Curious about how to rank well with Google but not sure where to start? Well, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day we thought we’d resurface one of our EZINE articles that was published about how to gain SEARCH ENGINE LOVE. It’s a full time job even for marketing professionals to remain Google-icious, and there is no definite science that will guarantee you placement over time. It takes a dedicated effort of monitoring the top used keywords, monitoring your competitors’ web sites, keeping your site updated with fresh content and back-end work that will help you index, using the Google tools that help you with optimization…plus more tricks…to keep you at the top of your…well, Google’s…game.
Now, it is important to know that Google is the world’s most popular search engine and receives more inquiries than any other. Anyone who has ever said, “just Google it” understands the magnitude of its brand presence. In fact, recent studies by Nielsen and other resources like comScore report that Google represents almost 70% all searches conducted. So, the importance of remaining at top of mind in Google is obvious, and good marketing agencies can help you aspire to get to the top of Google (or at least be found), with some tried and true basic principles for search engine optimization. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of web rhetoric with search engine optimization terms like algorithms, cache, Wordtracker, organic SEO, PPC, organic SEO, keywords, and metatags…to name a few. But it is important to know these tools (or hire an agency that knows them) in order to impact good Google rankings. So, here is our quick list of tools that you can run by your web team or research on your own to help you become Google-icious. Now, these are in no specific order, as they are all equally important to the process.
Install the Google Toolbar on your Web site – this will help you monitor other sites, your site and have desktop access to a very helpful tool to use in many ways.
Organic is better for you. so, it’s not just a truism for eating, it also applies to search engine optimization. It’s always better to get to the top of Google organically than it is to pay to get there with campaigns like pay per click or Google Ad Words. However, if you want to get there quickly (e.g. with a web launch or a product launch, etc.), then a good mixture of these elements is great. And for the record, we’re not deterring you from these tools, because they are quite helpful to your efforts. But, if you are looking for your site to index over time, pay attention to how to get there organically. To define what this means, if you look at the Google search screen, you’ll see listings across the top and right columns – those are paid listings. Everything that you see in the center of the page in the “list form” represents organic, unpaid listings. THIS is where you aspire to be. A study showed that searchers looking for a product or service were more likely to BUY from an organic listing than from a PAID listing, because the basic principles of buyer behavior apply here. People trust organic listings much more than those that are perceived to be ads. Simple enough, right?
Viable Web links – links to other sites and back to your site are a big part of Google’s search algorithms. However, gone are the days of LINK FARMS, where you linked just for the sake of linking – Google’s quite savvy now, our friends. Links are very helpful to your effort, so long as they add value to your user experience by augmenting what they are getting from your site.
Keywords are just about the most important aspects of optimization – so use them wisely. We could write about this all day, but one of the best things you can do is use Google’s keyword tool to find out what words are indexing the most. Now, there is SO much more to it than that, and we will caution you to learn more about the qualifying process for keywords before popping “event planner” or “event production” or “entertainment company” into your site content 100 times per page. Keyword development is a discerning process that must be a combination of specific words that will narrow the search to your site (and deter mass visitors who aren’t interested in your product or service) and that Google finds to be the most relevant words to your product, service or industry.
Web CEO – This is a piece of FREE software available for download that will give you lots of help with the process of optimizing your site and getting to the top of Google. This tool will help you with Keyword Searches, link popularity, PPC campaign management, ranking checks and web analytics.
Site Maps are a Must – Site maps are quick ways for search engines to find your site content. And the name of the game with Google and all other search engines is to give the spiders the quickest, easiest route to your site.
Google Analytics – Install it! – Information is king, and internet intelligence reigns supreme in building a good web optimization strategy. So, sign up for a Google Analytics account so that you can review how searchers are visiting your web site, where they are coming from and how often they visit. This will help you as you build site content, as you will know what your audience is looking for the most from your site (and, hopefully, you’ll keep adding new content to support this).
Wordtracker – This is one of the Internet’s leading keyword research platforms…and another tool that is FREE. They also offer a premium package, but those are reserved for agencies like us who do this all the time. You can download this tool to help you track words that are most relevant to users and build your site content accordingly.
Don’t copy your competitors – carve out your own niche. Now, this is something that we tell our clients all the time from the branding side of our business, but this tried and true marketing principle also applies in the interactive space. Each of us has our own unique place in our marketplace that we feel we own when it comes to expertise, product offering or our services. So, exploit that. Create keywords and content that is reflective of your unique niche, and Google will who you the search engine love.
Be Careful of STOP words – keep your phrasing simple and eliminate words like And, A, the, in, on, of, be, I, me…because they are irrelevant to Google and will slow down the process of indexing.
Web site Design is Key in optimization – now, this gets a bit more complex, so we won’t spend too much time trying to HTML/PHP/Javascript our way through an explanation, but just note that the way in which your web site is set up and designed will greatly impact your optimization. Things like metatags, header tags, alt tags, content, page titles, keywords and all of these things come into play, so be sure you hire an agency who understands these PIVOTAL tools when they are designing your site. Again, we mentioned organic optimization as king, and all of this front end work will help you achieve that.
Social Media – you just have to. It’s a must. – Web sites without social media elements are missing a huge optimization opportunity. You can’t just stop with having Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vimeo, YouTube, flickr and other profiles, you have to actively include them in every aspect of your web effort. In fact, sites with video index almost 40% more often than those without it, and it gives you a unique opportunity to tell your unique story in a way that no other marketing medium can. Oh, the power of the RSS feed. If you don’t know what this is, then you must learn. Let’s put it this way…if you have a blogsite like our’s, every time we post a new tip or marketing trick, our RSS subscribers will get it in their inbox…talk about direct marketing at its best!
Blog, Blog, Blog - You have to blog. Especially if you are in a B2C marketing environment where you market your goods or services DIRECTLY to the public, you simply have to speak its language. You have to engage. Blogging not only gives you the chance to use all the tools above by creating links, keywords, etc. it gives you a chance to be the SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT, (which you hear us talk a lot about – ad nauseam) in your discipline. The more that’s printed, the more your message is heard and seen by search engines.
So, like we said, we could write all day about this topic and still not cover it all, but if you deploy at least a few of these tools in your efforts, you might just benefit from some Google search engine love. If it’s just more than you have time to handle, then you can call the pros – ahem, that would be us, we hope.