Archive for: May 2008

You probably already know that in order to get good rankings in the search engines, your web site should incorporate SEO (Search Engine Optimization) elements to ensure that the pages can be read and indexed by the search engine spiders that visit your site. It can be confusing, though, since search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to provide better results to users, while weeding out the sites that are less relevant or violate the rules and “best practices” of SEO. By avoiding a few common SEO mistakes, you can protect your web site from dropping out of sight – or worse, being banned from the search engines altogether.

Here are some definite “don’ts” when optimizing your site for the search engines:

1.  DON’T use a Flash-based or Frames-based structure for your web site; these techniques are outdated and are basically invisible to the search engine spiders. Instead, use standards-based layouts that include CSS.

2.  DON’T use pre-canned templates to build your site; they limit your capability to incorporate SEO techniques and can also look like “duplicate content” to the search engines, since multiple sites have probably used the same code elsewhere on the web.

3.  DON’T put outbound links on your web site (like on a resources or links page) without using a “nofollow” attribute, unless the link is directly relevant to your business. Links that point to other sites that have little or nothing to do with yours can count as votes against you in the search engine algorithms.

4.  DON’T use temporary 302 redirects on your web site; instead always use 301 redirects if you must move your pages to another domain or location. 302 redirects can wipe out all the trust that has built up over time for your domain and cause your rankings to plummet.

5.  DON’T use image-based navigation elements on your web pages; images cannot be read by the search engines. Search engines need links in order to find the other pages on your site. Instead of an image-based system, use a text-based or CSS-based navigation system to make sure that the spiders have a clear, organized path to follow that leads them to every page of your site.

What’s the most important part of optimizing a web site to perform better in the search engines? If you’re like most people, you probably thought “keywords.” And that’s true, of course, as long as you include about a million other techniques and nuances when using keywords to optimize a web site! (Okay, maybe not a million…) But of all the strategies you can use to improve your search engine placements, using keywords effectively is the one that you want to get right.

In the Old Days
Using keywords used to be very simple; all you had to do was add the words that best described your business or web site content in the “keyword” meta tag in the HTML code of the site. Of course, people quickly found lots of ways to manipulate this, so the search engines began altering their search algorithms on a regular basis. The challenge for web site owners today is figuring out how to legitimately use keywords to get good search results, while competing with millions and millions of other web sites that are trying to do the same thing.

Choose Carefully
In order for your keywords to be effective, you must first choose the right keywords for your site, which requires some research. Doing this step is critical. Yet, if you are like many small businesses, you may have overlooked or skipped this step entirely. Why? Probably because you already have a good idea of what keywords you think your customers would use to find your business. However, what you think people will use to find your business is often quite different from what searchers actually use when they perform searches.

Once you have found the right keywords for your web site, there are some other basic keyword tips that you can use as well, such as:

• Optimizing for phrases - people don’t search using only single words, they search on phrases containing two, three, or more words. Watch your web stats to find out which phrases searchers are using to find your site, then make sure you optimize for those phrases.
• Using “follow-through” words on your landing pages to show visitors that they have come to the right place. For instance, if a visitor arrived at your page from searching on “bright yellow widgets,” make sure that those words appear in that order on your landing page.
• Measuring keyword densities – make sure you use your keywords enough to be helpful to the search engines, but not so much that it could be considered keyword-spamming.
• Using your keywords in titles and headings whenever possible.
• Including keywords in your ALT tags for graphics and images.
• Using keywords in your filenames, including image files.

Keywords are Key
There are several techniques you can use to improve you web site’s position in the search engines, but using keywords effectively is probably the most powerful tool in your optimization toolbox. Remember, you are competing with millions of other web sites, and they all want to come up in the top 10 results. Choose your keywords wisely, and use them intelligently throughout your entire site. In the end, getting the keywords right can make a world of difference in your search engine rankings, your web site traffic, and the overall success of your small business web site.

Home pages. Landing pages. Sub pages. Content pages. These are the types of pages found on most small business web sites. But if you’re trying to turn your web site visitors into loyal customers, then you definitely need to know about your exit pages. And where can you find your exit pages, entry pages, and all other types of pages? They can be found in your web site statistics, which you should be reviewing regularly!

Exit Pages
First, let’s talk about exit pages and what they can tell you. Exit pages are exactly that – the pages on your web site where visitors leave and move on to another site (or move on to something else altogether). So why should you know on which pages your visitors exit your site? Because if a large percentage of your traffic is exiting from the same page, this could indicate a problem with that page. The problem could be as simple as a broken link or page not found error, but it could also be that the page content is sending a message that you don’t intend.

The content on that exit page may be losing your visitors’ interest, or may not have the information they are looking for. The goal should be to make each page’s content as valuable as possible, and always include links and menus so visitors are prompted to stay on your site and click around some more.

Entry Pages
The opposite of exit pages of course are entry pages. It’s common to think that your visitors enter your site through the home page, but often that’s not the case. Search engines routinely bring visitors to the internal pages of your site, depending on what information has been indexed. Also, the inbound links found on other web sites may point to internal pages on your site, and your online ads may direct visitors to specific landing pages within your site. In any case, just make sure that you provide enough information and structure on your internal pages so that visitors entering the site from any page can tell where they are and can find links to your other pages. It’s also a good idea to include a specific call to action on each page to lead visitors toward taking your most desired action.

In Good Health
Your web statistics are a source of extremely valuable information, but are often overlooked or ignored. Web stats are fundamental in diagnosing the general health of your web site and determining the best way to keep it healthy. Review your web stats weekly (or at least monthly) and pay attention to what they show you. You can then make adjustments based on actual user experiences, which will evolve over time into an improved user experience on your web site. And the better the user experience, the more likely you are to turn your visitors into the loyal customers that drive your bottom line.