SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible

(Barré) #1
One strategy of these crawlers and spiders is to examine just how the content of your page works
with all of the other elements (like links and meta tags) that are examined. To rank high in a selec-
tion of search results, your content must be relevant to those other elements.

Some search engines will de-list your page or lower your page rank if the content of your site is not
unique. Especially since the advent of blogs, search engines now are examining how frequently the
content on pages is updated and looking for content that appears only on your web site. This doesn’t
mean you can’t have static content on your page. For e-commerce sites, the product descriptions may
rarely change.

But including other elements on the page, like reviews or product updates, will satisfy a crawler’s
requirement that content change regularly. Content is an important part of your site and the rank-
ing of your site in search engine results. To achieve organic SEO, take the time to develop a content
plan that not only outlines what should be included on each page of your site, but also how often
that content will be updated, and who will do the updates.

One other element you might want to consider when looking at your page content as part of SEO
is the keywords that you plan to use. Ideally, your chosen words should appear on the page several
times. But again, this is a balancing act that might take some time to accomplish.

Chapter 4 contains additional information about keywords and how to use them to
improve your search engine ranking.

Keywords are part of your site content, and as such require special attention. In fact, the selection
of the right keywords is a bit of an art form that takes some time to master. For example, if your
web site is dedicated to selling products for show dogs, you might assume that “show dogs” would
be a perfect keyword. You might be wrong. Selecting the right keywords requires a good under-
standing of your audience and what they might be looking for when they want to find your web
site. People looking for products for show dogs could search for “grooming products,” “pedigree
training,” or just “dog supplies.” It could even be something entirely different, like the name of a
product that was featured at the most recent dog show.

Learning which keyword will be most effective for your site will require that you study your audi-
ence, but it also requires some trial and error. Try using different keywords each quarter to learn
which ones work the best.

It’s also advised that you use a tracking program such as Google Analyticsto monitor your web site
traffic and to track the keywords that most often lead users to your site.

Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web site statistics application that you can use to track your web site traf-
fic. You can access Google Analytics by going to http://www.google.com/analytics. You are
required to have a Google user name to access the program.

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Creating an SEO Plan 2


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