Web Site Solutions Blog

Design – Host – Market

SEO Explained -
When talking to clients about marketing their business online I am often asked “How do you get to #1 on Google?” This article is not specially geared to how to become #1 – but I’ll explain what the process is and what is involved.

Despite our widespread acceptance and use of the internet – I am surprised by how many people really have no idea what search engine optimization (SEO) is all about. They instinctively know WHY they like to click on a listing in the search results; but they don’t have a clue how it got there. That’s okay, we can help.

I ask clients WHY they click on a specific listing. Most believe it’s the “best result” for the phrase they typed into the search box -and- it’s usually one of the first results or at least on the first page. However, they do not have a clue as to how or why it got there.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of configuring a web site so that it has a chance to show up in a search result for a “particular phrase”. Using a particular phrase is our way of telling Google, Yahoo, or MSN what we think our site is about. Many of the search engines have a slightly different formula for how they determine these results. But the short version is that they look at different factors of each web site page, rank them and then give those results to you.

Why is SEO Important?

One word sums it up – competition. Depending on what study you read, there are as many as 20 billion web pages being indexed at any given time. The major search engines do their best to go through these pages and index them so that they can tell you about it if you use their web site to search. With so many web site pages out there competing for similar phrases it is absolutely critical to make sure you are using every tool at your disposal to make sure your customers can find you when they are looking.

What Should I Be Doing for SEO On My Site?

People often ask, “Why doesn’t my site show up for this specific search term?” Usually, it is due to the fact that they never mention that term or phrase on their site, in their page titles, in their descriptions or keywords. Please understand, when considering content for your site and researching keywords and terms for SEO – it is crucial to use the terms you and your clients use! No one knows your business better than you, so your input during this time is of utmost importance.

The good news is that doing SEO correctly is not complicated. The bad news is that it takes time and requires regular attention in order to maintain those results.

We follow these simple guidelines for best long-term results:

Good site structure -
As simple as this sounds many people overlook this. Every day we see sites with heavy flash animation, dated frame designs, pages that don’t work and broken links. The bottom line is that if you can’t easily navigate a site without problems chances are the search engines can’t either. And if a search engine can’t go through your site – you have absolutely no chance of showing up for a key phrase – no matter how pretty the flash.

Good meta-data -
Clients often draw a blank with this one. Meta-data is geek for the page titles, page descriptions and keywords that you enter for each page. Each page on your web site should have a unique title, description and keywords that summarizes what that page is about.

We often see 2 problems with meta-data. The first is that it is simply overlooked. I am stunned at how many sites have “Home Page” as the page title or www.yoursite.com for every page – that’s wasting prime online real estate.

The 2nd problem is spam. Putting in a page title or description that does not accurately match what the page is about is considered “spamming” a search engine. Doing this will get your page thrown out of the index and ruin any chance of showing up for a key phrase.

Relevant Content -
People seem to understand that good content is really what they are looking for when they search for something. By “relevant” we mean that the content is specific to the topic in question. Plus – we are seeing sites that have regular updates or blogs that show up higher in the search results than sites which have larger quantities of older or stale content.

Our recommendation is to add well-written, grammatically correct and spell-checked content to your web site on a regular basis. This ensures that, over time, your site will become a “resource” to those searching for the phrases related to your business.

Responsible link building -
This is perhaps the least understood part of SEO. In a nutshell search engines consider a link from another web site to your web site as a popularity vote. Think of it as power rankings for web sites. In general the more sites which link to yours, the better; as this shows your site is relevant to the given topic.

Link building, just like keywords and meta-data, have been abused by many site owners with schemes including link farms where sites are setup simply to link to other sites. We encourage careful and responsible link building with sites that are related to yours and through appropriate directories and articles.

So there you have it – SEO explained. Like most things it’s not really that hard, but it does require discipline, careful consideration and maintenance. If you would like help with SEO for your web site, or other online business needs we would love to hear from you.

Many webmaster have gone into lengthy debates regarding the Sandbox Theory. Here’s my take on it.

Many of you have probably seen the commercial where the entrepeneurs push “publish” for their web site and immediately, orders start coming in and then quickly skyrocket out of control. That may work well for a commercial, but that is not real life scenerio. Just as placing an “open” sign in your store window will not automatically create a flood of customers into your store.

Many new sites with new domains appear at the top of Google’s (SERPs) but none seem to remain there, since about mid 2004. I’ve consulted with other web developers, studied the trends and tracked my clients’ sites. Despite the fact that they have #1 positions in Yahoo, Alta Vista, AllTheWeb & MSN for their keyword phrases, I haven’t seen any lasting results in Google until the end of a 6 – 8 month period. This is called the Google Sandbox Theory. New sites gain listings on Google quickly, then disappear just as quickly.

This trend suggests that new sites are initially indexed; ranked accordingly in Google’s SERPs for a week or so and then vanish from the SERPs for several months. In some cases, they can’t even be found with the most unique search terms including their own name and location.

If you’ve just launched a new site don’t panic. You’ve registered your domain name, configured the hosting and published your optimized site. I recommend launching a site that facilitates the requirements for directory listings right from the start. Follow Google’s Webmaster’s guidelines to give you a ballpark indication of where Google will rank your site after the aging delay, then just be patient.

While you are waiting, obtain links from other sites in Google’s index through publishing press releases, advertisements and articles on other sites that your target audience may visit. The sooner Google is aware of your domain the better. The more opportunities (links) created, the better chance they have to find you. Just don’t hold your breath waiting to see results or have the expectation that early listings will remain indefinately. It could be as long as 6 – 8 months.

At first, gauge your optimization efforts by where your site ranks in the other search engines. It does not help to keep tweaking and changing your pages, source code and trying to manipulate your rankings until your site has been in Google’s index for at least 6 – 8 months. In other words, it doesn’t seem to matter what you do, your site will still be delayed.

Initially, it is best to use less common, more targeted phrases, to find your listing such as; the business name and/or location. As your listings increase through links from other sites, use your main keyword phrase in the title, and as text that links to your site. Do not be repetative, vary the text slightly or use a combination of unique keyword phrases relating to your business.

Before we dive into SEO, we believe it is important to define our search engine optimization services. SEO refers to the manipulation of a site in order to gain top organic listings on the top three search engines that dominate search traffic on the net – Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
Our Goal:

We want your prospective customers to easily find your site, when searching for your types of products and services online. We believe that competent, ethical search engine optimization services are important, because in order to accomplish the task, the seo will need full access to your web site and server. Above all, choose a company you trust.

Things we will not do:

We will not use spamming techniques on the search engines. Such as excessively repeated keywords, cloaking, hidden text, alt text stuffing, invisible links, Meta “refresh”, etc. or any other technique that would get a site banned or penalized by the search engines.
We will not use spam email to advertise sites.
We will not use pop-up ads or pop-under ads to advertise a site.
We will not submit sites to spam search engines or link farms.
We will not accept requests for our SEO services, from our client’s competitors.

Web-Site-Solutions Search Engine Optimization Includes:

Complete web site review, analysis and report to identify your needs.
Full keyword effectiveness index analysis.
In-depth competition analysis.
Isolation keyword analysis
Link popularity examination and inclusions
Local search optimization.
Search Engine submissions.
Industry specific directory submissions.
Directory and search engine submission confirmations.
Web site statistics and analytics reports before and after seo.
30-day reviews for a minimum of 3 consecutive months.

OPTIONAL SERVICES:

Creation of a search engine and user-friendly sitemap.
Creation of a blog, to boost your rankings in Google and attract more visitors.
Linking campaigns (One-way and Reciprocal) to build your link popularity, which will boost your rankings in Google.
Google Ad-Words marketing campaigns.
Pay per click advertising campaigns.
Hosting plans include 24/7/365 support, real-time web site statistics, free WordPress Blog and 99.9+% uptime since 1997.

We offer quarterly and annual contracts on search engine optimization starting at just $18.00 per hour. The amount of time we dedicate to optimizing a web site, is determined by the company we provide our services to.

To find out more visit our site: Wisconsin Internet Marketing and SEO

Or read our previous post on the top 11 Search Engine Optimization Tips for webmasters.

1) Title Tags – The title tag is the most powerful on-site SEO technique you have, so use it creatively! What you place in the title tag should only be one thing, the exact keyword phrase you used for the web page that you are trying to optimize. Every single web page should have it’s own title tag. Never use “Home” or “Page 1” or “New Page”, etc.

2) ALT Tags – ALT tags were meant to be for text browsers because the images didn’t show in text browsers and the ATL tags would tell the visitor what it’s about. You should put your main keyword(s) in the ALT tags, but don’t over do it because you could get dropped in the search results or even worse banned.

3) Link Popularity – Link popularity is the most powerful SEO tool out of all them. Most search engines don’t even consider web sites if there is not at least one or two links pointing to the web site. Having another site(s) link to your web site is important when it comes to getting your site a good ranked well. Your keywords should be in the links you get and keep the keywords short. When you receive requests for a link exchange, check the site out before linking with them, check for spam (Repeat keywords, hidden text, etc.).

4) Keyword Density – This is also vital and should be used with research. You should use the keyword(s) once in the title tag, once in the heading tag, once in bold text, and get the density between 5% to 20% (Don’t over do it!). Also use your keyword(s) both low and high on the web page; keyword(s) should be in the first sentence and in the last one.

5) Page Size – Your web page’s speed is important to your visitors and the search engines. Why? Because the robots will be able to spider your web page faster and easier. Try your best to keep your web page over 5k and under 15k in size.

6) Rich Themes – Search engines are looking at themes more and more. Build content (Articles, FAQ, tips, etc.) as much as possible and keep the web pages around 200 to 500 words. Create content that’s related to your market and link them out to other related content on your site. The more web pages you have, the more listings you will get.

7) Web Site Design – This is also important, if you want to get indexed! Text content should out weigh the
HTML content. The pages should validate proper HTML code and be usable in all of today’s leading browsers. Stay away from flash and Java Script, search engines dislike them both a lot.

Cross Linking – This will help you get all of your web pages indexed by the search engines. Your web pages should be no more than three clicks away from the home page. Link to topic related quality content across your site. This will also help build you a better theme through out your web site. On every page you should link back to your home page and your main service(s).

9) Create a user-friendly sitemap, it is recommended by Google.

10) Creation of a blog will boost your rankings in Google and attract more visitors.

11) Linking campaigns (One-way and Reciprocal) to build your link popularity, which will boost your rankings in Google.

Web analytics and analysis offer the best opportunity for gauging your web site optimization and keyword effectiveness. I highly recommend Hitslink and SmarterStats web analytics programs for webmasters.

Kathleen Fulwiler is the owner of ALLIANCE Web Site Solutions www.web-site-solutions.net