A Start: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Helping search engines match website content to those looking for it.
The (un)fortunate truth is that not all websites get the same treatment by search engines. 'Un' if the site in question is really trying to accomplish what it purports itself to be. 'Fortunate' if there is something less than honest going on.
The other thing to know up front is that seo is not a 'fix this one thing and all's perfect' sort of thing. If the best possible gain is desired, then many areas will likely need to be addressed. The afformentioned 'inequitable treatment' is frequently the result of a number of these areas. They are most often either ignored or in conflict.
Three general guidelines can stop the majority of those factors straight away. If these are already accomplished, then the time for fine-tuning is at hand. If not, get them done first:
-- page for page, the content should match the site's purpose
-- the design & development workflows should embrace seo
-- the technologies used should all be seo-friendly, and implemented in seo-friendly ways
Enabling targeted traffic
Simply having a website is not enough. Neither is having an awesome website. But it is a start. Traffic is about leveraging content. Search engines match specific content to those looking for it. Seo is effectively ‘tuning’ a website for search success. Seo also enables easy measurement of the all-important Return On Investment (ROI).
Organic traffic
Traffic numbers are going to range from site to site, so don't assume that any particular amount is either bad or good. Many factors can contribute to this: seo, advertising, promotions and so on. To discuss traffic in a meaningful way, I will use relative terms. If it could be said that Google provides x% of a site's traffic, then other search engines can be discussed on that basis. Given that, Yahoo! commonly provides less than 1/2 of x%. Other search engines combined often contribute less than 1/4 of x%.
I draw these opinions primarily from my professional experience, peer discussions, books & articles on the subject - contact me for a bibliography if you like.
Facets of seo
So, what does this apparent umbrella term 'seo' cover? Like other topics, people seem to have differing opinions on what should be included. What follows are the points that have shown to make the largest differences (ie. results), in my experience.
Page content (keywords)
Keywords are the words that most accurately describe the content of a given page. These are different from the Keywords placed in Meta Tags (item 'e' of the above list). Search engines use these to help return targeted results. Frequency matters. The words that occur most often on the page will be percieved to be what the page is about (not including 'the', 'a' or the like). Checking your site content in this way, page by page, can produce some revealing information.
** This is a very limited introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For a full presentation on the subject, training, or to request an analysis of a website, contact me to schedule a meeting.
The (un)fortunate truth is that not all websites get the same treatment by search engines. 'Un' if the site in question is really trying to accomplish what it purports itself to be. 'Fortunate' if there is something less than honest going on.
The other thing to know up front is that seo is not a 'fix this one thing and all's perfect' sort of thing. If the best possible gain is desired, then many areas will likely need to be addressed. The afformentioned 'inequitable treatment' is frequently the result of a number of these areas. They are most often either ignored or in conflict.
Three general guidelines can stop the majority of those factors straight away. If these are already accomplished, then the time for fine-tuning is at hand. If not, get them done first:
-- page for page, the content should match the site's purpose
-- the design & development workflows should embrace seo
-- the technologies used should all be seo-friendly, and implemented in seo-friendly ways
Enabling targeted traffic
Simply having a website is not enough. Neither is having an awesome website. But it is a start. Traffic is about leveraging content. Search engines match specific content to those looking for it. Seo is effectively ‘tuning’ a website for search success. Seo also enables easy measurement of the all-important Return On Investment (ROI).
Organic traffic
Traffic numbers are going to range from site to site, so don't assume that any particular amount is either bad or good. Many factors can contribute to this: seo, advertising, promotions and so on. To discuss traffic in a meaningful way, I will use relative terms. If it could be said that Google provides x% of a site's traffic, then other search engines can be discussed on that basis. Given that, Yahoo! commonly provides less than 1/2 of x%. Other search engines combined often contribute less than 1/4 of x%.
I draw these opinions primarily from my professional experience, peer discussions, books & articles on the subject - contact me for a bibliography if you like.
Facets of seo
So, what does this apparent umbrella term 'seo' cover? Like other topics, people seem to have differing opinions on what should be included. What follows are the points that have shown to make the largest differences (ie. results), in my experience.
- a. Page content (keywords)
- b. HTML page titles
- c. Logical names
- d. Page code
- e. Meta tags
- f. Referring links
- g. Alt tags
- h. Search engine submit
- i. Robots.txt file
- j. Sitemap file
- k. Catalogued pages
- l. Flash
Page content (keywords)
Keywords are the words that most accurately describe the content of a given page. These are different from the Keywords placed in Meta Tags (item 'e' of the above list). Search engines use these to help return targeted results. Frequency matters. The words that occur most often on the page will be percieved to be what the page is about (not including 'the', 'a' or the like). Checking your site content in this way, page by page, can produce some revealing information.
** This is a very limited introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For a full presentation on the subject, training, or to request an analysis of a website, contact me to schedule a meeting.