SEO

What do your customers discover when they type your brand name into a search engine?

One way to protect your brand in search engines is to optimize all digital communications; this includes: press releases, investor relations communications, corporate sites, and any electronic content that is publicly available (e.g. video, audio, pictures, pdfs, etc.).

The more branded content you optimize for search engines, the less competition you’ll have on a search engine result page.

Here is what every brand manager should know about search engine optimization . . .

Search engine optimization simply refers to the process of helping a website rank better in search engine results for targeted keywords.

There are hundreds of factors that influence a website’s ranking in search engines.  And the importance of each of these factors will fluctuate depending on the competitiveness of each keyword in a particular search engine.

Google Enterprise general manager Dave Girouard says PageRank relies on more than 100 variables, and these factors are carefully guarded secrets to prevent abuse from spammers.

Factors for a website ranking for a given keyword phrase may depend on:

Domain Strength
The age of domain, age of registration, page loading time, duration of current registration, unique IP address, number of pages in index, etc.

Keyword Usage
The keywords used in title tags, header tags, meta description, keywords used in site’s anchor text, keywords in domain URL, keywords and synonyms used in content, keyword proximity on page, etc.

Link Data
The age of incoming links, quality of incoming links, topical relevancy of incoming links, anchor text of incoming links, surrounding copy around anchor text, outbound links to authority websites, etc.

User Data & Content Quality
The number of clicks on your SERP link, time on site, search requests for domain name, number of bookmarks in social media sites, viral content, grade level of content, readability, etc.

That said – there are several core factors that SEO consultants typically work on for a given website. And this short tutorial will explain these common tactics.

The ABC’s of Search Engine Optimization . . .

•    Architecture
•    Backlinks
•    Content

Each of these areas will be covered briefly to give you a basic idea of what’s involved.

I’ll also provide links to other articles to help you learn more about these areas.

Architecture

Before developing a website (or restructuring it for search engines), it’s important to begin with keyword research.

You see, keyword research helps you focus on the words and phrases that people are actually searching for.  It also helps you focus on topics that your consumers might be interested in.

For example, if you wanted to develop a website about Tiffany lamps.  You could conduct keyword research to find out the popular styles, colors, and types that you could discuss on your website.  This research would not only  help you add more relevant keywords to your site, but it would probably help the average visitor to your site learn more about the various styles of lamps.

So let’s take a quick look at how to conduct keyword research:

Keyword Research
Keyword research is typically the first step in search engine optimization.  This can be done by using keyword research tools to find popular keyword phrases that are searched for on a daily basis.

Keyword research tools like Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery have free and paid versions.  If you’re serious about using highly-searched keywords, then you should pay for a monthly subscription because you’ll gain access to their keyword effectiveness index (KEI) score, and a variety of other data that can be exported into whatever file format works best for you.

The results show daily search queries for the keywords and a KEI (keyword effectiveness index) score that allows you to see how competitive that phrase is – which is based on a mathematical formula based around the number of daily searches and number of pages in Google’s index with that keyword phrase.

Note: Each keyword research tool uses a different formula, so KEI scores should be interpreted differently.  For example: Wordtracker uses a formula (KEI = P^2/C) where the (P)opularity of a keyword and (C)competitiveness determine a score. KEI scores in Wordtracker above 40 are words worth targeting.  Keyword Discovery uses a similar formula that examines pages in the index along with number of daily searches.  However, their scores range between 0 and 10.  The higher the number, the easier it should be to rank for that given keyword phrase. 

During the keyword research phase, you should visit your competition’s websites to find out what other keyword phrases they are targeting, and also consider conducting keyword research on synonyms and other phrases relevant to your topic.

Once you’ve selected all the keyword phrases that are important to you – and highly searched – then it’s time to begin organizing these keywords into categories. Main categories can become the top navigation for your website.  And the subcategories can become pages supporting that particular theme.

Title Tag Development
Title tags are the main headings for each of your pages.  These are the words that appear in the title of your search result listing.  It’s very important that your title tag contains the keyword phrase important to you on that page.  The title tag should also not exceed 65 characters since that tends to be the character limit in Google search results.

Meta Description
The meta description is important because it often acts as the subhead within the search results.  This text can help you support the theme of the page and provide the consumer reading search results to click on your page based on a relevant and attractive snippet.

The proper syntax for this HTML tag is: <META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”Your descriptive sentence goes here.”>

Adding a meta description tag is a best practice, but definitely not a big factor in your overall SEO efforts.

Body Content with Keyword Variations and Synonyms
Your body content is the most important part of your SEO strategy.  You need to write helpful information about your topic that people will find interesting and informative.  The better your content, the more likely other webmasters will link to you.  And this will help your overall optimization effort.

Picture, Video (IMG Tags)
From a reader’s perspective, it’s always nice to have images to break up the copy and make it more interesting to read.  It also adds more substance to your content (which shows that you care enough about your topic to include helpful pictures or illustrations for your reader).  It’s also an opportunity to write relevant keywords in your ALT attributes.

Internal Linking (Keywords in Anchor Text)
One simple way to help search engines determine what content your site is about is to link to your pages using keywords important to that page. It’s one of the easiest ways to optimize your pages.

URL Construction
There is some debate about whether or not a keyword used in a URL helps in optimization.  Google will bold the keywords used in URLs if that word is used in a search, so there is some benefit from a user perspective to see those words bolded.  It also might help if a webmaster links to you with the URL because the keyword will be in there, so I think those are two good reasons to include keywords in URL construction.

Keyword Density & Proximity
It’s better to focus your time and energy on writing good content, than worrying about keyword density levels and placement on a page.  Go ahead and check out what densities your competition is using on their page, but don’t spend too much time.  Just make sure you’re developing well-rounded, helpful content.

Keywords in H1, H2, H3 Tags
It’s always helpful to use keywords and keyword variations in your H1 and H2 tags.  Just make sure to only have one H1 tag per page.  Any more and you’re page could be considered spammy.

Outbound Links to Authority Sites
If you want to rank well for a given topic, you should provide your visitors with links to credible websites.  This shows that you’re a reference site for your topic, which adds credibility with both users and search engines.  It’s probably one of the least-used SEO tactics, but one of the easiest to implement.

Here are some articles to help you learn more about SEO website architecture:

Backlinks

Backlinks are the backbone of any optimization effort.

You can follow all the best practices for your site architecture, but if you don’t have quality websites linking to you – you probably won’t rank for any competitive keywords.

The reason is because search engines determine page rank based on the number of links (which are considered votes) from authority websites.  And — as any SEO consultant will tell you — it’s not about the quantity of links – it’s about the quality of link.

You see, it’s much better to have 2 or 3 links from quality websites than 1,000 links from websites with no credibility (e.g. article sites, link farms, directories, and any site that let’s you add a link).

This brief section will examine (1) how to find credible sites to request links from; (2) the ideal types of links; and (3) steps to building and attracting links naturally.

How to Find Authority Websites

The simple way to identify credible sites for your keyword phrases is to search for those terms in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  Find out who is currently ranking in the top 20 spots for each search engine, and that’s your competition.

Try these other search queries for your keyword phrase:

  • “keyword phrase”
  • allintext: “keyword phrase”
  • allintitle: “keyword phrase”
  • allinanchor: “keyword phrase”
  • allinurl: “keyword phrase”

Once your competition has been identified, it’s time to begin finding out who is linking to your competition.

Here’s how to easily find backlinks for your competition:

Visit Yahoo! Site Explorer and search for your competition’s URL:

  • linkdomain:CompetitionURL.com

You can also find out who is linking to your competition with your keyword phrase by searching with this query string in Yahoo Site Explorer:

  • linkdomain:CompetitionURL.com”keywordphrase”-CompetitionURL.com

You can also use free online tools like Backlinkwatch.com and BacklinkFinder.com to quickly find out the number of backlinks and PageRank values for links pointing at your competition.

Once you know who is linking to your competition, you know the sites that might also link to you.  You just need to ask – which is one of the toughest parts of the link building process.

Ideal Types of Links to Request

When requesting links from authority websites, you should always strive for a variety of link types.  Here is a list of ideal types of links that you should strive for:

  • Location of Link should be within content
  • Low number of links on the page
  • Varied anchor text
  • Links on pages about your topic
  • Get links pointing to pages throughout your site
  • Gradual increase
  • Varied PR value
  • Different c-class IPs
  • Old and new sites should link
  • Permanent links
  • No words like sponsors, advertisement near link
  • Don’t get links from sites that link to bad neighborhoods
  • Get links from social media sites (when applicable)

Steps to Building and Attracting Links Naturally

Here are various link building strategies you should start using today:

Write Quality Content
Enough can’t be said about the importance of great content. Try to compose copy that has personality and rhythm. And make sure your content is informative and useful.  Write content so that others will want to link to it.

Use Social Media Sites
If you write a blog post that you think others might find interesting, submit it to various social sites. You might be surprised how much traffic one single submission to StumbleUpon.com or Digg.com might bring you. And the more visits you get, the more chances you’ll get a link from readers who like your content.

Put an RSS Feed Link on Your Site
Most blogs through WordPress and Blogger already have RSS feeds turned on. But you should still add an RSS Feed link on your site so that visitors can easily subscribe. This is very important on days when you receive a lot of traffic from a social site like Digg.com or Reddit.com. Those one-time visitors might subscribe and then you’ll start increasing your readers.

Use Article Submission Sites
Repurpose an existing blog post and turn it into an article. Submit the article to various article submission sites with a link back to your blog. If the article gets syndicated, it could mean tons of new backlinks and more visitors.

Update Your Blog Regularly
To keep the readers you currently have, and to increase the chances of more readers, you should post at least three times a week. The more you post, the more chances someone might see your RSS feed on another site and click to view your blog.

Leave Thoughtful Comments on Other Blogs
Don’t leave comments on other blogs just to get more readers. You should leave comments that can contribute to the discussion. If you leave spam, it can get you banned from the site. And not only will you get banned, but you’ll leave a poor impression of you and your website. However, if you write a great comment, it can lead to visits to your website (and hopefully new readers).

Write a Killer Headline
Spend a lot of time thinking of your headlines – especially if you want to attract visits from social media sites like Digg.com or Reddit.com. In fact, don’t even write your article until you’ve developed an enticing headline. Your article sometimes depends on the strength of your headline, so make sure it’s compelling.

Give Readers Something to Talk About
This goes back to the importance of writing quality content. You need to write content that is useful and valuable to your reader. Great content can lead to links, and more links will lead to more readers.

If you apply these methods above, you’ll start seeing an increase in visitors. And remember, that it all begins with good content. If you’re not writing interesting content, it will be difficult to gain loyal reader.

Here are some articles to help you learn more about link building strategies:

Content

The best way to build links is to write useful content.

You see, good content will eventually get noticed and get links.  And if you want to improve your chances of getting more links, then write good content that is worthy of links.

If you focus on writing for your audience, you’re on the right path to developing good web copy.

Here are some strategies to help you improve your efforts:

Keep lines of text under 70 characters (if possible).
If you have control over your website layout, manipulate it so that your line length is under 70 characters. This helps a reader’s eyes quickly move through your content.

Use bullets to break up copy.
If you’re writing a lot of copy, you may want to consider breaking it up with bullets. You see bullets can:

  • help a reader skim faster
  • provide a lot of information faster
  • give eyes a break
  • provide emphasis to certain information

Anchor text should be surrounded by copy.
Boost the power of your internal linking by surrounding your anchor text with copy. Internal links within paragraphs tend to carry more weight than simply a word with not content around it. Search engines also use the words around the link to provide more context to what the link is pointing too.

Use keyword synonyms and variations throughout copy.
Never write like you need to have a certain keyword density. Write for people, and let the density of keywords and synonyms naturally happen. However, if you’re not using synonyms or keyword variations, you should go back and add them when you’re finished. Consider using some of these words in your meta description and/or title tag if important.

Gain credibility by linking to authority websites about your topic.
An easy way to gain credibility with both your readers and search engines is to link to an authority website about your given topic. Websites run by nonprofit groups, educational institutions, or government sites have a lot of credibility with people. So link to these types of sites if relevant to your topic. It shows that you recognize the importance of these types of sites and the information they provide on your particular topic.

Write at least 350 Words of Body Copy
SEO consultants used to recommend at least 250 words on a page, but that number has now increased to at least 350 words. The more informative content you provide, the better.

Use strong tag on important text.
As a best practice, you should use a <strong> tag instead of a <bold> tag.  You see, the <strong> tag changes the semantic meaning of the word, and adds emphasis.

Use images to make copy more interesting.
Not only do images break up copy and make reading a bit more interesting, but adding appropriate keywords in your ALT attribute for the image is a way to expand the keyword-richness of your content.

Use an attractive headline that benefits the reader.
Incorporating your keywords into your <title> tag is as important as writing an attractive headline that provides a benefit to your reader.  An attractive title will also help those people browsing search results to pick your title over another website.

Make it easy to see and read.
Keep your font size and style in format that can be easily read. It’s always a best practice use black text on white. And use subheads to divide up your copy so it makes it easy for readers to skim.

Choose simple words.
Good writers can make complex subjects easy to understand. Using big words or jargon can stunt your reader, so avoid complex words at all cost. Keep it simple.

Above all, write useful content.
Focus on providing your reader with quality content. If you do this, they will potentially bookmark you and link to your information. And that’s the biggest part of the SEO process.

Here are some articles to help you learn about developing link-worthy content: