Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – An Overview

bulldzr — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:58:50 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) entails a maelstrom of techniques and tactics with the end goal being to improve the ranking of a particular website in the search results of major search engines. Denver SEO can be broken down into two main categories, on site SEO and off site SEO.

On site SEO relies upon excellent content first and foremost. Content must be on topic, relevant, and contain a 5% – 8% keyword (words or phrases) density. This means that for every 100 words of content, five to eight keywords should be used. The keywords that will be used must be carefully researched using tools such as the free Google AdWords keyword tool. When choosing keywords, it is important to remember to think like the customer. What will they be searching for? These same keywords should also be embedded into the website source code via Meta, Title and Heading tags. This will help ensure a high page ranking for these search terms.

Also, the website should be organized with a clear hierarchical structure. Creating a site map will significantly enhance site structure and ability to be scanned by search engines. This will allow search engines to more efficiently scan the target website. The most important information on a given website should be placed at or near the top of the page. This will make it easier for search engines to find the content that you want them to find. Use text instead of images; search engines can only scan text, so all important information must be included in text. This should be done even if the message(s) being conveyed are duplicated in images, banners, etc.

Of even greater importance is off site SEO. This includes back linking to highly ranked sites. For example, you can submit articles to free online repositories with links to your target website embedded in the text. The Google search engine will interpret a page with many back links to highly ranked pages as being of greater importance, and will therefore increase its page ranking. Another tactic is to submit entries to a highly ranked online blog, with excellent content, important keywords and back links where possible. Furthermore, you can join appropriate, and highly ranked, online forums and post useful content with a signature containing a back link to the target website. You should submit your website to the major search engines’ web indices. This will speed up and enhance the optimization process greatly.

SEO is a multifaceted endeavor, and requires ongoing maintenance and tuning. There are many competent companies that are dedicated to carrying out SEO campaigns. If page ranking is extremely important to you, consider outsourcing the project to a professional Denver SEO company.

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Keyword Analysis

bulldzr — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:05:50 +0000

Written Oct. 28, 2008

By Cade Lee

Keywords are absolutely “key” to getting a good page rank on Google or any other “crawler” type search engine. When I say “crawler” search engine, what I mean is a search engine that literally crawls the internet and indexes or records those websites in a central database. A “crawler” website like Google will actually analyze the keywords in the “meta” tags.

Often times when I review websites, I will see the same pattern from site to site and to me that would suggest that a keyword analysis was never completed nor considered when the site was created. Most web designers will not complete a keyword analysis nor will they consider the marketability of a website as they are designing it. Web designers most often consider the aesthetics, the look and feel and navigation of the site. All of the considerations above are critical for the end user, but for Google it is not as important.

As a matter of fact, there are two things that need to be considered when developing a website. First is the compatibility of that website with Google, and second is the site’s “user friendliness” with the end user which of course is the prospect or “searcher” that you are trying to reach. More often than not the order of these is switched and the end user is considered way before Google or any other search engine. I can understand the logic of most graphic designers and web designers, but my argument is that a website does not mean much if it is not in front of the user it was designed for. Unless you plan on spending a huge amount of your budget marketing your website through old mediums (magazine advertising, trade shows, etc.) than the very first thing that needs to be considered is your target audience and the search terms they will use to find services like yours.

Keyword analysis as suggested previously is hardly ever considered when the website is being built. Most of the sites that I review do have “meta tags” for keywords within the site, and there are still several sites that have no keywords or Meta tags for keywords at all. Let’s use a pawn shop example. In searching for “Denver pawn shop” I come up with www.fastcashpawn.com as the first result. The following is their Meta tag:

They have used keywords that are a little more user friendly, or more used than other keyword metatags that I see. For example the combination of “Denver pawn” instead of “Denver, pawn”. When Google last indexed this site, the googlebot recorded “Denver pawn” as a keyword not “Denver” and then “pawn”. Ultimately if this site had used “Denver, Pawn” as keywords in the meta tag than they would be back further in the search results and not the very first listing, at least that has been my experience in the sites I have worked on.

Let’s look at another example, “Denver real estate”. This is a highly used search term, notice that I am not using “Denver” or “real” or “real estate” or just plain “estate” as none of these search terms would more than likely yield the results I am after. I am mainly interested in finding homes for sale as the prospective searcher, and I am looking for homes for sale in Denver. The very first result is www.denverrealestateonline.com. Here is the Meta tag for the keywords on the landing page for that site:

Notice how the webmaster has used their keywords. They have not used “Denver, real, estate” those are literally three different search terms. Please understand that I am not saying that using keywords as referenced in the above example will not work, but it is probably an excellent way to insure that you will be on page 2, 3 or even 100 of the Google search performed by your prospective customer. Using the same search term, “Denver real estate”, I found www.jaylarsonrealty.com on page four. This site is buried in the back where no customer will typically go. Here is the meta tag for Jay’s site:

He has actually used a meta tag and he is within the first 100 results, so they are doing something right. However, if you look at the search terms, you will see the usual. All the neighborhoods are broken up and so, instead of completing any research on the most often used search terms it would seem they have just compiled a list of “make sense” keywords and used those.

Keyword research should be the very first consideration when designing a website for search engine optimization, and the second consideration should be the usability of that website by the end user. A couple of tools that can be utilized in finding the correct keywords for your website are:

1. Google keywords: you can find this tool by simply entering the term “Keywords” into the Google search engine. Here you will be able to enter a myriad of different keywords and actually see the search volume for the previous month as well as the search volume monthly average.

2. Ask your clients how they found you through the Internet. Odds are pretty good that they will not remember the exact search term; however, they will have some ideas that you may have not thought of. For example, in the case of our realtor above that is listed on page 4 of the Google search “Denver real estate”, he or his webmaster has used his name as a keyword for the website. Most new clients that don’t know this realtor by name would never use his name as a major search term when looking for real estate in the Denver metro area.

3. Friends and family are a fantastic resource to use when developing a keyword list. Often times I find myself asking my girlfriend which search terms she would use when searching for various services such as “carpet cleaning”. Whenever I am asking for her advice, I make certain not to give her too much information so that I do not corrupt her subliminal mindset.

For more information on keyword research or assistance in developing a core keyword list, contact Iniquitous at info@thisisiniquitous.com. Iniquitous is a search engine optimization and Internet marketing company located in Denver, Colorado. They have completed many successful campaigns for many local Denver businesses with a national demographic. If you are looking for search engine optimization Denver or outside of Denver, you can call on Iniquitous for a free evaluation. Iniquitous offers professional search engine optimization coaching as well as a monthly search engine optimization subscription for their services.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – An Overview

Keyword Analysis