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SITE
OBJECTIVES AND GOALS
At the outset of the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Program,
we focus on understanding the goals of your site. Most e
commerce sites want to drive increased numbers of targeted
visitors to the site. Once that is achieved, the sub goal
may be to either entice visitors to make a purchase on line
or it may be to encourage visitors to call or e mail for
further information. Or alternatively, site objectives may
be in entirely other directions - sign up for an information
news service. The point is the nature of the site's goals
will influence the development of various aspects of the
SEO Program including keyword selection and development,
the keyword focus of individual pages and the text content
that is developed.
KEYWORD
OR PHRASE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Once goals
are understood, the next step is to begin development of
highly targeted keyword phrases and frequently used in searches.
This keyword work is critical to the success of our SEO
campaign because it forms the foundation on which
all other SEO work is based. In this development process,
we ask site owners to provide a list of phrases they believe
people might use to search for and to locate their site
or products. At the same time, we review the site's text
content for naturally occurring keyword phrases. Once these
lists are reconciled, it is time to begin keyword research
in either Overture or Wordtracker. This research reveals
if the target phrases are actually used in searches and
the frequency of their use. We often find that people do
not search at all under some of the suggested terms. And
of equal importance in many cases, Overture and Wordtracker
will provide new related keyword phrases that were
not on our original lists. The benefit of this research
is that we build factual knowledge of the specific
keyword phrases and terms that people are actually searching
under to locate your products, goods or services. The guesswork
is taken out of identifying those keyword phrases that are
highly targeted and most frequently used. From this final
list of keyword phrases, we ask the client to eliminate
non relevant phrases and prioritize those remaining in terms
of their importance to his business.
KEYWORD
ORGANIZATION INTO RELATED GROUPS Together
with the client, we then organize the keyword list into
groups of related terms. These groups are then assigned
to the site¹s top level pages whose text content is most
similar or related to the selected group. Then each of these
top level pages is optimized using the assigned group of
related keywords. This technique results in a high degree
of focus on all of the keyword phrases selected for the
SEO Program. The index page will target the three or four
most important keywords in the list defining the overall
theme of the site. The inner or top level pages each will
focus on three or four related keyword phrases. So now we
not only have the index page generating top 10 ranking positions
but also each of the site's top level pages as well.
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OPTIMIZING
HTML SOURCE CODE Now that groups of keywords
are assigned to the various pages within the site, the
next task is to begin optimizing the HTML source code
for the index page and for each of the Top Level pages
being optimized. This optimization source code work has
the goal of making the site "search engine friendly."
Search engine friendly is accomplished by ensuring that
when the engines index or spider the site, they are able
to quickly and without fail access all of the pages of
the site. When this occurs, they accurately identify and
index our target keywords. The benefit of this is when
the engine receives a search inquiry for one of our keywords,
the engine locates in its index our matching keyword and
"relevance" is established. And thus we rank highly in
the search results. Optimization of HTML source code is
the process which inserts keyword phrases into the page's
source code in the meta title tag, the meta keyword tag,
the meta description tag, navigation menu bars, image
alt tags, headings and hyperlinks. None of these site
revisions show or alter the page's visible text. Also
if the site is written in Java script, frames or flash,
additional modifications must be performed to ensure that
the search engines can read and index the source code.
KEYWORD
TEXT INSERTION
The next task is to either work our keywords into existing
text and headings or to rewrite the page content incorporating
keywords into the new copy. If copywriters are used, they
must be instructed on how best to incorporate these phrases
into the copy and headings and in what general frequency
and location. Excessive keyword insertion into text is
classified as spam by the engines and we definitely do
not want this. If copywriters are not used, we will participate
in the development of appropriate copy. Finally we go
through an editing process ensuring that keyword phrases
are used properly - location, frequency and in headings.
SEARCH
ENGINE/DIRECTORY SUBMISSION Once
source code optimization and revised text copy is completed,
the next step is search engine submission search directory
submission. From the date of submission, Top Rankings
will begin to appear within the first three weeks of submission
and will continue to build over the next four to five
months. It is during this period that our Keyword Maintenance
Program is initiated. One aspect of this program is the
generation of monthly Search Position Reports showing
individual Top Ten positions attained by keyword and by
search engine or directory.
KEYWORD
MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
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