SEO and online marketing expert Jon Rognerud showing the steps below:
The goal of search engine optimization is to have the search engine
spiders not only find your site and pages but also specifically rank the
page relevance so that it appears at the top of the search engine
results. The process of optimization is not a one-time process but
requires maintenance, tuning, and continuous testing and monitoring.
Below is a broad four-step process for a strategy for search engine optimization. Use this as your top-level checklist.
Step 1: Target Market Business Analysis
- Website analysis.
Analysis of meta sets/keywords, visible text and code to determine how
well you're positioned for search engines. For example, how much code
do you have on a page compared to text?
- Competitive analysis.
Examination of content keywords and present engine rankings of
competitive websites to determine an effective engine positioning
strategy. Pick the top five results in the Google listing results to
begin this process. Expand as necessary. Use tools such as Semrush.com
and Keywordspy.com.
- Initial keyword nomination.
Development of a prioritized list of targeted search terms related to
your customer base and market segment. Begin with this: What would you
type into a search engine to find your business website or page? Then,
ask your customers!
Step 2: Keyword Research and Development
- Keyword analysis.
From nomination, further identify a targeted list of keywords and
phrases. Review competitive lists and other pertinent industry sources.
Use your preliminary list to determine an indicative number of recent
search engine queries and how many websites are competing for each
keyword. Prioritize keywords and phrases, plurals, singulars and
misspellings. (If search users commonly misspell a keyword, you should
identify and use it). Please note that Google will try to correct the
term when searching, so use this with care.
- Baseline ranking assessment.
You need to understand where you are now in order to accurately assess
your future rankings. Keep a simple Excel sheet to start the process.
Check weekly to begin. As you get more comfortable, check every 30 to 45
days. You should see improvements in website traffic, a key indicator
of progress for your keywords. Some optimizers will say that rankings
are dead. Yes, traffic and conversions are more important, but we use
rankings as an indicator.
- Goals and Objectives.
Clearly define your objectives in advance so you can truly measure your
ROI from any programs you implement. Start simple, but don’t skip this
step. Example: You may decide to increase website traffic from a current
baseline of 100 visitors a day to 200 visitors over the next 30 days.
Or you may want to improve your current conversion rate of one percent
to two in a specified period. You may begin with top-level, aggregate
numbers, but you must drill down into specific pages that can improve
products, services, and business sales.
Step 3: Content Optimization and Submission
- Create page titles. Keyword-based titles help establish page theme and direction for your keywords.
- Create meta tags.
Meta description tags can influence click-throughs but aren't directly
used for rankings. (Google doesn't use the keywords tag anymore.)
- Place strategic search phrases on pages.
Integrate selected keywords into your website source code and existing
content on designated pages. Make sure to apply a suggested guideline
of one to three keywords/phrases per content page and add more pages to
complete the list. Ensure that related words are used as a natural
inclusion of your keywords. It helps the search engines quickly
determine what the page is about. A natural approach to this works best.
In the past, 100 to 300 words on a page was recommended. Many tests
show that pages with 800 to 2,000 words can outperform shorter ones. In
the end, the users, the marketplace, content and links will determine
the popularity and ranking numbers.
- Develop new sitemaps for Google and Bing.
Make it easier for search engines to index your website. Create both
XML and HTML versions. An HTML version is the first step. XML sitemaps
can easily be submitted via Google and Bing webmaster tools.
- Submit website to directories (limited use).
Professional search marketers don’t submit the URL to the major search
engines, but it’s possible to do so. A better and faster way is to get
links back to your site naturally. Links get your site indexed by the
search engines. However, you should submit your URL to directories such
as Yahoo! (paid), Business.com (paid) and DMOZ (free). Some may choose
to include AdSense (google.com/adsense) scripts on a new site to get
their Google Media bot to visit. It will likely get your pages indexed
quickly.
Step 4: Continuous Testing and Measuring
- Test and measure.
Analyze search engine rankings and web traffic to determine the
effectiveness of the programs you’ve implemented, including assessment
of individual keyword performance. Test the results of changes, and keep
changes tracked in an Excel spreadsheet, or whatever you're comfortable
with.
- Maintenance. Ongoing addition and
modification of keywords and website content are necessary to
continually improve search engine rankings so growth doesn’t stall or
decline from neglect. You also want to review your link strategy and
ensure that your inbound and outbound links are relevant to your
business. A blog can provide you the necessary structure and ease of
content addition that you need. Your hosting company can typically help
you with the setup/installation of a blog.
