IMPROVING YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS

Millions of searches are done online every single day by internet users all over the world. When doing this search, they enter a word or a phrase into a search engine. These are referred to as ‘keywords’ or ‘key phrases’. Search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to the methods used to improve the search rankings for these chosen keywords of a particular website. The webmaster’s goal is to show up high on the results page for various keywords related to their business or niche.

If they reach this goal, they could potentially have hundreds or even thousands of new visitors to their website every day with very little cost. This traffic will likely keep coming as long as they continue to optimize their website and adapt to changing market conditions. The best part is that these are truly targeted visitors. These people are actively searching for what this business is selling.

There are several different search engines out there that use different criteria for ranking websites.  It would be impossible to optimize your site to cater to each one.  Fortunately, a 2009 study by comScore stated that Google and Yahoo are used for 84% of all online searches, with Microsoft, Ask, and AOL being used for most of the rest. A website owner or webmaster only needs to focus their attention on ranking on these top search engines and it should be more than enough.

There are many ways to go about improving the ranking of a website. But it should start with the website itself. The whole idea is to bring new visitors to the site and to compel them to make a purchase, sign up for a mailing list, or feel the need to return later. Not having a website ready for them when they get there would be the equivalent of a store owner mailing out coupons months before the store is even open for business.

Here are the first steps to optimizing a website:

1.  Keyword Research: In order to make a website be listed high in the search results, the website owner needs to analyze which keywords or key phrases related to their business are being used most often.  This is an absolutely essential part of any SEO campaign. The best keywords are the ones that are used the most that have the lowest amount of competition. Google offers a free online tool here that will help a webmaster choose the proper keywords.

2. Page Titles:  Every single web page has a title. This title is very important from a search engine’s point of view. The most important keywords should be put in the title tag in a legible format. It should appeal to visitors as well as the search engines. A site that is optimized only for the search engines will likely have the opposite effect of a proper campaign. It may actually make visitors avoid it. 

2. Header Tags: These tags are almost like subtitles for a webpage. These are also important from both a human as well as an SEO point of view. These header tags should also contain important keywords so that the search engines know what the page is about. It has the same effect for a visitor. If someone is just scanning the page or article, he/she can just read the ‘subtitles’ to decide whether it is worthy of their time.

3. Page Content: The content should be informative, relevant, and useful to a visitor.  There should be no grammatical or spelling errors. It should be well formatted and serve a clear purpose. The content should contain the important keywords and flow well; the keywords should be very hard to spot to a casual reader. Most SEO experts feel that the ‘keyword density’ should be between 1 and 3%. This means that out of every hundred words, there shouldn’t be more than three keywords. It’s also good to make sure the content is updated on a constant basis.  Nothing drives away visitors (and the search engines) like a poorly written or stagnant page.

The bottom line is that if the proper keyword research is done, the page title and header tags are coded correctly, and the website has informative and regularly updated content on it, its ranking has likely already improved to some degree.  The next step is to start with link building efforts.

There are several ways to build these backlinks. For example, writing articles and distribute them to various article directories, submitting the link to website directories, social bookmarking, commenting on do-follow blogs, participating in relevant forums with the link in the signature, video and RSS feed submissions, and more.  All of these strategies will allow the website to gain more brand awareness by using their preferred keywords as anchor text.

Every single link placed out there will help in some way. Building a site that ranks high for particular keywords takes time. It’s not something that just happens overnight, but if the website is built correctly, the proper keywords are used, and a consistent approach is taken to building links back to the website, it will soon see a gradual and consistent move up the rankings.

Please check out our article on back links or visit our search optimization page for more information on enhancing your online presence.