Do It Yourself SEO

Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 by Pete Hollier in Search Optimization

SEO Getting Started

I often come across small and medium sized business owners who find the cost of Search Engine Optimization beyond their financial resources. Search Optimization is a time consuming and often ongoing process therefore, in many cases it makes financial sense to complete the company’s Search Engine Optimization Program in-house.

An effective web site can be crucial to the online success of small and medium sized businesses and should not be the sole territory of well funded large corporations. With this in mind I have decided to offer a few tips on getting started in Search Optimization.

1. Understanding Search Engines

Before any Search Engine Optimization is implemented a basic understanding of Search Engines is required.

1. Search Engines use software programs to search the Internet and index the web pages found. This software is often referred to as Spiders, Crawlers or Bots.
2. Search Engines review web site content to determine the page topic.
3. Search Engines assess the web site’s linking environment both Internally and externally, this is done to determine the popularity and authority of the web site. More inbound links from topic related sites is considered a vote of confidence.
4. When a Searcher initiates a search query, the Search Engines scan their index and deliver a list of web page results they feel have both relevancy to the topic requested, and authority which has been determined through numerous factors including inbound links.

2. Web Site Review

Generally a Web Site Audit does take some prior knowledge and experience however, at a minimum although they may not be strictly related to an Optimization Program the following are important to the overall success of your web site.

1. How your site looks counts, ensure your web site has a professional look, if in doubt compare your site to those of some of your competitors.
2. Ensure you web site works, check your links, online forms and any sales processes.
3. Review your content for ease of reading and relevancy. A good rule of thumb is One Page One Topic. This is a preliminary review, in most cases content will require editing during the Search Optimization process.

3. Search Engine Optimization Tools

Search Engine Optimization Software is well worth the investment, considering the savings your company has made by deciding to complete your own SEO, software provides a high ROI. Some of the tools to consider are:

1. WebCeo: Offers and excellent free product which will assist you to complete numerous Search Optimization Tasks.
2. Internet Business Process IBP: Offers some excellent tools to assist you in the optimization of your content and to complete competitive analysis.
3. WebPosition4: Excellent reporting software used to assess your web site search visibility. Also a Page Critic product which helps to develop textual content which matches the current high visibility web pages for specific keywords and phrases.
4. Firefox Browser with SeoQuake installed assists with competitive analysis.

4. Keyword Research

I consider keyword research one of the most important aspects of Search Engine Optimization. Keyword Research and Analysis identifies the keywords used by Internet users to find the products, services and information they are looking for. The analysis of the keyword lists you develop identifies the keywords you should be integrating and optimizing into web site content.

1. Develop preliminary keyword lists using tools such as; Google Adwords Keyword Tool, Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker.
2. Evaluate keywords for Monthly Search Volumes, look for high volume keywords.
3. Evaluate the competitive nature of the keywords using Google Search for exact phrase (put your keywords in quotes ("") The number of results in top right corner of results page is the competition. Prepare yourself for some very large numbers and keep searching looking for terms with less competition.
4. Using Search again with Firefox and SeoQuake evaluate the competitiveness of the web pages currently competing for selected keywords and compare to your own site results. Check; Google Page Rank, Link domain Back links, Alexa Ranking and Domain Age. Some of these are directly related to Search Results positioning others such as Alexa Rank provide an indication of the web site traffic volumes.

5. Content Development

On completion of your Keyword Research and Analysis you will have selected a list of keywords which you will be using in the optimization of your web site content and elements.

1. Include keywords in Page Title, Description Keyword Tag and when possible the web site’s URL.
2. Integrate the keywords into Page Content. Use in Headings, Sub Headings and general content. Do not overuse.
3. Include keywords in the Image ALT tags.

6. Link Building

Links leading to your web site are an absolute necessity if you are ever likely to have consistent visibility in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and the more the better. As you work through the process and competitive analysis in Keyword Research you will begin to see for yourself the importance of your link building program.

Using software to assist in the development in Link building is recommenced and WebCEO previously mentioned provides some of the tools necessary. However, there are times when manual Link Building is required which involves the following steps;

1. Search for a desired keyword and review Search results for possible link partners, send link request email.
2. Search competitors using Yahoo Link Domain and review web sites currently linking to competing web sites, select possible link partners and email a request.
3. Develop high value content with topical relevance to encourage others to Link to your web site. Blogs, Press Releases and Article Submissions are all valuable link building tools.
4. Submit your web site to topical or geographically relevant Directories.

The Last Word

It must be noted that the above is a general overview of some of the more important Search Engine Optimization tasks and is not meant to be a comprehensive representation of the Search Engine Optimization Process. However, the above does offer an excellent introduction to the primary tasks you will be required to complete as you work through your Search Engine Optimization Program.

Don’t become overwhelmed by the volume of work which needs to be completed. By breaking down the process into incremental steps you will find that you are able to make steady and manageable progress with your Search Engine Optimization Program.

Need some more help? SeoWizardry has developed a Step by Step Guide to Search Engine Optimization offering a unique and affordable SEO Solution for Small and Medium sized businesses. And to celebrate the holiday season SeoWizardry is including a complimentary Competitive Page Rank Report with your purchase.

Written by: pete@seowizardry.ca a Search Engine Optimization Consultant

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