Web Design Blog

Sun 4 Oct 09 | SEO | Gemma

1. Put yourself in your prospective clients shoes
The first step to any search engine optimisation work is to determine your keywords, and the best way of doing that is to put yourself in the position of your prospective clients. Say for example you have a small toy shop called 'BB Toys' which is located in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire and sells items such as games consoles, board games and soft toys. You have to think what people would type into Google to find your website. If the most important thing is for people within the area to know about your business and you don't actually want to sell anything online then you could start off by optimising the website for 'toy shop' 'Newcastle-under-Lyme'. Once your website is relatively high on Google for that particular location then you can branch out and try a more widespread location such as 'toy shop' 'Staffordshire'.

2. Choosing an appropriate URL
If possible, begin with a new site that has never been submitted to the search engines or directories. Choose a domain name that best fits your brand and is also memorable and not too long. Many people in the know recommend purchasing a keyword-rich domain name.

3. Create a killer title tag
Title tags are crucial because they're given a lot of weight with all of the search engines. The keywords you have chosen previously (in point 1) must be displayed in the title tag. Never waste seo potential by leaving your title to say 'homepage'. Also on that same note there is no need to include your company name on the title tag as this will just take up vital space. Try and think of this tag more as a 'Title Keyword Tag' and word it accordingly. It can change on every page and should reflect exactly what that page is about.

4. Choose your meta tags carefully
Your meta data is important especially your meta description as when people search in Google this is what will be shown under your website name. Your meta description should reflect the information in that particular page and should include the main keywords you want people to search for. Remember that keyword density is the key. It's interesting to know that Google will display up to 160 characters in your SERP snippet so use your meta description wisely. With regard to meta keywords Google has stated that it doesn't rate these keywords at all, however before you rush to delete them altogether its worth knowing that search engines such as Yahoo and Ask still use these keywords to reflect your search rankings.

5. Write copy based on your chosen keywords
As mentioned before keyword density is extremely important in determining a website's position on search engines. This is why your content should be written specifically to include the keyword you think people will search for. The content however should still make sense, read well and not be overloaded with the same repeated words. Some experts say your keyword density in your copy should be around 3% to 6%.

6. Alt and Title up
Increase the relevant keywords in your page by always making full use of the alt tag on images, and the title tag on links. The title tag on a link should be used to describe information about the page that your website is linking to. It's also useful to know that when you are linking to external sites you can use the rel="nofollow" tag. This means that some of the importance that your site has, isn't leaked through to other external websites, it is kept fully concentrated on your site. When you link from your website to another site you are giving that linked site a vote and saying 'hey I recommend this site', by using the 'nofollow' you are in fact taking that vote away.

7. Back links from relevant sites
This is an important factor in determining your 'Page Rank' (Your page rank can be determined on sites such as www.whatismypagerank.net and experts say the higher your page rank the higher your site is likely to be on Google). Sounds obvious but getting highly ranked sites to link to your website will improve your ranking more than poorly ranked sites. Something to be aware of is that people may ask for link backs to their site, remember to always check these sites first to see if their site is worthy of your link (as a vote of confidence). Also check how relevant their content is to your website because if Google suspects that you've traded links with other sites for the sole purpose of improving your ranking, it might penalise or blacklist your site.

8. Submit to relevant online directories and forums
As mentioned before relevant back links to your website can improve your Page Rank and therefore your search engine position. Search for online directories that are relevant to your business sector, there are many directories out there that will let you list your business and website for free. Using online forums to submit articles and answer people's questions can also be helpful. Another idea is to create a blog on your website, similar to the one I am using now and write useful articles that you can then submit to various forums.

9. Don't expect quick results
One thing to remember is that you can't expect overnight results, Google on average can take from 8 to 10 weeks to index your website on their search engine. We always recommend that before you have any SEO work done you wait for approximately 3 months and let Google index your website and determine your natural search position.

10. Keep Your Content Current
Search engines such as Google prefer sites with content that changes frequently (one of the reasons they love blogs), and so if you want the search engine to visit your site on a more frequent basis it's important to refresh your content as regularly as possible. A good way to do this is through some sort of weblog or journal, or a news page (either of your own company and/or the industry you're in). The most important page to keep current is your home page, so if nothing else you should focus your efforts on that.