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For any business that’s serious about promoting its products and services online then a focussed strategy of search engine optimisation is, in my view, as necessary as having a website in the first place. The process of search engine optimisation can seem like a minefield though.

The task of finding the correct path to follow can be very tricky due to the amount of information and mis-information that needs to be sorted through. This is made no easier by the fact that search engines regularly change their algorithms so a methodology that was once the in thing is now old hat and could even be frowned upon.

Personally, from time to time I find it beneficial to take a step back and go back to basics. This allows me the opportunity to review the processes involved, analyse their effectiveness and get a fresh outlook on the search engine optimisation techniques I use.

I’m currently in one of these phases of review at the moment but this time I’m also taking time to review the SEO product offering that Piranha Internet provides it’s clients. This has forced me to strip the SEO process right back to its bare bones. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to blog about the main areas which I feel website owners or designers should be considering when undertaking the job of optimising a website.

The points below are no big secret and have documented hundreds of times before by many people more emanate than myself in the field of search engine optimisation.

1. Familiarise yourself with the Google Webmaster Guidelines

Google is undoubtedly the biggest search engine around so their comprehensive library of guidelines, advice and online tools cannot be ignored. Start be familiarising yourself with the Google Webmaster Guidelines, the do’s and more importantly, the don’ts of search engine optimisation.

2. Choose the right keyword phrases

As with most things in life, preparation is the key to success (or at least an easier ride). So firstly you need to understand the theme of your website, who the target audience is and what they are looking for. Is it selling a product or a service? Is it B2B or B2C? This will help you identify the types of phrases with which to optimise your website for.

Next you need choose the right keyword phrases to target. Make use of online tools like the Wordtracker or Googles keyword suggestion tool. These will help you identify alternative keyword combinations and see those phrases that have a high number of searches but with low competition. I say phrases as focusing on long tail phrases rather than single keywords will give you a better chance of getting a higher search engine position for that term.

3. Review of websites structure

Look at the code structure of the website. Does it make good use of meta tags and page titles? Does the content sit high in the code structure or is it drowned out by excessive use of structural code? This is something that should be easy to identify and fix if you’re a competent designer or coder but not if you’re a novice to the game.

More importantly though can a search engine spider follow the navigation structure. Does the website use text links or images, does it use javascript or flash. Have alt tags be effectively used to provide a textual description of what you see on screen?

The ideal is a web standards compliant code structure that uses clean XHTML and an external CSS file of control the layout. All navigational links would be text links and javascript coding would be put into external files. This will result in a lean coded page that is quick to load, search engine friendly.

4. Application of keyword phrases

Having identified the keyword phrases that you want to target, you must now apply these to your website. Don’t make the mistake of dumping them all on the home page and forget about the other pages. View every page on your site as a potential entry point to visitors. Add the keywords to the title tag. Add the chosen keywords to the keyword meta tag and description meta tag.

While the keyword meta tag is pretty much redundant these days I still use it as it has the added advantage of helping you note what keyword phrases that page is targeting.

The description meta tag should be unique to take page and include the main keywords. This is the short description that some search engines display under your page title in the SERP’s

5. Interlinking of pages

Read through the website and add a text link where relevant keyword phrases appear and link these to the associated page or subject matter. This acts as a trap door for visitors to important areas of your site, it helps to boost the relevance of that keyphrase for the page and also distributes a websites PageRank through the site.

6. Sitemaps

Sitemaps are very useful tools. They help users to navigate to key areas of your website as well as offering search engines with a secondary form of navigation. Always include one.

Also consider creating an XML sitemap and registering this with the search engines. XML sitemaps tell a search engine robot where to spider and index. XML sitemaps can be very useful for big websites that use a lot of query strings in their urls.

7. Make use of Google Analytics and Other Stats

Getting feedback on website traffic, where visitors are coming from, how they are finding you and what they are looking for provides the webmaster with important information on how the website is performing. Google Analytics is one of the best packages about at the moment, it’s free and easy to install. So use it.

Google also provide webmasters with information from the XML sitemaps which I mentioned in the previous point. This data offers an insight into how the googlebot sees your website and highlights any problem areas and the number of recognised inbound links your website has.

If you make use of RSS feed technologies consider using Feedburner another new Google acquisition.

8. Content Development

Content is King is a phrase that is commonly used in search engine optimisation circles. Providing visitors to your website with good quality, original content that is keyword rich will help push your website up the results pages. Think about adding a blog, write about your latest news and any industry developments or add product reviews.

Search engines like to see a constantly evolving website that’s rich in content as it gives them something to get their teeth into, provides users with a good source of information and if regularly added to and updated a reason to come back.

In my view content development is a crucial part of the search engine optimisation of a website. It is also the hardest part and requires a massive amount of commitment and effort. Do it right and the rewards will come your way.

9. Link Building

The number of inbound links a website has in a contributing factor in how the search engines rank a site. Consider manually submitting your site to search directories, relevant industry resources, contribute to blogs and discussion forums or message boards.

10. Monitor and Review

Finally, with your website optimised for the search engines, your content development and link building strategies underway, make good use of your google analytics, XML sitemap and feedburner stats to monitor traffic and visitor habits. Evaluate your websites progress, target new or weak areas of your sites offering and continually develop and evolve it.

Search engine optimisation takes time and has no quick fix solutions. Anyone who tells (or tries to sell) you so is most probably lying and their word should be approached with caution. Search engine optimisation is a complex and intricate affair but the points outlined in this post will hopefully help you in the right direction.

Tags: Keywords, optimisation, seo, websites

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Search Engine Optimisation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.