The ideal website follows suggested search engine optimization techniques. This takes a commitment on the part of the website owner, and many of them just don’t have the time to get this done. Hiring outside help is the best choice for most companies. We can do our part as we develop the website to give the site owner a step ahead of the competition.
Here is a checklist to follow as site pages are being developed:
- Put a maximum of 300 words of hyper-relevant copy introducing the company product or service
- Use bullets to help the user to understand quickly, all services offered
- Include the subject in the tittle tag for each specific layout block of the page
- Add the subject into the URL of the page. This is done as you add meta language
- Mention the subject throughout the text content on site pages
- Add a blog page to each website to offer a way to add new articles
- Populate your blog articles with relevant back links
- Link back to any page of the site which has relevant material associated with content
- Make sure the category function is available in the blog (this helps the user and search engines)
- Add sub-category pages when they are needed to simplify the user experience
- Install a site-map fir search engines, and a “sticky” menu to aid users to browse the site
Sharing information is key to building site importance:
Information is affected by supply and demand. All information added to page copy should satisfy the demand of the end-user. If the content is not linkable and no one can share the material it has no value. Sharing is everything today. We all want to find ways to share information from our website to grow our following and increase our importance with end users. Social media links are a top way to share copy. Share your blog articles on Facebook, LinkedIn and more to get your message out to the consumer. Add a “share” button on all pages to allow page content to be shared with viewers. Additionally, add “share this” buttons at the bottom of each blog post. Sharing information is exactly what the internet was created for.
Copyright protection (no way to share)
We have all been on a site and found an article, or other such as a video, that we would like to share with others. It is very frustrating to discover it is copyright protected. This can turn good copy into bad copy with no way to share the information. The site owner may have had good intentions while trying to protect the information. However, not being able to share this simply defeats the purpose. Frankly, copyrighting is wide-spread all over the internet and is a waste of time.
Deciding factors: How do search engines choose to list your site:
As Google and other top search engines scan a site for a listing, they are looking for identifying characteristics. These are the deciding factors to determine relevance or irrelevance. If the content is irrelevant, then the site has no value and will not be listed in top results. Sites that are promoted and listed will be decided based upon what they find. The content must be user-focused and engaging. If this is the case, then Google will reward your site with a listing. Keep the users in mind as you develop your content. Write to offer helpful and informative content and your efforts will be rewarded.
Adding links to the site:
Linking back and forth between two websites is referred to as “reciprocal linking.” You can request that outsiders link to your site. It is worth asking because Google ranks these reciprocal links highly. The developer can add informational links to your site easily. Unfortunately, the developer has no control over in-bound links from other websites so you will need to request that they add their link to your site. Adding links to the site is an extremely good measure for identifying popular pages.
Reaching the top of the list in rank: How search engine bots rate the site:
There are many factors that help search engines decide to list a website. The two factors that matter most are relevant content and linking popularity. When these two factors are present, the website will be known as an authority site. First, let’s discuss link popularity. To rank highly in a given search query you need to have as many links as possible. Reciprocal links are rated highest in value. Each link must also be relevant to the topic of interest. Next, when it comes to adding content, your time is better spent optimizing text rather than adding images and videos. Content is always king, and keeping the site populated with new and relevant content will go a long way in raising the value of your site. Video and images may add drama to the site. However, you must add alt tags and titles to the video and images for them to be scanned by search engine bots. Otherwise, they add no search engine value.
Combining relevancy and link popularity to create the ideal site:
We have discussed both relevancy of content which is copy connected to your topic of expertise, and popularity, which refers to linking value. Although the relationship between these two change, they are both fundamental to the development of an ideal website. Both of these techniques will determine search results.
Stay tuned for following posts. We will discuss other elements for good design. We hope you all enjoy a happy spring season, full of new contacts and linking partners. We would love to hear from you to share some of our ideas with you. Partner with Inside Design Orlando for a new look into the future!
Thank you for stopping by.
Jean Holland-Rose, Chief Creative Officer
SEO Professional
