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Search Engine Optimization is vital for the success of any online business. It is the process by which you will optimize your website for the search engines in order to achieve high page rankings for your industries key terms. Sometimes you won’t even know what all of these key terms will be, but these are areas in which we can assist you.
Outline below are only a few of the processes involved in proper search engine optimization:
Link Building Process
Due to the rapidly changing guidelines of the major search engines, it is becoming increasingly more important that a website have a well planned out link strategy. We refer to this as the Link Building Process. What this entails is the steady growth of new, quality links pointing to your website, using strong anchor text, or “hyperlink text”.
The value of these links is dependant upon the relevancy of the website they come from. As an example, if your site revolves around broadcasting equipment, a link coming from a website which focuses on basketball will not be as valued as a link from a website which focuses on broadcast electronics.
Sometimes it is not possible to find other websites with relevant content to your own, so we simply create the relevancy. This leads to the next strategy.
Article Creation, Submission & Announcement
The creation of articles or press releases to drive qualified traffic to your website as well as provide you with highly relevant links is a process which requires much planning and forethought. To undertake a strategy such as this without the proper knowledge will ultimately result in failure.
We use proven methods to strategically spread the word about your website through various channels across the internet, insuring that there is no duplicate content being shared across the world-wide-web which could have a negative impact on your website.
Creation of unique articles is a key factor. Each article will focus on a singular keyword or phrase which is tailored specifically to your industry. This is a process known as “Viral Article Creation”. Through this process we can increase the position of your website for select keywords in addition to sending more qualified traffic to your website.
After the creation of these articles, we announce them through a highly ranking network of websites which will increase the amount of traffic coming to your website as well as bring the articles to the attention of the search engines more swiftly.
Publishing articles through your own website will also prompt the search engines to return to your website more frequently and build the credibility of your site while also bringing qualified traffic.
Utilization of Meta-Data
Part of the reason for including meta-tags and title tags in your website is to help the search engines index you more accurately so that they may deliver more relevant search results. The major search engines constantly alter the algorithms used to determine the ranking of websites within their indexes in an effort to deliver more relevant results to the end-user.
In addition to this, a website should be utilizing it’s title tags to their full potential. Google allows up to 66 characters to be used in a page title before it crops the title for length. Yahoo will allow up to 120 characters. The goal of the page title is to give prospects using the search engines a good idea of what to expect on your pages, in addition to the ramifications it has on your position in the search indexes.
Your title tags should be specifically tailored for each page in your website and should include your key phrase or phrases to increase your position in the search indexes.
Now, while meta-description tags are not a major factor search engines consider when ranking sites, they should not be left off the page. Both the meta-keywords tag and the meta-description tag do contribute to your search engine ranking. A meta-description tag is supposed to be a brief and concise summary of your page's content. The search engines use this when determining where your website should be indexed in their databases.
When you write a meta-description tag, you should limit it to 170 characters or 200 characters at most. You should pick a style and be consistent throughout your pages, writing a unique description for each page of your site.
The meta-description tag is used by Alltheweb.com, which provides search results to Lycos. Inktomi indexes the meta-description tag and shows your description in the search results on search sites which use Inktomi's data. The meta-description tag is also used by AltaVista in its search results in many cases, depending on whether the description is a good match for and includes the specific search query.
Google will often times create its own description for the pages indexed in their database by using content from your pages. This is why having relevant page content is a key factor when optimizing a website for Google.
Keyword Creation
It is of vital importance that you select the correct keywords to optimize your website for. These are normally a collection of general terms and long-tail terms. A long-tail term is normally a highly specific phrase which is industry specific. These terms, while not yielding as much traffic as the general terms, often times provide much higher conversion rate for your website. These long-tail terms are created to target prospects who already know exactly what they are looking for and are ready to take action.
Content Optimization
When it comes to search engine optimization, the content of your website will play one of the largest roles in determining how well your website will rank. Due to this, it is vital that your content be optimized for specific keywords and closely related terms. Each page within your website should adhere to these simple principals:
- Each page should be optimized for no more than one key term, and no more than five closely related terms. Any more than this and your content will suffer as a direct result.
- The internal link architecture of your website should be carefully mapped out. When you mention a specific term, you should link it to the page with the most information on that term. This will add relevancy to your website and the search engines will reward you for it.
- Make your content flow. While it is important to optimize your content for the search engines, always ensure that you do not compromise the end-user’s experience on your site.
- Include calls to action within your content. This is extremely important in order to gradually funnel your site visitors to the goal of your website, whether it be filling out a simple form or making a purchase. Always offer them a clearly defined path to that goal.
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