heavy that visitors can’t understand it, they’ll search elsewhere.
- Search engines use advanced methods to identify sites trying to game the system. If a term appears too often, this may actually count against you. Avoid going over the top.
- Link to reputable sites only. In the same way that links from recognized sites count in your favor, links from blacklisted sites count against you.
