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SEO & Marketing
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SEO & Marketing
SEO Primer

Basic search engine optimization (SEO) for your site has two parts. (1) optimize the pages on your site, (2) make sure the most common and important search engines and directories have your website listed.

Part 1 - Optimizing Your Pages

  1. SEO begins by first determining the most important keywords and phrases for your business. What are the words and phrases used by qualified leads trying to find your products? Are you sure you really know them? We’ll work with you to develop a list, then research each keyword and phrase to determine its effectiveness.

  1. Once we have a solid list, it’s critical that we strategically place appropriate keywords and phrases in four places on each page of your site. In the past, it was simple enough to load the page with keywords ‘behind the scenes,’ but search engines like Google and Yahoo have become far more sophisticated, and over-placing keywords can actually do you harm. Content for each page needs to be specific and backed up by actual copy.

We’ll the targeted keyword phrases in these four places on each page:

  1.  

    • Page Title

    • Page Meta Description

    • Meta Keywords

    • Within the Page Content

The first three exist in the page <head> and serve various essential functions. For example, the 'description' is what many search engines display (as the description of the site) with the search results.

 

 

Search engine robots that index your site (also known as spiders), such as those used by Google, read all four of these. A page that is optimized for the search engines should have the (same) targeted keywords and phrases in all four places.

 

Listing your site in key directories and search engines

Directories differ from search engines. A directory is more like a yellow pages, where each website is listed in one specific category, and has a  written description (advertisement). Usually, to get into a directory you have to ask, and often pay $5 to $15. Search engines have automated robots that read and index every website they can find. You can also alert the search engines of your presence (ask them to index your site).

Getting listed in key directories, such as Yahoo, is important because many people use these resources. But it is also important because it helps your site's rank on the search engines, such as Google. Many directories and search engines require small payments for getting listed. A budget of $50 to $100 per month is well spent here, usually including some smaller directories, which are more topic specific.

 

The Importance of Good Page Content

Your page content is very important when it comes to SEO. Besides getting your keyword phrases into the content text, there are a number of other factors that can improve your rank on Google and other search engines. Some examples include:

  • Using the proper html formatting tags that help the search engine robots easily index your site prpoerly.

  • Having your best search engine optimized content (content that includes your targeted keywords) at the top 1/3 of the page.

  • Adding 'alt' tags to the pictures on your site.