How To Prosper
In The New Google
Dan Thies | Contributing Writer
Fortunately for SEO Fast Start readers, the key strategies
for succeeding on the "new" Google are pretty
much the same as they were with the "old"
Google. Unfortunately, a lot of folks have taken short
cuts – for these folks, and for anyone else out
there who isn't familiar with the "fast start"
strategy, here's a quick rundown of the important
steps you need to take.
Step 1: Keyword Research: Cover Your Bases
Search engine strategy begins with identifying the
right mix of keywords and phrases to target your audience.
In spite of this, many website owners try to shortcut
this part of the process, and focus all of their energy
on a few generic search terms.
The main goal of your keyword research should be
to identify all of the possible words and phrases
that your target audience will use, including "modifiers"
like brand names, localities, and adjectives.
Although it's only possible to target a few main
keywords and phrases on each page of your web site,
the combination of search terms and modifiers leads
to far greater coverage in the search engine results.
Many website owners, who have followed an effective
keyword strategy, barely noticed Google's November
15 update. By spreading their efforts across a larger
number of searches, they may have seen declines in
a few generic search terms, but their overall traffic
has not suffered.
Focusing on a handful of search terms might seem
like a great strategy, if you're able to rank well
for all of them. However, when search engines make
changes, as Google has done, this kind of inflexible
strategy will fail.
Do your homework, cover your bases, and you'll have
a solid foundation for your search engine strategy.
Step 2: Effective Site Structure
In order for a broad-based keyword strategy to be
effective, you need to organize your website to allow
the search engines to "crawl" or "spider"
all of your pages. To understand this, let's take
a moment to review how search engine spiders crawl
your site.
On the first visit, the spider will fetch a file
called "robots.txt" (see Chapter 8 of SEO
Fast Start, or read the online tutorial at http://www.clockwatchers.com/robots_main.html)
to determine if crawling is allowed.
Spiders find your site by following a link on another
site. Assuming you haven't made your site off limits
with robots.txt, the spider will fetch the page the
other site linked to. Sometimes this is your home
page, sometimes this is another page.
When the spider reads this page, it will extract
some information about the page's content and add
that to the search engine's database. It also reads
in all of the links on the page, and depending on
how important it considers your page, it may add those
pages to its list of pages to crawl.
If every page on your site has a set of links ("global
navigation links") that point to the main sections
of your website, chances are very good that those
pages will be crawled next. Assuming that each of
these pages, in turn, carries links to your primary
content, it will be very easy for the spider to crawl
your entire site.
The most effective structure, then, is a "top
down" or "pyramid" structure for your
web site. For larger sites (more than 10 pages), it's
important to have a site map page, linked from every
page on your site. According to web usability expert
Jakob Nielsen, a site map is one of the most important
features of a well-designed website, and he's right!
Your visitors will appreciate the site map as much
as the spiders, if not more.
Having a clear path of text links to all of your
content makes it easy for spiders (and people) to
crawl your site. Try to keep all of your content within
2-3 clicks of the home page, even if you need to create
a site map to tie it all together. For more information
and examples, see Chapter 4 of SEO Fast Start (Step
2: Organizing Your Site).
Step 3: Develop Optimized Content
Your site's structure is like a skeleton. Now that
you have a good plan for your site's structure, it's
time to hang some meat on those bones, and that means
content. If you've been following the "fast start"
plan, you have clearly defined content sections for
your site, and you're ready to put it all together.
Remember all those keywords we found in step 1? All
those modifiers you told yourself you were going to
use along with them? Now is the time to use them.
For every page of content, you want to use that page's
primary keywords, along with modifiers, in several
places:
1. The page's <TITLE>
2. META keywords and description
3. Main heading and section headings (H1 – H6)
on the page
4. Within the body copy ( <P> ), lists ( <LI>
), etc. throughout the page.
Don't worry too much about esoteric stuff like "keyword
density." Use your keywords naturally, using
different variations and modifiers as appropriate.
As long as you use the important keywords a few times
in the visible text of the page, and put them in a
few prominent places, there's no need to "stuff"
them into any inappropriate places.
For more information on the "fast start"
optimization formula, read my online articles archive
(http://www.insideoutmarketing.com/index.php?p=sections&sid=7)
or review Chapter 5 (Step 3: Optimizing Individual
Web Pages) of SEO Fast Start.
If you have mapped out a lot of content in your site
plan, the task of writing it all can be daunting.
So much so, in fact, that some folks never start,
and try to get by with cheap tricks like machine-generated
"doorway pages." Don't fall for these "quick
fixes." The risk exceeds the potential reward,
and it's not that hard to develop content.
If you're working on it alone like I do, it's a lot
easier to break the work up into sections, and just
keep at it. If you have decided to create 10 sections,
with 10 pages in each, take it one section at a time.
Create 1-2 pages a day, and keep it up.
Spending 2-3 months building a really useful and
content-rich website is well worth the effort. Don't
stop adding fresh content – even a page a week
over the course of a year will represent a big improvement
for your site's users. The more content you have,
the more opportunities search engine users will have
to find your site.
Step 4: Linking Strategy
So you've got a beautiful, useful, content-rich website,
perfectly targeting your desired visitor with the
search terms he/she is going to use. Every page is
a shining example of optimized content, it's all linked
together perfectly... you're done, right? Wrong!
If you stop after step 3, you're going to be very
disappointed. Search engines aren't terribly impressed
with a website that nobody else has linked to. Unless
you take the time to promote your website and build
up incoming links, you'll never achieve the results
you deserve.
If you want to succeed in the "new" Google,
you need relevant links from relevant web sites. You
want as many links as you can get, from pages that
link to sites like yours. So, how do you find them?
First, submit to all of the relevant directories
you can find. Major directories like the Open Directory,
of course, but also smaller directories like GoGuides,
Skaffe, Gimpsy, WebSavvy, etc. Look for any "vertical"
or "industry" directories by visiting the
"Search Engine Guide" (www.searchengineguide.com)
and browsing their directory of directories.
Next, it's time to get linked into the community
of related web sites. For all of the main search terms
you're targeting, take a look at the top ranked pages
on Google. I like to work with the first 20-30 top
ranked sites, assuming that they're all really relevant.
Visit each one – if they have a links page, or
link to related sites, ask them for a link to your
site. Next, look at who is linking to them, and try
to get links from the same places.
Try to control the link placement as much as you
can. A link on a big "resources" page is
nice, as long as you're listed with similar sites.
Links on higher-traffic pages, articles, reviews,
etc. can often bring in significant traffic on their
own. Find pages that link to sites like yours, and
ask for links.
In many cases, the most appropriate page for another
site to link to will be your home page, but this isn't
always true. While you're working on links, look for
opportunities to establish links into your "internal"
content pages.
Step 5: Don't Stop When You Hit The Top!
A lot of folks make a very critical error, when they
start seeing good search engine rankings and the nice
increase in traffic that good rankings can bring.
They get busy with their new visitors, then they stop.
They stop working on content, they stop working on
links, and they eventually stop seeing good rankings.
Then, they start complaining about Google, or Inktomi,
or whatever search engine dropped them first. They'll
shout to the rafters that the search results have
gone to heck in a hand basket, that the search engines
are persecuting them, etc. etc.
My advice to you is simple – don't stop when
you hit the top. Keep forging new relationships, keep
building links, keep adding content, and keep your
web site up to date. Your competition isn't going
to stop trying to beat you, and that includes the
folks who are still ahead of you.
The effects of your efforts usually show up in the
search engines a couple months later. Some folks give
up after a few weeks, because they haven't seen instant
results. If you stop working on your site's search
engine rankings, by the time you notice a problem,
you'll be a couple months (or more) behind.
If you're going to make a commitment to a search
engine strategy for your website, and make the substantial
investments it takes (both time and money), then stick
with your commitment and execute your strategy. Don't
give up too early, and don't stop when you hit the
top.
About the Author:
Dan Thies is the owner of SEO Research Labs (http://www.seoresearchlabs.com),
providing keyword research services to webmasters,
web designers, and search engine marketing (SEM) consultants.
He offers free coaching to web designers who want
to "take the plunge" into offering SEO and
SEM services to their clients.
