In this article, Splendor reveals its time-tested search engine optimization technique, “SEO Smart Sweep,” which is based on over a decade of successful SEO work. This highly effective method has evolved as the rules of SEO have changed, setting the stage for ongoing SEO campaigns. The SEO Smart Sweep is based on 10 key elements, which are listed below.
How do you know if your website is properly optimized?
01
key word research
Although Google is seemingly constantly introducing algorithm updates, keyword research remains essential for inbound marketers looking to optimize their websites for search.
The first step in keyword research is to make a list of important, generalized topics based on the specific business. To do this, think like a buyer or potential client. What types of topics would a target audience search for? For example, a technology rental company would focus on topics like “trade show technology,” “conference equipment rentals,” “national technology rentals” “rent technology,” “international technology rentals,” etc.
The next step of keyword research is to hone down the broad topics into precise keywords. These are keyword phrases that are important to rank for the search engine results pages. For instance, “trade show technology” could be broken down into more specific keyword phrases like “trade show technology trends,” “electronics trade show,” “computer trade show,” and so on and so forth. Although more and more keywords are getting encrypted by Google daily, a smart way to brainstorm for keyword ideas is to figure out which keywords a site is already getting found for, which is a topic that will be touched on later in this post (Google Analytics).
It’s also important to know the difference between head terms and long-tail keywords. Head terms are keyword phrases that are typically shorter and broader. Long-tail keywords are longer keyword phrases usually containing three or more words. It’s important to check for a good mix of the two in order to have a well-balanced SEO strategy.
Lastly, it’s smart to see how competitors are ranking keywords and to check for untapped markets. If a competitor is ranking for certain keywords that match up with your own, it makes sense to improve your ranking system by making keywords stand out. If an untapped market is discovered using SEO, capitalize and tailor keyword usage toward the market.
02
page meta data – titles and descriptions
Throughout the internet, metadata is used to describe individual pages on a website, which allows search engines to understand what each page portrays. This data then helps search engines evaluate the relevance of page content, determining if a page will appear within search results. A site’s page title, or heading that is displayed within a search result, should include the name of a business, the main keyword and a location, if relevant. For example, “Tim’s Technology Rentals – Trade Show Technology Rental in New Jersey.”
The description, or meta description, is the brief descriptive text that appears underneath the page title and URL in a search result page. A page’s description should include similar information to the page title, but with more depth. One should use the description to concisely describe what the web page is about. For example, “Tim’s Technology Rentals offers meeting planners, exhibitors, and corporations AV technology & production services in New Jersey.”
In order to ensure that a page title will display in a Google Search Result, stick to a maximum of about 55 characters.
03
on-page optimization
On-page optimization refers to aspects of a given web page that influence search engine rankings. These aspects are controlled by coding on a page. Some examples of on-page optimization include actual HTML code, meta tags, keyword placement, keyword rich content, image alt tags and keywords in each page URL. Visual examples of HTML code are displayed here by Moz.com.
The content of a page is what makes a page worthy of a search result position. Good content is critical, but what defines good content?
From a search engine’s point of view, there is no difference between the worst content and the best content on the internet if it is not linkable. To put it simply, if people can’t link to it, search engines will be unlikely to rank it. As a result, the content won’t drive traffic to the given website. For example, a PDF only accessible to members or any content only accessible after logging in has a slim chance of appearing in search engine results because it is not linkable.
Two attributes stand out; good content must supply a demand and be linkable.
Meta tags are also very important on-page factors for SEO because they define the title of a document. Meta tags are often used on search engine results pages to display preview snippets for a given page. The meta tag is meant to be an accurate and concise description of a page’s content. The actual URL of a web page is very critical as well. The importance of the information on the web page needs to be obviously displayed.
For example, http://www.timstechnology.com/technology-rental/trade-show would illustrate that the technology rental is trade show specific. This allows the search engine to surmise that the web page doesn’t pertain to trade shows in general, but to technology rental at trade shows. This makes the URL an ideal candidate for search results related to trade show technology rental. One should also always include the subject of an image within the image alt text to alert the search engine to the image’s content.
04
lean page code
Website development and code writing is the programming behind the scenes within your business website, it makes everything on the website took as it does and run as it runs.
Heavy, bloated programming code (relative to how much text and graphical content is being displayed) will result in a slow website. When it comes to the behind-the-scenes aspect of a website, the leaner the better, and this leads to our next element of the SEO Smart Sweep.
05
fast page load
One of the most overlooked elements of a website is page load speed. Before beginning to optimize your site, it’s important to see how well it is functioning. It’s important to minify HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
To do this, remove all unnecessary comments, white space and code. This will improve performance because the file size will be reduced. Also, one should eliminate duplicate scripts in a web page and optimize images by making sure the size matches usage.
Perhaps the biggest culprits in slow loading websites are large images. With full-screen slideshows (and even worse – videos!) and large, wide imagery abound, it is critically important to compress and minimize images as much as possible. Additionally, as more of the internet’s traffic goes mobile, smaller images, optimized for mobile devices, will help boost a website’s visibility and rank.
06
XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap file lists the URLs for a site. To put it simply, an XML sitemap allows webmasters to include additional information about each URL and inform search engines about URLs on a website that are available for crawling. That additional information could include how often the website changes when it was last updated and how important it is in relation to other URLs in the site.
As a result, search engines can crawl the site more intelligently. XML sitemaps are especially beneficial on websites where some areas of the website are not available through the browsable interface.
It also helps if the site is very large and there is a chance for the web crawlers to overlook some of the new or recently updated content.
07
Google MyBusiness and Google+
Google My Business is under the Google+ umbrella and it offers business owners a place to manage and connect with customers via search, maps, and Google+. With Google My Business, one can update business info from one place to make it easier for customers to get in touch. One can also add photos of a business, and provide a virtual tour of your business interior.
This creates a place to directly connect with customers by sharing news, events and other important updates. One can stay on top of reviews from across the web and respond to Google reviews. The technology also allows business owners to understand how people find and interact with a business using custom insights and integration with AdWords Express.
08
install Google Anayltics
Google Analytics is a free tool that can be used to track information about the way visitors to your site interact with it. Google Analytics will track the performance of keywords in order to have a successful SEO campaign. It allows businesses to know how much traffic each of the keywords brings to a site.
It’s completely free of charge and it allows a business owner to identify which pages and links visitors click the most. All this information can help fine tune a website.
09
broken links & 404 errors
Page Not Found, or 404, errors are present when a page has been removed, deleted or turned off to be worked on. These types of pages are useless for search engine bots and it results in a dead end.
Google Analytics will crawl your website and alert you to error locations. In order to fix the 404 errors or broken links, one should redirect the link elsewhere. The best strategy would be to redirect to the home page or a specific page of your choosing. One could always add back the removed page causing the 404 error as well.
Fixing all possible 404 pages is an essential part of managing a website.
10
mobile friendly
In this day and age, optimizing a website for mobile usage is essential. According to The Huffington Post, research shows that 57 percent of mobile users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. Furthermore, 30 percent will abandon a purchase transaction if the shopping cart isn’t optimized for mobile devices.
Mobile users typically want information in a quick and easy fashion. Mobile purchases are often impulse buys and website efficiency is key. Mobile optimization also results in more traffic, better brand engagement and a reduced bounce rate.
In this day and age, optimizing a website for mobile usage is essential. According to The Huffington Post, research shows that 57 percent of mobile users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. Furthermore, 30 percent will abandon a purchase transaction if the shopping cart isn’t optimized for mobile devices.
Mobile users typically want information in a quick and easy fashion. Mobile purchases are often impulse buys and website efficiency is key. Mobile optimization also results in more traffic, better brand engagement and a reduced bounce rate.
Splendor Design Group believes an educated client is our best client. Stay tuned to our blog for insight in the world of everything design, web, and digital media. Have something to add? Connect with us on social media – we’d love to hear from you.
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