What is a good SEO Process?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a key role in an effective online marketing campaign. SEO encompasses a methodology for having your site attractive to both the search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and your site visitor. Just as there is a methodology in any process, the same applies to SEO. The following details the major steps required to execute an effective SEO endeavor.
Set SEO objectives
Determine what you are going to do so you can create a way to get there.
Site Analysis
An overall analysis is first done on the web site. Major factors center on what is needed to best optimize it for the search engines. Based on this analysis the process is adjusted to include the necessary work to be done. This may include: design, layout, navigation, colors, background, fonts, images, broken links, meta tags, web copy, html validation, browser and resolution compatibility, loading times, search engine rankings, site statistics and creating error pages. All of these factors have some influence in attracting search engine spiders and visitors to your site.
Keyword Research
One of the basic steps in search engine optimization is keyword research. Here competitive keywords relating to the site and unique to your domain are found. Keyword research is done to maximize the impact of search engine optimization. When your site ranks well, more relevant customers come to the site leading to an increase in conversions and hence income for the site. The accurate identification and careful selection of these important keywords and key phrases can literally make or break any web site or online business.
Competitive Analysis
From the study the of your competitor sites, who have high search engine rankings, keywords are identified for which they are ranked. Your meta tags are analyzed and refined based on the that research. Also important input are your recent web site stats to see how many visitors you are getting, where they are coming from and what keywords they are using.
SEO Copywriting
SEO copywriting is rewriting the text on your site in such a way that it becomes search engine friendly while remaining appealing to the surfer. Keywords relevant to your site are optimized so that your site ranks high when search engines crawl your site. Keywords direct targeted traffic to your site, ensure they are provided with the specific information and hence increase sales for you. Copywriting services include modifying your site headings, HTML text, layout, design and even images where needed. Some pages may only require a small amount of editing or none at all, whereas others may need a more extensive rewrite.
Creation of Meta Information (title, description, keywords)
Meta information is used to provide additional information about HTML documents so that the search engine crawlers are able to index the information more accurately.
First is the Title tag. The Title tag is not a Meta tag. However title tags play a vital role in your site s rankings. It is these words or phrase that appear in the title of your page in the hyperlink listings on the search engine results. The most relevant and specific keywords or key phrases are included in the title tag to best help describe the contents of the
Next is the Meta description tag. This gives a short and concise summary of the content of your web page. It is best that the meta description tag is brief but includes some of your top keywords. The words used must inspire the visitor to check your site out further. Each page must be customized so all your web pages will not have the same meta tag descriptions.
Third but not least is the Meta keywords tag. Although not as relevant as the other tags mentioned above, the Meta keywords tag is still recognized by some Search Engines. A number of meta keywords for you that are relevant to the content of your web pages should be included.
Site Map Creation
The creation of a site map page enables Search Engines spiders better crawling of your site. It also helps visitors to quickly scan your whole site for relevant information. A link and a short description of that link is created for each page of your site. The site map page is then added to your main navigation menu.
LinkPopularity Building
Link Popularity refers to the number of links pointing to your site, from other sites on the web. There are other terms used for Link Popularity, such as Link building, In Bound Links, Back Links, etc The Search Engines consider your site important and rank it higher if other sites link to your site. There are two types of links you can establish on the web. One type is to trade links (Link Exchange), where you give a link from the links Page on your site to the partner sites. The second method is to establish only "incoming links" also called one-way links' or non-reciprocal links . With non-reciprocal links, you do not need to link back to them.
There are several ways of developing Inbound links. Some techniques for one way link building are:
Submitting to Free Directories
Writing articles and submitting to various sites for publishing to increase the link popularity of your site.
Press releases
Sending requests to established sites explaining about the site quality and asking for links. In the link exchange process, you trade links with prospective partner sites by offering a link to their site from your own site.
Web Site Load time and HTML Validation
Some sites won't perform well if they are slow loading. Search Engines don t like sites which take a lot of time to load. They sometimes ignore these sites and place them lower than fast loading sites in their index. Reasons for slow load times include html errors and bad image optimization. Sometimes sites are coded badly which can be a big block for visiting search engine crawlers. Load times should be reviewed with necessary changes made to the html.
Search Engine and Directory Submissions
Your site is submitted to all the major search engines, directories and some specialized directories. Not all Search Engines and Directories have the same rules for submission, therefore care will be taken to submit to the appropriate search engines by following their specific guidelines.
Browser Compatibility and Resolution Checking
People view sites in different browsers and at different resolutions. Care is taken to make sure your site can be viewed in all the major browsers and in the most common resolutions. Adjustments will be made to the site's code where necessary.
A good SEO process is ongoing. The steps are repeated to ensure your site is friendly to both site visitors and the Search Engines.
