Search Engine
Optimization 101
Content, Content, Content
If you are
creating a website or working on a site you've already
created, the content of the site is one of the most important
factors for successful search engine marketing. The pages
you create should provide valuable information that references
very specific terms and concepts that are unique to your
website.
Text is one
part of the content that is important for being found
in search engines. Search engines usually read and index
the first 500 words from each page they successfully crawl.
The text within that span of words is one factor that
helps to determine your relevance for a particular search
term.
If you are
successful at weaving your keywords into compelling copy
(remember humans are your primary reader) you are more
likely to be relevant for keyword searches. Once your
site has been up and running for three months, run a report
on your log files to determine what keywords people are
using to find your site.
You might be
surprised if the most popular keywords that do find your
site don't match up to keywords you already had in mind
and were using. The web is a great educator about how
to succeed. Your site might be very popular for search
terms that you hadn't thought of when you built it.
When people
use search engines, they aren't typing in generic terms
that are hard to define and measure like "business"
or "software". People use search engines for
very specific names and phrases, terms like "Inkjet
printer cartridge refills".
You wouldn't
have thought to include that specific phrase in your content
because it doesn't read very well. But if all those words
are located in a web page carefully constructed to highlight
keywords that are known to produce traffic, the likelihood
that you will appear in a search result for a very specific
search improves.
You must be
diligent in understanding how people are getting to your
site and focus on providing quality content that is geared
towards the audience that is trying to find you. Be as
specific as you can. You'll improve the quality and quantity
of visitors you get from search engines.
It's also important
to understand that you cannot trick the search engines.
Flooding the engines with multiple versions of the same
page, repeating the same term over and over - these tactics
will only lead to negative traffic from search engines
and the likelihood that your site could be banned from
being listed in a search engine.
We mentioned
earlier that the text on your website was one part of
the content that's important for being found at search
engines. Another important part of the equation is your
link popularity. By focusing on quality content, your
website becomes more likely to have someone naturally
link to it without having to request it.
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