HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS ~ PART TWO

In this newsletter I will outline more steps for boosting your rankings in Search Engines. Read the first installment of this series, How to Improve Your Search Engine Rankings Part 1

It’s important to remember that Search Engines compile information and then use that information to provide results for their site users. Search Engine companies want their results to be appropriate to their site user’s needs.

Spend some time to determine what terms prospective customers will use to search for your products and services. You may think you know what terms they will use, but you will be surprised at the various ways people search for something.

For example: If a customer wanted to locate a company to create a video of a spokesperson to use on their website, they could easily search for these or many other terms:

website video
internet video
video spokesperson
web spokesperson
texas video production
dallas video company
ecommercial provider
walk on presenter

As you develop your recipe for search engine optimization, remember:

Karla’s Keys to SEO Success:

Know the key terms and phrases (keywords) that YOUR customers will most likely use.
Include your keywords in the page title, topic headings and text copy on the pages of your website.
Spread links and information containing your keywords around the World Wide Web.
Develop repeat visits to your site.

It sounds simple and it is, BUT you have to actually do it.

KEYWORDS

To determine the best keywords:

Brainstorm and write down the combinations of words that you think people will use.
Have your staff, customers, family and friends write down their lists.
Combine the results and reduce the list of words and phrases to the most common keywords.
When a new customer contacts your company, one of the main questions should be “How did you hear about us?” If they mention a search engine, then ask “Do you mind telling me which one and what words you used to search?”

PAGE TITLES

The title of your web page should describe your products and services offered on that particular page. Think of the page title as a directional signpost.

PAGE CONTENT

The primary purpose of your website is either Marketing and/or Sales, so your pages must be visually appealing and contain the information needed by your customers. It is equally important that your pages include keywords and phrases in the headings and text that your customers will use to locate your products and services.

LINKS

Search engines use software, called spiders, to search websites for the information that they compile. These spiders follow the links on the websites that they visit (crawl) and compile data from those sites.

There are several types of links.
In-bound Links – Reciprocal Links – Out-bound Links

IN-BOUND LINKS

These may be paid or unpaid links. If you belong to an industry association, your membership may include a link to your website from the association website.

Search engines give higher rankings to websites with in-bound links from industry-related sites. (Ex. A photography website linking to a video production website.)

RECIPROCAL LINKS

This is a situation in which you provide a link on your website in exchange for a link on the referring website. This is a great idea for non-competitive, related companies to use when referring each other.

OUT-BOUND LINKS

Out-bound links can be used to give your customers a reason to repeatedly visit your site, such as Resource Centers, Instructional Videos, or Lists of Blogs. (Ex. A manufacturing company with links to industry related articles, blogs, and videos.)

These are the basic ingredients for your SEO recipe; how you combine these ingredients will depend on your goals for your website, your type of industry, and your marketing budget.

In part three of our series, we will discuss more creative methods to promote your website.

If you would like more ideas on ways to generate leads from your website, give Video 7 a call at 800.490.7434.