Google Analytics
As we’ve previously discussed, Search Engine Optimisation on page and Search Engine Marketing off page are two very different techniques, that when combined can bring greater numbers of visitors, and more importantly, better qualified visitors to your web site.
Before making a start with on page and off page optimisation, it’s a good idea to know where you are today so you can set realistic goals and see how well you are doing further down the road. This means you need some traffic analytics so you know your position and more information about your performance today. You’re looking for information on the numbers of visitors, where your visitors came from, how they found your site, the keywords they use and where they enter and navigate to in your site. There are lots of tools available some free, some not. Perhaps the best known of the free ones is Google Analytics, which is pretty straight forward to set up. You’ll need a Google account, an email address and access to your websites files so you can add a little bit of tracking code.
When you’re setting goals for your website, it’s best not to think in terms of setting a vague target such as getting to number one on Google, which is very difficult in most cases and not in your control. But if you have a realistic goal, such as see an increase in enquiries or an increase in sales by 30% over 4 months, you will be able to see how your on page and off page efforts are performing by comparing your analytical data.
Domain Names
Your domain name at the time of writing this is important, with Google Caffeine giving extra weight to websites with keywords in the domain. Whether this will always be the case, who knows, as this is a technique that is being widely used now to influence search engine results.
If you offer multiple services or lots of different products this may not be an approach you want to take.
However keywords really should be in the structure of each page name. Ideally about three keywords is good and five is the maximum. Any more and the search engines don’t give your page any more weight.
Choosing Keywords
Selecting the right keywords for your site is crucial. The right keywords and use of those keywords are not just important for optimising your website for the search engines, they are also going to help you communicate to site visitors in language they choose to use themselves. The key here is to be sympathetic to search engines, but not forget that the page has got to make sense to humans too. Loading keywords onto a page is seen as ‘spammy’ and won’t do you any favours on search engines. You’ll come across some pages on websites that just don’t make any sense because they have been written for search engines, and not for humans.
To start with, make a list of keywords, not just single words and the top terms, but groups of words and phrases too. Think about your ideal customer. What words, what phrases would they use to find your website? Include them in your list. Ask colleagues, friends, family, and existing customers for ideas on words to add. Go onto competing websites. Have a look at the bottom of Google results pages for alternative suggestions. There are some tools you can use to help with keyword ideas too.
Once you have a good, long keyword list, think about how you are going to use the words. You don’t want to take a chunk of say 100 words and group them together into a paragraph that doesn’t make sense. Instead group the keywords into subject areas and write good quality content that includes them. Don’t overdo it. Your chosen keywords should only form about 3% of the text content. This is known as keyword density.
You need to use keywords in META tags. META tags are bits of your pages code that are there to help search engines understand what your pages are about. You need to use keywords in your pages body text and you need to use them in the anchor text for the links that point into your website from other websites. For example instead of having the words ‘click here’ on a clickable link, relevant keywords instead give the search engines a better idea of what the link is pointing towards and adds a bit more weight to it.
More about the content you need to be writing next time. In the meantime, if there’s any help you need with SEO, you can contact us via our website.
