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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If you’re reading this article, you obviously understand there is quite a buzz around SEO and internet marketing.  Not only is it becoming a must to be on the first page of Google, you also need to have a presence on all major social networking sites, article and video repositories and directories listings.  Here are some helpful tips on how to avoid getting delisted by search engines so all of your hard work doesn’t go to waste!

Watch your Keyword Density

Your keywords on your web page are very important.  It lets the search engine know what your content is about and what you are trying to target with each page.  Each search engine has keyword density in their algorithm for ranking sites, however, their equation for density differs from one to another meaning their lenience of density allowed before a penalty varies.

If you know anything about SEO, you understand that at least 75% of searchers are using Google – I would think this is a pretty good place to start.  I have heard many SEO’s give the 3-5% rule for keyword density.  In my personal experience, I’ve gotten away with 7% and had great results.  The idea here is to watch you keyword density throughout your web page and never exceed 9%!  If you go over this mark, you are risking a negative reaction from the search engines.  I would say stick between 3-6% here and you should be fine.

Keep your Content Original

If you are running your own SEO campaign, you have and will be investing a ton of time.  Do not take the short cut and use someone else’s content on your web pages – it doesn’t make sense!  Search Engines love original content and in the SEO world, content is king!  It is what separates your page from the next before you even begin to create backlinks.  That being said, why would you want to be on a level playing field from the start with the same content?  Make sure you let the search engines know what separates your page from the competition.  Follow the keyword density rule above and write as much as possible!

Do not allow a search engine to disregard your content because it is a duplicate of someone else’s page. 

Don’t Hide your Content

As much as we don’t want to say it, the search engines (google bots) are actually pretty smart.  They know the difference between visible and invisible content.  Search engines will discredit a web page if they feel you are trying to trick them with text that cannot be read.  Make sure the text on your page is a completely different font and do not hide it behind images.  Make sure you tag your images with keywords but do not make the text invisible.  If you are smart you will have content on your Home page that leads to more content in the site.  

Tip: Publish articles to your home page with “Read More” buttons and your home page will get credit for all of the content on your home page including important keywords and links.

Be Cautious of Your Affiliate Links… too many = negative ranking

Be cautious of adding hundreds of affiliate links along with product descriptions.  If you have too many affiliate links on your website, Google will drop you down the listings.”

I hope this article has helped you understand exactly not what to do to a web page.  An SEO Campaign involves blood, sweat and tears which we don’t want to go to waste by getting delisted.  Search Engines do not like keyword stuffing, duplicate or invisible content and too many outside links.

Nick Hantge is a SEO Professional with Iniquitous, a Denver SEO Firm. Nick Specializes in organic search engine optimization, traffic analysis and conversion as well as SEO coaching in Denver (303) 999-7963.

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There are many resources online showing individuals how to optimize their websites; all of them have value of some sort. The thing that we see over and over again is that many individuals are simply confused with all the information that is available. If we break down search engine optimization to its most basic form, it’s very similar to visiting the library and using the computer to search for books within the library. The library’s search engine is simply going to find the book that best matches either the keywords or title that you input into this search engine. Well how does the library’s search engine know which book best fits your search? Just logically speaking probably about 90% of the search based on the title of the book. Wouldn’t it then stand to reason that Google also places much emphasis on the title of the document?

The basics of your website and WebPages are the very first place to start any good SEO campaign. Start with a title tag and make sure that it has more than just your companies name and phone number, include the relevant keywords that you have researched through Google’s adwords tool or through www.keywordspy.com. Never overload the title tag because Google is only ever going to read 100 characters of the title tag to begin with so it does not make much sense to extend way beyond that. The same thing goes for the H1 tag; make use of the headlines of your page. You do want to make certain that your headlines are attractive and does catch the attention of your customer; we also want to include keywords inside the H1 tag to attract the search engines as well. The metadata should also be addressed in your campaign, many search engine optimization experts have claimed that meta-data no longer matters; however, in the search engine optimization campaigns that we manage we definitely see an impact from metadata especially inside the descriptions. Our theory on this is that if the metadata has zero effect on our campaign it’s at least gives us a theme for each page that we develop and helps keeps us organized.

I’ve seen about 1 million different advertisements for submitting your website to 1000’s of different search engines, or creating back links overnight and I can honestly tell you that while they might have some positive effect on your search engine optimization campaign nothing will replace useful content and good website optimization. Trying to fool the search engines by using tricks such as mirror sites, or duplicate content is simply a waste of time. Granted you may get a bump in the ratings for a short period of time by going around the “system” but in the long run is that really what you want? If you are attempting to develop a website that will maintain its rankings for the “long run”, and it is wise to develop content that will convert your Internet traffic as well as serve the search engines well.

In previous articles we have discussed “black hat SEO” and what to avoid when optimizing your website, as you are developing your website or optimizing make certain that you pay attention to what could hurt you. Search engines are extremely intelligent and you must provide content that is useful and original. As time goes on this is proving to be more and more difficult which requires creativity and thought.

When you’re working on your search engine optimization campaign make sure that you set aside enough time to really be creative with it, remember that organically showing up in the rankings does not cost you or your company anything but time so make sure that you do not skimp on the time you invest in this campaign. The more time you spend developing content that is useful with keywords for the search engines, the more likely it is that you will show up at the top of the searches for the demographic and target audience you want to reach.

Chad Formica is a search engine expert in Denver that specializes in Denver SEO Coaching and local Denver SEO

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“Look at the flow and navigation of the site” the developer says!  Google along with many other popular search engines respond “I don’t care.” “The flash is too busy, there is no text, and the navigation is impossible” the Googlebots further explain (that’s if the Googlebots were able to talk, and they can’t). 

Many times web developers experience criticism but not always from humans, Google and their “Googlebots” are the ultimate website critics.  Can you imagine working with a critic that does not give any verbal feedback?   A site has been designed with an interface that pops with beautiful GIFs and JPEGs, dazzles with Flash and functions like a charm with JavaScript, but the search engines simply do not care.  The content, keywords and the tags do not correspond with the criteria of the search engines. Therefore, you are ignored.  It could take six months to find this out while you are banging away at blogs, online directory submissions and trying to figure out just how to get your website to the top of Google for various search engines.

Just yesterday, we were at a meeting with a local Denver Printer because we have been working with them on a new site that they want to launch at the beginning of 2009.  This printer has been in the graphics business since the early 60’s and if anyone knows graphics and marketing, it would have to be these folks.  Yesterday’s meeting was the review of the first draft of the new site.  The new site was built for Google optimization first and than the actual user has been the second priority.  The reason for this is self-explanatory, however to explain, if we build the site for the end user then Google will not rank the site as high as if we appease Google first and the end user next.

It is a struggle between art and science that frustrates many.  The responsibilities of web developing – the art — clashed with the role of the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — the science.  This is why some companies and development firms are designating web developer and optimizer as two distinctive jobs. This being said, many smaller companies and shops still have the web developer fulfilling both roles.  In the case of the printing company we have been fulfilling both roles. 

The first comment I had received was “the landing page is too busy”, I did not get the opportunity to explain to them that Google craves content and that if we do not have relevant content on the first page then Google will not place too much importance on the site or landing page in general.  The problem is that search engine optimization is becoming challenging and competitive.  Here is some information to help start the website optimization before, after or during the development of your website.

Content

It is all about the writing on the wall.  Remember that search engine optimization is all about the written text.  I can’t stress enough how important the content of your website is.  So if you have not read anything about SEO yet, make certain you understand that Google (the king of search engines) places the most importance on content or text.  Search engines are text driven but there are still some basic HTML tags to keep in mind (i.e., h1, h2, meta tags, title tag).  SEO helps improve search engine results but does not guarantee top ratings.  Patience and realistic goals will keep the frustrations low. By this I mean planning on 60-90 days getting real results.  Search engines have to crawl a site to determine what the site is about. This takes time, usually about a month, before the crawling and indexing are completed by the various search engine spiders.

Take some time to think (a lot) about the purpose of the website.  Write down and brainstorm a lot of content in a word processing program even if it sounds ridiculous at first.  Then edit what you wrote, edit some more, get some feedback and then start working on the keywords and keyphrases that identify the unique quality of your website.

Keywords and Keyphrases

The days of locating and finding easy Keywords are gone.  Keywords are extremely competitive.  Using two-word or three-word, maybe even four-word, phrases makes optimization less frustrating.  A keyword phrase (keyphrase) helps identify the distinctiveness of a website.  The keyword “catering” will generate about 92 million (!) results.  The keyphrase “wedding caterer” will generate about 2 million results.  That is a difference of approximately 90 million.  The keyphrase “Denver wedding caterer” will generate about only 419,000 thousand results.  The time needed to be spent finding unique keyphrases and determining your target market will be worth it in the end.  When you narrow down the results, with multi-word phrases, this provides a better chance of your site being noticed and ultimately allows quicker results.

Keyword Density

The density formula is D = KC/WC (D = density; KC = keyword count; WC = word count)

For major keywords target 3-7% density

For minor keywords target 2-3% density

Keyword density measures how relevant keywords are on a page.  The formula density = keyword count divided by the total word count will provide a general idea of the density percentage.  For major keywords, try to keep the density between three and seven percent.  For minor keywords keep density between two and three percent throughout the page.  For best results, try to optimize between two to three keywords per web page.

Avoid the old SEO tactic of keyword stuffing or writing your keyword numerous times on a page.  You will be penalized and possibly banned from the search engines and your chances of being listed at the top will go right out the window.  Keyword stuffing involves many techniques but it is basically stuffing a page and/or Meta Tag with several occurrences of a keyword or keyphrase. 

Title Tag

The title tag is absolutely critical!  We have found that focusing on the Title Tag and making certain a site has the keywords included here is one of the most important keys to SEO.  Most search engines will read up to 100 characters in the Title Tag.  The Title Tag should be unique on every page just like the content and keywords are.  Make sure to match your Title Tag to the keywords you are aiming for on each page.

If you have a webpage about digital printing in Denver, make sure you include that in your title.  Absolutely do not title your pages with “home” and “contact”.  Instead use “contact denver printing company, digital printers, best denver printer, denver printing estimate”.  This keeps us under the 100 characters, the user will look at the top of the page and still be able to see ”contact” and we have used great keywords for search engines.

Meta Tags

The Meta Tags are important although some will disagree.  Meta Tags once were the solution to SEO a year back but have began to slightly fall of the chart.  Keywords and content are more beneficial in getting a web site in top rankings however, Meta Tags are still important.  Meta Tags are a part of the HTML and are used by most search engines to find a description of your website.

When building a website, place these Meta Tags below the Title Tag on your page but make sure these are all included in the <head> and before the <body>.

<title>~</title>

<meta name =”description” content=”~” />

<meta name=”keywords” content=”~” />

Using keywords and keyphrases in these tags helps to slightly boost search engine rankings.  Although the Meta Tags do not have the influence on search engines they once did, it is still vital to

include them in your SEO campaign.

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Cade Lee seen relaxing with some of Santa's Helpers

 About the Authors: Cade Lee is in an independent web developer/SEO Expert who owns and maintains over 100 different domains. Cade has worked on various e-commerce and website projects. Cade has coached and implemented successful SEO strategies for many Denver Companies as well as national Companies.

Nick Hantge specializes in website optimization and Google Ranking

 Nick Hantge specializes in SEO campaigns at both local and national platforms. Nick has spent time educating several other individuals to comfortably run their own SEO operations. Nick has dabbled with website development for companies that range in size of 4 employees to over 500

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