Is your site slipping under the search engines' radar?
 

If you're reading this, you've probably already discovered that just having a website doesn't guarantee that people will find it.  Unfortunately, the 'if you build it, they will come' principle doesn't hold true in cyberspace.  The way most people find information, products or services on the web is through searches.  So how do you get the search engines to notice your site?

You don't need neon signs, or
clowns, or an inflatable Godzilla
on the roof.  You need... keywords!

So, are your keywords showing?

If not, your site will be essentially invisible to searchers.  Take a look at your page copy.  Are the words you want to be found for on your page?  Have you shortened or changed your key phrases without thinking about it?  Remember that the search engine spiders that 'crawl' your site searching for content are just computer programs, and as such you have to treat them very literally.  If you misspell 'wigit', they won't be able to match that up to people searching for 'widget'.  If you talk about 'our super blue ones' but don't mention 'widgets', the search engines, likewise, won't know to make that connection when someone types 'blue widgets' into a search box.  In short: if you want to be found for a phrase, you must have it on your page exactly as you want it to be found... preferably more than once.

Selecting keywords

So how do you know what search terms, or keywords, to focus on?  That depends on your product or service.  Certainly you can think of some obvious phrases people would use to search for what you have.  But don't stop there. 

• Talk to your clients or customers  Ask them what terms they might use when doing a search for your product or service.  You might be surprised at their answers, and you'll have new phrases to include on your page.

• Check Overture's search term suggestion tool.  You'll be surprised what you find.  For instance, people searching for real estate in Santa Clarita, California use 'real estate' in their search most often.  But those looking in nearby Westridge use 'realty' a majority of the time.

• Is your product or service locally or regionally based?  If so, don't forget to include those words in your page copy.  Remember that anyone searching for 'hotels' is soon going to find, from the overwhelming number of results, that they need to add a location to narrow their search: "hotels San Francisco" or "Greenwich hotels".  Don't lose customers by forgetting to include your location, if appropriate.

This is not all there is to keyword selection, of course.  We also use an online service called Wordtracker, which suggests additional related search terms and gives you an idea which terms will be better to target, taking into account the number of searches done and the number of competing results for any given set of terms.

Scoring higher: placing keywords for maximum effect

• Make sure your keywords are on your pages using the exact phrasing people will be using when searching for your product or service.

• Put your keywords in the page's title tag.  Search engines rate information in the title tags as very important.  (The title tag is the line at the very top of your browser.  If you look, you'll see that the title tag for this page is "Website improvement: keywords 101".) 

• Whenever possible, navigation links to the pages on your site should be text links (not images) and include keywords if possible.  Link text is considered important by the search engines, so don't miss this opportunity to make your keyword phrases count.

Don't get carried away

We know--there's a tremendous temptation to try to augment your site's chances of getting found by doing things that will attract the search engines but which have no value for site visitors.  Over the years, people have tried many things: stuffing the keyword tag in the HTML with lots of repetitious terms, for instance, or adding 'invisible' keywords (typed in the same color as the page background.)  It doesn't take long for the search engines to wise up to these attempts to circumvent their formulas, and they either penalize the perpetrators by banning their sites or simply ignore the input (this is why most search engines pay no attention to the keyword tag these days--because it was so often misused.)  Just stick to the rules when it comes to page tags, and use your keywords as often as it seems logical in your text.  Repeating a keyword phrase where it's not needed just makes for a weird experience for your site visitor, and that reflects on the site visitor's impression of your business.

Up for buying a bridge?  Companies that promise
you first-page placement in the search engines

If an SEO company claims it can guarantee you a first-page listing in any search engine, turn and run in the opposite direction.  Fast.  Search engines are continually refining their formulas as to how to choose the most relevant sites, so no company can make such a guarantee in good conscience.  Optimizing your site for the search engines is as much an art as a science, and you should also be aware that there are many companies that use so-called 'black hat' tactics which, if discovered, could get your site permanently banned by the engines.  Just keep it honest, take advantage of the points made above, and remember that if a company's claims sound too good to be true, most likely they are.

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