BUILDING
AND PLACING KEYWORDS
You can have the best
site in the whole world, but if no one can find it, it doesnt do anyone any
good. Search engine optimization is the process of tweaking a page so that it
ranks higher on search engines. Often ignored, search engine optimization (SEO)
is one of the most important things you can do for your client. Youll have an
edge over your fellow web designers, most of which are totally ignorant of how
search engines really work.
The most important part
of optimizing a page for search engines is deciding what search phrases you
want your site to rank high for. These phrases are key, and theyre called
"Keyword Phrases." Nice, eh? Although
the homepage is most important, each page can be optimized to catch searches
for different keyword phrases.
Search engines are
constantly changing the way they work in order to provide better service to
their users, so things change pretty quickly. If you intend to stay on top of
things, youll probably what to spend some time at the largest search engine
online community: www.searchengineforums.com
Follow me now, through
the strange and wonderful world of:
Ahem
SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMIZAAAAATION!
</silly>
Choosing Keywords To Target
Youll have to pick the
keywords you want to rank high for. The easiest way to start is to ask yourself
and the client:
What are the sites
goals? What are individual page goals?
Make a list of the goals
for each of the pages you intend to optimize. Goals will help you to imagine
what people will type to find a page like the one youre working on.
Then:
- Ask
the client to compile a list of word phrases they feel represent their
business and services.
a.
The following is a letter I send to clients to help
determine their needs. The letter also asks for information on partnerships the
business has, which allows you to build links, and also gives you leads on new
clients. J
Hello,
My name is David Lieberman. I'll be heading up the Search Engine Placement work for
your site with the design team. My primary objective is to promote [businesss
name]s online identity, distinguishing your company as a leader in its
industry by promoting the sales of its [products/services], inviting
potential partnerships with other organizations, and greatly increasing its
search engine ranking for industry specific keywords and keyword phrases.
I have some specific questions that will help me understand your business and
allow us to build you a profitable site. Not to be overly dramatic, but the
answers you provide will determine the overall direction and business
objectives for your site, so please consider each question carefully before
you answer. If youd rather discuss these questions with me in person, let me
know and well set up a phone appointment. If you have any questions or
concerns, please do not hesitate to bring them to my attention.
What is the major goal youd like your site to achieve?
What are some of the other goals you would like your site to achieve?
(Please list in order of importance, if possible)
Please describe what the majority of your current clients are like.
Would you like to expand your business into other client demographic(s)?
If so, please describe.
What characteristic of your business do you think first
time clients are most impressed with?
Do you currently have any partnerships or mutually beneficial relationships
with other companies? If so, please list the companies, their contact
information, industry, and web addresses. This information will help us to
begin building you a network of worldwide web-partnerships.
Imagine that you are a person who is looking for a service like yours. What
phrases might you type into a search engine? (**This is a very important
question! Please list as many search phrases as you can think of.)
I look forward to your reply. If there is anything I can do to help you
answer the above questions please let me know. I am very excited about this
project and truly feel that we will make a major impact on your business.
Sincerely,
David Lieberman
Search Engine Placement Expert
|
It is important to
brainstorm in person or on the phone with the client. Your outside view of
their business is often important.
- If
the client already owns a site, look through the current copy text to see
if there are keyword phrases you may have missed that occur naturally. You can use the "analyze keywords" tool at web design course to
help you spot naturally occurring keywords. Add any good keyword phrases
to your list.
- Test
your keyword list at Overture and WordTracker to see if people really
search for them.
- Overture.com
sells keyword-specific advertising. They have a handy tool that lets you
see how many people searched the engines for certain terms during a given
month. You can get some great suggestions by checking out overture
results.
- Word tracker is a special service that helps you
find the best keywords for your website, and also checks to see
how much competition you'll have for those words. You can find words and
phrases that lots of people search for, but that other web pages don't
list in their site! You can use their limited version for free. The Full
version is $200.00 a year, and well worth it, too (because it lets you
gauge competition for certain keywords).
http://www.wordtracker.com
**Tip on Using Overture and WordTracker:
Start testing your keyword phrases at a root level, and see what relevant
terms are returned. For example: Your client owns a tattoo parlor. A
search for tattoo parlor in Overture returns 2,585 searches, but a search
for Tattoo (the root level term in tattoo parlor), also returns Tattoo
Design, which has a much more desirable 59,389 searches.
- Double
check your keyword phrases by searching for "relevant" searches in search
engines. Overture and WordTracker count plural the same as singular
(dogs are the same as dog) but some engines dont! Heres a handy tip: If
you search in AltaVista for your keyword finalists, the engine shows you
what "Others Searched For." These are the top five searched-for terms that
pertain to your topic. You
may find that "Tattoo Designs" is searched for more than "Tattoo
Design." You might get some more good keyword leads, too!
AltaVista, Direct Hit, and HotBot are the best engines for double-checking
your keywords.
- Give
your narrowed down list to the client so they can weed out any phrases
that dont really belong with their business.
- Choose
your most important Keyword Phrases for each page.
Its okay to target more than one keyword phrase for each page, but you
really only shoot for two or three, max. Some people keep it simple and
optimize for one keyword phrase word per page!
Add Keywords To Your Body Text
Making sure that keywords appear naturally in text is the
most important and challenging part of a Search Optimizers job. If your client
already has a site and you can fit your chosen keyword phrases into the body
text without sounding stupid, go right ahead. Otherwise you or a copywriter
will have to create text that not only fits search engine requirements, but
also is humanly readable, compelling, and marketing oriented. If youre using a
copywriter make sure they understand what words need to be used, what the goals
of the site are, and who your target audience is.
**TIP: Dont try to hide words or use other sneaky tricks.
The search engines are on to you, and your antics might get the site banned!
- Shoot for anywhere from 2-5% keyword
density for body text that's roughly 150-250 words long. Shorter text will have a higher keyword
percentage. Dont go nuts trying to exactly fit in an
exact of keywords. Youll have to "fine tune" the page after you see how
it ranks against the competition. If your page is still humanly
readable youll usually avoid the appearance of spamming. Copywriters
sometimes freak out if you give them a percentage to meet. Instead, make
it easy on them and you, by letting them write naturally while targeting
certain key terms. Usually everything will work out fine percentage-wise,
but if need be, you can have them add or remove keywords after theyre
done.
- Keywords need to be mentioned right
away! If the engines see an important word in the beginning of
the page, chances are that the page will be interpreted as being about
that keyword. Make sure that you have your keyword phrases
prominently placed in the first paragraph.
- Keywords should be evenly distributed
through the page. Dont forget the end of the page. If a word
is used over and over again, chances are that the subject is about that
word!
- Bold
text and header text is ranked higher by some engines. You can use the
<hx> </hx> tags to assign heading status to important words
without changing their appearance. Dont go nuts with it or the engines
will know youre trying to trick them.
- Some
optimizers claim that Keywords in the beginning or the end of a paragraph
get more weight. Linguistically, it makes sense that you mention your
subject in opening or closing of a paragraph.
- Try
to use a couple of keywords in links pointing to pages in your site. Itll boost the ranking of other pages.
- Name
each page after it's main keyword phrase. Example: web design course.htm
You can use this letter if a
copywriter is needed:
Hello,
My name is [you]. I'll be heading up the Search Engine Placement work for
your site with the design team. [Name] tells me that you are going to
be responsible for the writing that goes on the site. That's great!
You and I will have to work closely to ensure that the text you write
is attractive to search engines. You have an important job, because
in-page text is the single most important thing that search engines
look at.
Basically I'm going to give you a couple of phrases that you'll have
to fit prominently in the text. It'll be kind of like a puzzle. I'll
give you some rules to follow, and it'll be your job to make readers
"feel" [company name] and want to [use them]. There may be
some follow-up revisions to do after I run some tests on the text.
We're going to start with the homepage text. Search engine first-timers
often find it easier to write out text, and then go back and modify
or re-write so the text fits all the rules. If you have any questions,
or if you feel stuck, feel free to write or give me a call.
Imagine you're looking at the website for the first time!
HOME PAGE TEXT:
Amount: 150-250 Words. Microsoft Word will count words for you
if you click the "Tools" menu and then "Word Count"
Goal: Make readers "feel" why they should use you over
competition.
Keyphrases To Focus On:
Main Keyphrase: "[main keyphrase]"
Secondary Phrase: "[secondary keyphrase]"
Rules For Keyphrase Placement:
Amount: 150-250 Words (best is around 200). Microsoft
Word will count words for you if you click the "Tools" menu
and then "Word Count"
Keyphrases
To Focus On:
Main Keyphrase: "[main keyphrase]"
Secondary Phrase: "[secondary keyphrase]"
Rules
For Keyphrase Placement:
- Use
the keyphrases as often as possible without sounding stupid. Basically,
just stuff them in there. It's okay if you use them more than
you normally would, but the page still needs to be humanly readable.
- The
beginning of the text should be the most keyword rich. Otherwise,
evenly disperse the keywords throughout the text, including the
middle and end.
- Make
sure that [main keyphrase] are the first words in the first paragraph
AND the first words in the second paragraph.
- Punctuation
and "stop words like "a", "and", "or",
and "the" aren't read by search engines. Clever use
of these words may allow you to fit in phrases where they otherwise
would have sounded silly. Examples: "A Belize vacation is
something your body needs."
- If
you can't fit a whole phrase in, try to fit part of it in. For
example if your phrase is "Belize Vacation", "Belize"
and "Vacation" can be helpful even if they're not accompanied
by the rest of their phrase.
For
an example of search optimized text, check out http://www.belize-vacation-package.com
Sometimes writers get so wrapped up in using keywords
that they lose site of their goal - to
capture a person's interest effectively by making them "feel"
the business. Ultimately, the goal for the writer is to encourage the
visitor to not only tour the website, but tour the actual destination
as well. Don't allow the pressure of squeezing in keywords distract
you from this. Try to keep in mind that your goal is to make first time
readers "feel."
When you're done, please send [their boss] or I the
text you've written up. I'll analyze the text and make revisionary suggestions
if needed. Remember to have fun!
[you]
Founder, [your company]
Search Engine Expert
[phn number]
[www.yoursite.com]
|
Remove
JavaScript Clutter!
JavaScript is usually surrounded by
<!comment tags > so it wont be read by search engines. Unfortunately,
sometimes carets in the JavaScript fool search engines into thinking that the
comment tags are closed, when theyre really not. In such cases, tons of
JavaScript gets indexed, wrecking your keyword percentage ranking. To combat
this, you can move any JavaScript in the head to the bottom of your HTML page,
directly above the </html> tag. But, to be even more painstakingly
vigilant (and you should), you can move the JavaScript in the head to an outside
file so the search engines wont read it. Heres how:
1.
For
each instance of JavaScript in the head, create a separate file with a ".js"
extension.
a.
Anytime you see <script language="JavaScript">
and </script> in the head, thats an instance of JavaScript. There may be
more than one instance, so look close! Each instance needs its own .js file.
The .js file shouldnt have any HTML in it. You can create the .js file with
SimpleText or NotePad.
- Cut
and paste what you find between each set of <script
language="JavaScript"> and </script> tags from your
HTML document into the new .js file. You dont want <script
language="JavaScript"> and </script> in the .js file.
Be careful to make sure that each script has its own file.
- In
your HTML page, include a link to the .js file. The link should look
like this:
<SCRIPT SRC="whatever_you_named_the_js_file.js">
</SCRIPT>
Include a link for each instance of JavaScript that you removed. The
javascript will still work, but has no chance of being indexed!
What About Frames
Pages and Flash Based Sites?
Frame and Flash based pages often rank poorly because they lack appropriate
body text. But, luckily for you, there are clever ways around every problem.
When frames were originally introduced for version 3.0
browsers, non-frame capable browsers couldnt display the frames. Instead, they
displayed whatever was between the <noframes> and</noframes> tag.
Like version 2.0 browsers, most search engines do not read frame based pages,
but they can read the <noframes> information, so you can add your
keyword rich text between the <noframes> and</noframes> tags!
Example:
<html>
<head> <title>Frames are
Findable!</title>
<frameset rows="90%,*">
<frame
src="some_page.htm"> <frame src="some__other_page.htm">
</frameset>
<noframes>
<body> INSERT HTML FOR SEARCH ENGINES
HERE! </body>
</noframes>
</html>
Flash pages can be optimized by
inserting the flash page into a frame, and optimizing the frameset!
Optimizing Your HTML
After you get the body text all set,
its time to optimize the HTML. There are a number of different places in the
HTML that search engines pay attention to.
1.
The
Title Tag
<title> insert keyword phrases here </title>
Search Engines give the title tag a lot of weight when deciding what the page
is about. Place the most important keyword phrases first in your title. Order counts in the title. Many people use their company name as the title
for a page. Big mistake. Try to keep the title humanly readable, but if you
cant, its better to just go for searchability.
a.
There is some evidence that repeating your most important
keyword phrase in the title is beneficial (see web design course).
b.
Keep your title under 15 words.
2.
Image
"ALT" tags
<image src="whatever.gif" alt=" insert keyword phrases here">
Search engines dont read images, but they can read ALT tags. Evenly distribute
your keyphrases in your ALT tags. Avoid blatant "ALT tag stuffing."
3.
Meta
Tags
There are a number of Meta Tags that some search engines pay attention to.
The meta tags are nowhere near as important as they used to be, but theyre
still worth wile. Remember that all meta tags must go in the <head>.
a.
Keywords Meta Tag
<meta name="keywords" content= "keyword phrases here">
i.
You can use anywhere from 500-1000 characters
ii.
Place your most important keywords first.
iii.
Dont bother with commas in your Meta Tags and combine
terms if you can.
Example:
<meta name="keywords" content="buying plants online, online plant store">
becomes
<meta name="keywords" content="buying plants online plant store">
iv.
Dont repeat terms too often.
<meta name="keywords" content="sex sex sex sex clown suit sex sex">
will get your page ignored by the engines.
b.
Description Meta Tag
<meta name="description" content= "Offers Custom Dog Raincoats">
Some search engines use the description tag to display a short description
when returning search results. Your important keywords should also appear
in the description tag. Studies have shown that people are much more
likely to click through if their searched-for term is in the description.
Keep the description under 150 characters, including spaces.
Spiders,
Link Popularity, and Spam |
