Friday, August 5, 2011

Search Engine Optimization Tips

SEO can be a mysterious and daunting venture for online business owners who are used to conventional marketing and advertising. For many, the concept of 'pay per click' advertising is much more comfortable because it's closely related to ad buying which many brick and mortar and online business are familiar with.
SEO (search engine optimization) simply refers to 'optimizing' your site so that the search engines 'choose' to position it higher in search results for particular keywords. SEO refers strictly to the 'organic' results, meaning it has nothing to with the ads or ad positioning on search engine results pages.

This SEO Tips section is a macro view of what should be looked at when setting up and running a proper SEO campaign for long term, sustainable results. Here is a summary of what is discussed:
  • Domain
  • Navigation
  • URLs
  • Titles & Meta Tags
  • Copywriting

Domain

Having a great domain for SEO isn't always possible. In a lot of cases, you already have a domain, and can't change it for reasons such as branding or legalities. Here are some important elements:
  • Domain Name - a great domain for SEO will include your main keywords
  • Domain Age - the older your domain, the better (unless it has been penalized)
  • Inbound Links - the amount and quality of other websites linking to your domain

Navigation

A while ago there was a big to-do about Google introducing LSI and how that went on to effect how navigation impacted rank. The reality is that if you create a logical navigation taxonomy, that lays out your services or products in a user friendly, logical fashion, your navigation will positively affect your overall SEO. Here are some navigation tips:
  • Avoid creating multiple pages for one subject/product/category/service
  • Use logical hierarchy (e.g. Furniture > Bedroom > Headboards
  • Always try and have navigation present on every page for users and search engines

URLs

Having SEO friendly URLs (called SEF URLs for short) is something that many online businesses neglect. For the most part, this is usually because a web developer has already created the urls (and they are SEF) or they are using an out of the box cart or web platform that doesn't easily offer SEF URLs. Here are some SEF URL tips:
  • try to have a relevant keyword in your url
  • use .html or .php extensions if possible
  • avoid dynamic urls if possible

Titles and Meta Tags

Almost everyone has heard that you need to optimize your titles and tags. What this means is making sure that your title (what you see at the VERY top left of your browser, usually in line with the close/minimize/maximize buttons) and your meta tags are written in a way that the search engines choose to position you higher in organic search results. Here are some meta tag tips:
  • use a title and a description and keyword meta tag on every page
  • make sure to include keywords relevant to that page
  • make sure you have no duplicate meta tag descriptions or titles

Optimized Copy

SEO Copywriting has become big business, but it's only a piece of the whole puzzle. All elements above should be optimized as well to get the most out of on page search engine optimization. When optimizing your own copy, make sure not to try and stuff it with your keywords. If you already have optimized URLs, Titles & Tags, the search engines already know what your page is about. Now you just need to create unique, relevant copy. (Of course you will need to proof and make sure that your keywords are actually in the copy, but they should appear naturally as you write. For example, if the page is about RC Helicopters, the keyword 'rc helicopters' would presumably appear naturally in the copy without further editing needed.) Here are some tips.
  • don't overstuff your copy with keywords
  • make sure all of your copy is unique
  • the more copy the better
When you break down on page SEO, it becomes a lot easier to understand the basics. Yes, there are a lot of other expert techniques that can be implemented and that are constantly changing, but the reality is that most online websites don't even have these basic on page optimization implementations in place.
You should now have a better understanding of basic on page SEO and what type of changes to expect if you hire a professional (and reputable) SEO, or if you have already employed one.

We at Levonsys provide you our specialized Pay Per Click (PPC) Campaign Management Services for effectively and economically running your Adwords, Text-Ads and Banner Advertising campaigns on Google, Yahoo and their partner sites. Clients or Organizations willing to get their PPC campaign managed by us are encouraged to open their own Google Adwords account and get their own credit card registered with it to make arrangements for their advertising liabilities towards the respective search engine.

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