Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process for creating, designing and developing a website for the purpose of communicating effectively with the website visitors and the search engine spiders who index pages for Google, Yahoo and Bing. Forward Opportunities has a search engine optimization checklist that we go through for every new website we build and for every existing website we rebuild. The following are the questions we ask and information we seek as part of our SEO process.
What is the purpose of the website?
There are two types of websites from an SEO point of view.
There is the business card website where the visitors are going to get information about a company because the URL (www.website.com) is on a business card and the company wants its visitors to see specific information in a specific way, with no concern for search engine spiders. Often times these websites have a password in order to get in to see it. Other times the website is totally visual with no information on the home page.
There is the SEO website for a product or service that is created to provide visitors information about a product and service – and the website is built to get a Page 1 placement on the major search engines.
Relevant Information
Once we have ascertained the purpose of the website we look at the competition to determine why these competitors have a Page 1 placement on Google, Yahoo or Bing. What type of relevant information do they have on their home page and internal pages? Since Google has declared their number one priority is to deliver relevant information to their customers, what information is on the competitor’s page that is relevant?
URL Domain Name
We will evaluate the domain name of our client, as well as their competitors. Does the domain name incorporate part or all of a keyword phrase, a phrase that potential visitors type into a search engine query box. We will determine whether or not the domain name is considered relevant information for the keyword phrase to be promoted.
Keyword Phrases
Not all keyword phrases are created equal. More people type in auto repair than they do car repairs. If one is going to utilize keyword phrases to get a high ranking in the search engines, one should get the biggest results for keyword phrases that searchers are seeking. Forward Opportunities will utilize the vast database of keyword phrases provided by Google, Word Tracker and other keyword tools to provide our clients the information they need to make informed decisions in choosing the most appropriate and profitable keyword phrases for attracting customers.
Relevant Information Part II
As part of our relevant information evaluation, we will carefully review the Meta tags of our Page 1 competitors. Since the search engines have given them Page 1 placement and we seek to duplicate this placement, the best place to start is on our competitors’ website. We will take special notice of their Title Tag, Description Tag and the architecture of the tags themselves. We will pay attention to the programming language used to build the site (php, asp, html) and how this has influenced certain design decisions made by their programmer. It is imperative that search engine spiders are easily able to navigate a website.
Community Service
When we go through our SEO checklist, we look to see if there is any community service information provided by the website. Relevant information is the engine that drives the train and information that is truly beneficial to the community at large is always rewarded. A website that is selling skateboards would do well to let their clients know where the local skateboarding park is located.
Third Party Links
Every time you put a hyper-link reference for someone else’s website on your own website, your website is giving your visitor a product or service recommendation or a suggestion to “go check out this website”. Sometimes this website is obvious, as in our recommendation for a Ventura Criminal Defense Attorney. Click on the link and you will be visiting the home page of Dunn and Sanderson. Dunn and Sanderson is giving its recommendation of Forward Opportunities by putting the hyper-link reference Website Enhancement on their home page.
Third party links are the most beneficial to a business website when they are relevant links – a sugar company recommending a chocolate website, a tile website recommending a tile installation company; an attorney recommending a notary.
SEO
Provide relevant information about your subject matter, think community service when you are writing text, utilize appropriate keyword phrases for your home page, Meta tags and hyper-link references and build a strong linking program with relevant third party websites to insure the success of your business website.
