Step Wise SEO

Basic Site Optimization
Before you’re going to work hard at finding site owners and convincing them to link to you, you’ll need to spend primping, polishing, and checking for the proverbial spinach in your site’s teeth.

The text in your landing pages, tags, and titles is one of the most important and long-standing SEO factors.

Therefore,  you need to optimize them, with the goal of positively influencing how search engines view and rank your website.

You also need to tackle basic site structure issues to ensure that search engine robots have easy access to your landing pages.

With these improvements in place, your site will have a basic level of optimization: nothing tricky or fancy, and no time wasted on tiny technicalities, just common-sense, best-practices solutions.

You need to keep track of all your changes in one document as you go, and deliver this document to the folks in charge of making edits to your website.

Full Speed Ahead
SEO is a long-term maintenance activity, comprising both productive spells and waiting periods.

Your SEO Plan is designed so that your waiting time (waiting for site owners to get back to you, waiting for your team to implement your recommendations, waiting for the search engines to notice what you’ve done, and so on) isn’t spent idly.

Rather, you’ll use this time to take on new activities. And even though you’ll constantly move into new SEO territory as the plan progresses, you’ll periodically come back to revisit and continue the work you started in earlier weeks.

The one exception is PPC management, which requires frequent quick checks. So once your PPC account gets rolling, we’ll incorporate these quick checks into days that are designated for other tasks.

No fair trying to sneak in and start the Plan without getting organization-wide buy-in for your top keyword choices!

If you haven’t done so, do it now. It is very difficult and time consuming to change keywords after the fact.

Your time is too valuable to waste on the wrong terms or to swing and miss with your conversion goals.

Page Titles
HTML page titles show up as the first line of clickable text in most search engine results. That fact, along with their considerable influence in search engine ranking algorithms, makes HTML page titles one of the most important optimization spots on your website.

Today, you’re going to take a stab at writing unique and compelling page titles for each of your landing pages. We’ve compiled some Dos and Don’ts to keep you on the right track:

DO keep it short. Like a telephone answering machine that cuts you off before you finish talking, most search engines display only 40 to 60 or so characters in the listing title.

So to get your message across, you should include important keywords toward the beginning of the title and make sure that the first 40 to 60 or so characters of your title form a complete thought.

DO include your keywords… Your HTML page title is important in the ranking algorithm, so it must include your target keywords!

Since your space is limited, focus on the two to three keyterms that you previously matched with your landing page.

Feeling a bit squeezed by the 40 to 60 character cutoff? Remember that you can combine keywords to save space.

…but DON’T overdo it! First and foremost, you want to connect with your intended audience. ¨

Excessive keyword repetition is a short-sighted strategy. Is this a marketing message or a synonym sandwich?

Remember to think of the big picture! Your approach to site optimization will affect more than just ranks…it will also affect your customers’ decision to part with their time and money.

DO include your name. Your organization’s name will not only differentiate your listing from your competitors’, it may earn you more clicks.

Maybe your name carries a good reputation with it, or maybe it provides important context, making your listing more attractive or relevant.

DON’T assume your slogan does the job. Even if branding is your only objective, you need to think about whether your slogan contains your targeted keywords and, if so, whether you think it will encourage visits to your site.

But is it really better for visibility and clicks than using targeted keywords such as “recipes,” “low carb,” or “diabetic health”?

DO write unique titles for each page. You’ve got enough competition out there. Don’t add to it by pitting your landing pages against each other with identical page titles.

Since each of your landing pages is already targeting a unique subset of your top priority keywords, you can always find a different angle for each page title. Give each of your landing pages the chance to shine on its own merits.

DON’T duplicate site navigation in the title. Whether generated automatically or written by hand, page titles are often used as a place to mirror the navigational structure of a site.

We won’t say never for this because, if your site sections are named well, it can be an effective way to display keywords.

For example, a furniture store might have a landing page titled “Frank’s Furniture - Patio Furniture - Wicker.”

This works-the navigation text is very brief and includes target keywords. But most sites aren’t built this way, and you don’t want words like “Index,” “Main Page,” or “Our Products” to take up space that’s best reserved for your targeted marketing message.

Now: Write optimized page titles for each of your landing pages.

Meta Tags
To learn more on the basics of meta tags click here. But here you’ll optimize two invisible text elements: the meta description tag, and the meta keyword tag.

Meta Description Tag
We see London, we see Denmark. We see.. .your site’s meta description tag? Yes, not unlike your undies, your meta description tag is something that usually stays hidden but can be displayed to the world when you least expect it.

For those rare times yours is exposed, you want to be proud of what people see (and here it’s probably best to drop the undies metaphor).

Many sites make the mistake of leaving this tag out of their code. Today you’ll make sure yours is not only present, but also written with your SEO goals in mind.

The search engines usually display snippets from your site text in their listings. Here are some possible scenarios in which your meta description tag might be displayed instead:

• When there is no HTML content on the page, such as in the case of an all-Flash or all-graphics site, or if the only content is a redirect to another page

• When someone searches for your site using your URL but no keywords

• When off-page factors make your site a relevant match for a search but no exact match is found in your site’s text

• In less-sophisticated search engines that use the description tag as a workaround for their inability to display snippets

Search engines often display 150 characters or more for the listing description, so you have a lot of space-relative to the page title, anyway-to convey your message.

So, if good writing comes naturally to you, you have a lot of opportunity to make this tag stand out.

But if writing isn’t your strong suit, this tag gives you a little more room to make mistakes. Bring in a proofreader if you need to; this is a bad spot for an embarrassing typo.

Here are some pointers for writing a great meta description tag:

Keep it informative. Think of the meta description tag as an “About Us” blurb, not a “Buy Now!” advertisement.

It’s your keyword-rich elevator speech (that’s a marketing term for the description of yourself you might give in a 30-second elevator ride).

It’s not worth the upkeep to write this tag to promote special events or deals. And, just as it’s probably not helpful to scream words like “WORLD’S BEST!” elsewhere in your marketing message, the same holds true in your meta description tag.

Pair it with the page title. While you can’t be sure exactly when or how people will see your meta description tag, it’s a sure bet that when it is shown, it will be right under your optimized page title. So, don’t repeat your title text in your description tag.

Include your keywords… While the meta description tag may not be a huge factor in influencing rank, it may have a big influence on the searcher who is lucky enough to view it. So include your target keywords because they’ll be bolded in the search results.

 …but don’t overdo it! Stuffing the meta description tag with a long keyword list isn’t likely to help your ranks and will probably generate vast waves of indifference with searchers. Why not use this tag to give the searcher a reason to come to your site instead?

Make it Unique. Like your HTML page title, your meta description tag should be custom-written for each landing page to match its specific content.

Now: Using your newly optimized page titles and your landing page content as a guide, write optimized meta description tags for your landing pages.

Here’s some good news if you’re interested in saving time: The combination of page title and meta description tag can be used as is, or with a little trimming or spinning, for any directories that you submit your site to later.

And, if you’re looking for a keyword-rich tagline to add to the bottom of your page, your meta description tag can be a great starting point.

Meta Keywords Tag
The meta keywords tag is not the most influential tag in SEO. But won’t harm you to optimize yours. Here’s a quick-and-dirty method that you can use:

• For each landing page, decide which of the flagged keywords you think are relevant. Insert them into Meta Keywords.

• Add any keywords that didn’t make the flagged list but that you think are appropriate and relevant.

• For each landing page, add your company name, location if applicable, and any common misspellings you can think of.

First Impressions
Have you been wondering how people select which search results to click on-and how to make yours the one they choose?

Search behavior research can help you understand and influence their click decisions:

• Research by search marketing firm Enquiro, Inc., on B2B search behavior found that 27 percent of searchers quickly scan the listings looking for words to jump out while 15 percent read titles and descriptions carefully.

But 57 percent start with a quick scan and then read the listings carefully if nothing jumps out at them first.

Most searchers will click on the first appropriate-looking listing they find. (Source: Enquiro.com)

• Cornell eye-tracking research shows that searchers spend 30 percent of their time reading the listing title, 43 percent of the time reading the listing description, and 21 percent of their time reading the URL.

The average total time before a click choice is made is 5.7 seconds. (Source: Cornell University Computer Science & Human-Computer Interaction)

• German researchers asked users how they chose what to click on. The winning factor was clear listing text.

That means you should make sure your listings contain readable text, not keyword-stuffed garble.

Other important factors were relevance of the listing to the search term, a clear and easy-to-understand description of the page content, and the inclusion of the website’s name. (Source: Fittkau and MaaB on behalf of eProfessional GmbH)

Robot Walk-Through
You’re all dressed up and the hors d’oeuvres are on the table. But is there a big Do Not Enter sign on your door?

To learn more about the basics of how the robots find your site, and whether or not your landing pages are indexed, Click Here.

But here you’ll knock down any barriers that exist between the robots and your landing pages.

And even if all of your landing pages are already indexed, today you’ll learn more about keeping robots happy so they’ll always stick around for the toast.

Here are several reasons a robot might not be reaching your landing page and possible ways to fix the problem:

Robots can’t follow your links. This could be as simple as a having no links from your home page or your main site navigation to one or all of your landing pages.

Or maybe the links to your landing pages are created using hard-to-follow code, such as JavaScript pull-down menus or pop-up scripts.

Often, this is an easy fix: just add standard HTML text links from anywhere on your home page to your landing page.

No stand-alone landing pages. Maybe your site was developed in Flash, in which
case it really isn’t a group of individual pages but is rather one big file that’s hard or impossible for the search engines to index as separate pages.

Perhaps your landing pages are generated dynamically or they show up only when a form is submitted or a login ID is entered.

Since robots don’t fill out forms or submit login data, they won’t find these pages.

Or, perhaps your landing pages are built in frames, which means different elements of the page are broken apart into different URLs, and it’s impossible to link to any one page individually.

Our priority is getting those landing pages indexed! That means at the very least rebuilding your landing pages as completely separate, linkable URLs.

If your landing pages are built in frames-Achooo! There’s a lot of dust on this website! Get ready to have them rebuilt with their own URLs.

Your site asks too much from the visitor. If the queen came to visit, you wouldn’t turn her away if she wasn’t wearing the right hat.

Treat your spiders the same way! Some websites won’t display to a viewer who doesn’t have JavaScript.

Guess who doesn’t have JavaScript? The robots! Some websites require cookies. Guess who won’t accept cookies? You get the point. You’ll need to eliminate these requirements on your landing pages.

A server outage interrupted indexing. Perhaps your pages are linked and structured properly but the robot came crawling just at the moment your systems administrator spilled his Jolt Cola on the server.

The robot found no site to index. There’s nothing you can do in a situation like this but wait until the next indexing cycle.

You may wish to consider a PPC or paid inclusion campaign to fill in the gaps while you’re waiting.

And if this seems to be a regular occurrence, look into a more reliable hosting situation. (By the way, for the perfect balance of caffeine and server protection, your sysad-min should switch to coffee with the little sippy lid.)

Your site is too big. Maybe your landing pages exist alongside thousands of other pages in your site.

Robots don’t index every page from every site, so they may simply have moved on before they got to the ones you think are most important.

This is another quick fix: just be sure to add HTML links that place your landing pages no more than two clicks away from the home page.

You told the robots to stay away. That wasn’t very nice of you! To learn more  into the details of how you communicate with robots through a file on your site called robots.txt., Click Here.

But for now, double-check that none of your landing pages has a tag on it that says meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”.

Your site is being penalized. It’s possible, but unlikely, that you are violating a search engine’s guidelines without knowing it.

If none of the other problems are striking a chord and you are absolutely sure that your pages are not present in the index, and especially if you were ever engaged in questionable SEO practices in the past, this might be your situation.

It’s a tough one. Probably your best strategy is to post a note in an SEO forum and see if the community has any suggestions.
Try to identify the reasons your pages are not being indexed. Write down your findings, and determine whom you need to discuss them with in your organization.

Site Text
Has there been something about your site’s text that has been setting your teeth on edge since you started learning about SEO?

Is there anything in the content that you know is working against your site’s search engine visibility?

Or are your keywords nowhere to be found? Now it’s time to address these issues. Today is a momentous day because you’re actually going to put your keyword research to good use on your site’s visible text content.

Today you will comb through your landing pages for possible text improvements, documenting them as you go.

You can approach documentation in a couple of ways: One way is to compile your desired changes in Worksheet.

Or, depending on the layout of your site and the extent of your changes, you may just want to print out your landing pages and mark your changes on the printout.

Your goal: incorporate your two or three designated target keyterms onto each of your landing pages without going overboard and cooking up an unreadable keyword porridge.

If you have any writers on your SEO team, get them on board for this session. Try these editorial strategies for making your text changes:

? Swap out a specific word for a top priority keyword every time it appears.

? Swap out a graphic containing a keyword for text.

? Spell out an acronym (at least in its first appearance on the page).

? On a case-by-case basis, swap out less-effective generic terms for keywords.

? Make sure your company name exists in text form once on every page.

? Include keywords in links wherever possible.

? Add keyword-rich captions to photos.

? Add a keyword-rich tagline at the bottom of the page.

? Add keywords to page headers.

Implementation
All of your desired site edits are conveniently compiled in your Site Optimization Worksheet.

Send out these requests to your web team-or take the time to make the changes yourself.

Everyone involved in SEO implementation tasks should already have your Baseline Monthly Report in their inbox,

so you should be able to deliver these requests to your team without having to explain your reasoning again!

Here are some pointers for making this effort worthwhile:

Think in terms of a style guide. If your organization works from a style guide, now is the time to suggest which of your requested changes should be officially incorporated.

Know your time frame. You can move forward in Your SEO Plan for a few days without having your changes to tags and text in place.

If you’re not doing them yourself, these edits-and the buy-in they require-might take time.

Communicate your desired time frame with your team, and get some realistic expectations from the ones who have to do the work.

If you need to take a little time to get these important changes made, we won’t rush you. We’ll be here waiting for you when your site is ready to go!

Make yourself available. You’ve just handed out some serious work for your team, and they may respond with opposition or genuine curiosity.

Let your team know that you’re available to answer questions, and be prepared to pleasantly spoon-feed your reasoning and background information should the need arise.

Prioritize. If your team doesn’t have the time to get all of these edits in place anytime soon, prioritize them in this order:

1. Fix robot barriers.
2. Edit HTML page titles.
3. Edit page text
4. Edit meta tags.