Archive for the ‘SEO Tips’ Category

The Big Four of Your Site’s Pages

If only internet pages could be made sticky somehow. If internet users were forced to spend at least five minutes, or two even, on every home page they clicked to from the SERPs, the work of the average site owner would be a lot easier. A few minutes would give internet users the time to really see your pages, and decide that they liked what they saw.

As it is, all internet pages are non-stick, at least the ones that don’t plant viruses. Users can click back to the SERPs before your pages have even loaded. Your task, then, is to ensure that your content captivates them before they have a chance to turn around.

Your site’s search engine optimisation can achieve some of this. Placement of keywords in the right areas, well-written titles and good design are all things that factor in your rankings, and are all things that are likely to keep users on the page. You can discuss this with us at SEO Consult. The other thing you can do is ensure that your page content is up to scratch.

Your page content needs to satisfy at least four conditions for your target users to spend any time on it. Those conditions are:

Urgency

Time is a factor that should not be underestimated when it comes to the internet. It plays heavily on the minds of internet users, and affects their behaviour significantly. Or, perhaps, it is better to say that perceived time plays on their behaviour. An internet user will happily spend five minutes clicking through their options on the search engine results pages to find information in a bullet-point list which would have taken them two minutes to read on your page. An internet user’s perception of time isn’t logical.

Ask yourself these questions. Why should the user read your page now? Can it be put off? Is there another page close by that will provide the information in less time? Put the important information first, and worry about the details later.

Specificity

Internet searches are performed with a very specific goal in mind. The traffic you attract from the search engines is looking for something in particular on your pages. The clue is in the keywords. Your content needs to specifically address the topic of your chosen keywords. The question to answer is ‘What is the specific point of this content?’

Usefulness

In extension to the point above, the content of your pages needs to present information that is of use. If your page for the keyword ‘dog health’ merely states that dogs need food, drink water and may occasionally need to visit a vet, your users won’t be impressed.

A unique approach

If your site features the same kind of content that is can be found everywhere, why should users choose your site? Your SEO process should include defining a unique offer to your users, conveying it in your title and description tags, and following through with it when users get to your pages.

Five Essential Elements of SEO

There’s plenty of work you can perform on your pages to appeal to the search engines. All sorts of fancy techniques have been devised by the clever minds of the SEO community. If you’re just starting out in SEO, it can all be very confusing. It’s best to stick with the basics, and luckily these are relatively well set out.

If you’re unfamiliar with search engine optimisation yet in desperate need for a good position in the search engines, it can help to get professional advice. It’s also vital to know the basics. These five points are the basics of SEO:

Keyword research: This is the first, the most central, and sometimes the only affordable step of SEO when a business is trying to optimise on its own. Guessing at keywords is definitely not the way to go. Many SEO firms find that their clients are surprised at the results of keyword research, which often turns up words or phrases customers use but their business is unaware of. With the wide range of keyword tools available, there is no reason not to conduct keyword research of some sort, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult

• Architecture reorganisation. You can form the world’s most perfect keyword list, but it won’t have a chance to work if your site’s structure creates blocks for the search engine spiders. Search engines assume that the important information on your site is on your early pages, and tend not to crawl very deeply. When it comes to architecture, simple is best. This can be difficult to achieve if you have a large site, but re-categorisation of some pages will ensure that the most important pages are on clear paths. The important thing to remember is to keep pages as few clicks as possible from the main pages. Your internal links can also boost the SEO of your main pages, but this is more advanced SEO

• Focus. Choose how many keywords you want to rank for, assign them to pages, and optimise those pages with intense focus. An ideal situation for SEO is to build your pages around your keywords, but this isn’t always possible. Shifting the focus of your content onto your keywords is almost as good

• Incorporate keywords seamlessly. This is a lot harder than it seems. Many sites commit the grievous search engine crime of keyword stuffing simply through over-enthusiasm. It’s important to get used to using keyword phrases in place of ordinary descriptions, such as using ‘Smith Co’ instead of ‘our company’, but don’t go overboard. It can help to read the content of your competitors’ sites for guidance. Consult your SEO firm for help with content

• Be patient. Impatience has been the downfall of more than a few SEO campaigns, and is one of the mistakes made by newcomers. When you feel things aren’t working, it is tempting to fiddle with your SEO. This is often done before the SEO plan has had time to produce any results. Remember, SEO takes time and is best thought of as a continuous processE