Strategies to improve exposure to your company’s website… By Mark J. Geyman OhioBiz.com and OhioBiz Web Consulting, LLC www.ohiobiz.com • On the local Internet scene longer than I’d like to admit • Started local business directory in 1995 • Practicing SEO since 1997 • Started OhioBiz.com directory in 2000 • OhioBiz Web Consulting, LLC since March 2001 • Search engines employ intelligent program robots called crawlers or spider, which visit thousands of websites every hour and index pages according to their content. • These indexes are huge databases containing reference and links to the actual websites. The search engines look through this database and displays the results. Google Instant Google Instant Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not dead! Google has simply changed the approach that search engine marketers must take in order to get websites to appear higher in rankings and with their best foot forward. Google claims Instant makes the experience more fast, fluid and fun. The main components of Google Instant are: • Predictions • Instant Results • Scroll To Search Google Instant • Google suggests or predicts what the user might be searching depending on each character the user types in the search query box. • The user can select what he is searching for by using the arrow keys and as the user makes the selection the search results keep on changing accordingly. • What is important to note is the speed with which it all takes place. Its fast and really fast. Google claims it can save 2-5 seconds per search. • Scrolling down may decrease over a period of time as user starts searching for more queries rather than more searches per query. • Google instant has not affected the rankings. The basics of the search are the same. So for whatever terms your site has been ranking it continues to rank for them on those search engine result pages (SERPs). Google Instant Ways to Ensure Rankings in Google Instant: • Include a primary keyword in your brand name • Start Thinking Like a Searcher • Include Google Suggest as a Keyword Research Tool • Get locally Optimized for Generic Keywords • Make sure Your Online Reputation is Clean • Dominate Search Results with Multimedia • SEO is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via search results. • SEO aims to improve rankings for relevant keywords in search results. Why are search engines so important? • Search engines are still the biggest resources of website traffic. • Higher traffic means more visitors. • More visitors means more customers and higher profits. • SEO is important because it improves the odds of someone finding your company online. • Online visibility can help your credibility and brand awareness • Think like your customers/clients, then verify how people search. SEO can put you in front of the people looking for your products & services • Your online marketing efforts should be focused on an end results. • Make sure your website/landing pages make it easy for visitors to sign up, join, request information, buy, or whatever else you seek. RESEARCH ON KEY PHRASES • Find the best phrases that describes your business and products offered. The most searchable key phrase terms by site visitors. IMPROVE KEY PHRASE PROMINENCE, DENSITY & PROXIMITY • Key phrases at the top/beginning of your page. Total phrases contained within the total text and the closeness between two or more phrases. META TITLE TAG • Make attractive and easy to understand (65 – 75 characters max.). Use most important key phrases first. Unique to content of page. META DESCRIPTION TAGS • Describe the pages in one to two sentences. Include key phrases included in copy of page. META KEYWORD TAGS • No longer used by any of the major search engines. Typically KEI is the ratio of the square of the searches upon a particular keyword in a day divided by the number of websites that are listed for that keyword. For example, a keyword that has 100 searches a day and for which Google shows 5000 websites would have a KEI of 2. (100 * 100 / 5000) KEI = P^2 C On-Page Optimization Off-Page Optimization • On-page optimization (on-page SEO) is what can be performed on pages of a website to maximize its performance in the search engines for targeted keywords related to on-page content • On-page optimization stands for all of the techniques and methods used on your website that is hosted on a server • On-page optimization has an effect on your website listing in natural results. • On-page factors are controlled by coding on website pages • • • • • • • • • • • • Title tags Meta tags ALT tags Header (H1, H2) tags URL structure Internal Linking Anchor text Relevant keywords near your inbound link Content Keyword density Site maps (XML & HTML) Usability H1 & H2 HEADING FORMAT • Applying H1 & H2 Tags in your source code will be helpful in achieving high ranking ALT TAGS • Most sites contain images. Where it makes sense, add text in Your ALT Tags to describe the content of the graphics. KEY PHRASE RICH ANCHOR TEXT • Anchor text for both external links and internal links is the powerful element for search engine positioning. • Off-page optimization (off-page SEO) is what can be done off the pages of a website to maximize its performance in search engines for target keywords related to the on-page content and keywords in off-page direct-links. • Off-page optimization is a very important part in search engine optimization because it gives back links to you site and it requires a lot of work. • It helps to maximize website performance in search engines for targeted key phrases. • Social Networking Sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) • Search engine/Directory submission (DMOZ, Best of the Web) • Social Bookmarking submission (twitter, digg.com, del.icio.us) • Article submission (EzineZArticles.com, GoArticles) • Press Release submission (PRWeb, 24-7 PressRelease.com) • Blog Creation & Posting • Forums & Comment posting (signature links) WHAT IS LINK POPULARITY? • Link Popularity refers to the number of links pointing TO your site FROM other sites on the Web. • Building links is one of the most important factors in getting top placement on the major search engines. WHY ARE LINKS SO IMPORTANT? • Inbound links are one of the most important factors for getting a high keyword ranking, • Outbound links to quality and pertinent site are important as long as they add value to the site visitor experience. • It’s not the quantity of links, but the quality of those links which is very important. • Keyword Use in Title Tag • Overall Popularity of Site – “Trust” & “Authority” • Anchor Text of Inbound Link • Age of Site • Internal Link Structure • Keyword use in Page Content • Outbound Links to Quality/Relevant Sites • Age of Page • Key Phrase Use in Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3) • Age of Link • 190+ more • SearchEngineLand.com • SEOmoz.org • SEObook.com • BruceClay.com • Sphinn.com • SearchEngine Watch.com • HighRankings.com • SEMPO.org • MattCutts.com/blog • WebmasterRadio.fm (podcasts) • SERoundtable.com • WebProNews.com Developing your local mindset • SEO is about optimizing sites, local is about optimizing location • Consistency: name, address, phone number are critical (don’t use tracking phone numbers, don’t stuff keywords into business name) • Building out business profile, you’re not creating an ad Update Your Business Listing for Accuracy: InfoUSA – http://dbupdate.infousa.com/dbupdate/startupdate?bas_request=A Acxiom – http://www.mybusinesslistingmanager.com/ Localeze https://webapp.localeze.com/extranet/addbusinessdesc.aspx TMP Directional Marketing & comScore's Annual Local Search Study Today there are well over 10 billion unique searches done each month, and that’s just in the United States! Of those searches: • 40% of queries have Local intent * • 5% use the city and/or state name • 2% use informal terms, like neighborhoods • 0.5% use zip codes *(source: Ian White) Seven Optimization Strategies for Google Places: • • • • • • • Be sure that your business name, address, and phone number are absolutely correct. Use an engaging, keyword-loaded business description that will grab the viewer. Include a Call to Action. Fill out the categories for your business with as much accuracy as possible. Photos and videos engage your prospect, so be sure to add them. Get reviews about your business from your customers. As far as rankings go, volume of reviews is more important than the number of stars. Citations from other trusted providers (the references in the section titled "More about this place") are one of the most important elements of your listing, because they indicate to Google that you are a credible, established local business. Look up other websites in your industry to find opportunities where you can request a citation (if not a link to your site) for your business. Google Places • http://www.google.com/places Bing Local Listing Center • https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx Yahoo! Local Listing • http://listings.local.yahoo.com Optimize your Places listings • Use your main keyword phrase and complementary terms in your profile descriptions • Include: - your products and services - the brands you carry - the locations you serve • Choose – or create – the right categories (choose two/three existing categories, then create the remaining two/three that apply to your local listing) • Create attributes (other information not already included – but DO NOT KEYWORD STUFF) Get reviews! • Reviews are exactly what people (and Google) are looking for • Google pulls reviews from across the web (so it doesn’t matter where your customers leave them) • Come up with a system to encourage reviews by happy customers • Yahoo has mentioned after a certain number of reviews, they’ll start figuring out whether your reviews are positive or negative Your website and the 7 pack • Use your website to build trust and reinforce you LBL info by: - linking to your Maps listing - get links from local websites (Chamber of Commerce, etc.) On-page optimization • Add location!! • Place full street address and phone number on every page of your website • Optimize your Contact/About page for business name/location Standardize • Use same name, address, phone number everywhere • Go to sources of business data and standardize • Get listed on local directories Check for Location Trust • Check data providers • Search for your business name • Search for your phone number • Search for your address Places to submit: Local.com MerchantCircle.com Wire Fan (www.wirefan.com) Mixx (www.mixx.com) City Search (www.citysearch.com) Super Pages (www.superpages.com) Insider Pages (www.insiderpages.com) Yelp (www.yelp.com) Yellow Pages (www.yellowpages.com) BrownBook.com OhioBiz.com (of course!) • What is the purpose of your site? What are your site’s goals? • Identify your target audience • Discover your competitors and their target phrases • Find out keywords that your target audience uses • Build quality content, site structure and internal navigation with respect to • • • • your site visitors first with keeping SEO and important key phrase usage in mind. Publicize your website (press releases, signature files, print materials, postings) Acquire external links to your website Monitor your traffic (web stats software, Google Analytics) Evaluate your results and make modification/tweaks on an on-going basis. Mark J. Geyman Owner OhioBiz.com / OhioBiz Web Consulting, LLC 216.381.1820 mark@ohiobiz.com www.ohiobiz.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/markjgeyman