Say the words web site search engine optimization and many of us will reach for the extra strength Tylenol. The mountain of information you seemingly have to digest in order to improve search engine ranking can be daunting.
So why do people study web site search engine optimization like it is the finals of a college exam? Because the overwhelming majority of their (and your) site traffic will come from search engines. Optimizing your web pages the correct way can increase the ranking of your website and bring you more targeted traffic from people who are willing to buy your product, sign up for your opt in email list or take some other action. It also has the added bonus of increasing your link popularity since many other webmasters will be very anxious to exchange links with a high ranking site.
But do you really have to take a postgraduate course to learn search engine optimization seo ? Not necessarily. There are some basic tweaks that you can make right now to your web pages that have the potential to increase your search engine rank.
1. Web Site Content
If you want to know how to take some of the complexity out of web site search engine optimization this is it. I am sure you have seen many a site with dazzling graphics and awesome multimedia slideshows. None of that means anything, without good unique web site content. Have at least a minimum of 300 words per page. Also make sure your text is in HTML which stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Don't let this throw you. HTML is the way search engines read your webpages. If you want to learn html, I recommend the website of Dave Kristula at davesite.com . The main thing to focus on is writing quality useful web site content that will please your visitors as well as the search engines.
2. Keyword Search Terms
This is the reason eighty percent of your site traffic comes from search engines. If the internet is the information superhighway then keyword search terms are the guide posts. Choosing the right ones can be a science all its own. Use the free overture keyword (keyword) research tool to find terms relevant to your site content that people are looking for. Higher search results mean more competition. There is plenty of profit to be made in utilizing keywords that get anywhere from 500 to 5000 searches per month. You should then compile a list and use these keywords on every page of your website including the title.
However do not go overboard. Keyword stuffing is a red flag to the search engines. It reminds them too much of the many automatic website builders that scrape content from other sites and create web pages overloaded with keywords and little else. Keep focused on providing useful information and use the keyword search terms where relevant.
3. Meta Tag Optimization
Five years ago, I would have told you meta tag optimization was essential to your webpage. Nowadays search engines rank the importance of meta tags very low. Some do not consider them at all. So why use them? Because even if they a make up a small part of a search engine's ranking formula, that is an extra advantage for you.
Meta tags are usually located at the top of a website. Just open your webpage in a browser window, click view on your menu bar and then select source. This is the HTML version of the webpage. You can also do this with FrontPage, Dreamweaver or any other web site building software. Find where it says meta name= keywords content and place your keywords between the empty quotations. Do the same with meta name = description and place a brief site description between the quotations. Meta tag optimization may have lost much of its importance but every little bit helps.
A good search engine ranking is important for any online business. While there is a lot to learn concerning website search engine optimization, just start with the simple steps we mentioned above. Keep in mind that if you give any web site search engine precisely what they want, they in turn will reward you with more site traffic and customers ready to take a look at your offer.
Author: Daryl Campbell
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
On Site Search Optimization - 11 Practical Tips
Google has raised the bar. If you misspell a word, it tells you. If you perform
a search returning millions of results, they prioritize the results by showing
you the most relevant page (usually). Compare that to most internal site search
features on eCommerce sites. Not only can they not handle misspellings, they
usually to a poor job of ranking results. Combine a poor site search feature
with a confusing navigation, and you've got a usability nightmare.
Why optimize your internal site search? For one, some research suggests internal site search users convert 3 times better than users who don't use search, assuming their query returns relevant results.
Below I've gathered up 11 ideas for improving your internal site search
feature.
Know What Visitors are Searching For: Optimizing internal site search begins with understanding what visitors are searching for, how often, and why. Do users resort to site search because of poor site navigation? Are certain queries performed over and over? Your website analytics must answer these questions (Google analytics recently launched a site search feature). In addition, track what percentage of search queries return no results. As you improve this feature, you’ll have a metric to benchmark your progress.
Intelligent Search Suggestions: An intelligent site search feature, that suggests common searches as you type, is an excellent usability feature that can prevent website visitors from making queries that return no results
or irrelevant items. Checkout Foodnetwork for a great working example of an AJAX intelligent search feature.
Show Non-Product Results: If you analyze your log files, you’ll likely find that many search queries using your internal site search are not related to products. For example, visitors will commonly search for terms such as “return policy” or “employment.” Make sure your site search can display results from your site content as well as your product database.
Handle SEO Keyword Searches: If you rely on SEO or PPC to drive site traffic, make sure that your internal site search can return results for the keyword phrases you rank for or bid on. For example, if your site ranks for “ipod accessories”, you may find that visitors immediately perform that same query on your internal site search. If the search returns no results, you’ll probably lose your visitor.
Filter by Department, Size, & Color: It can be frustrating when a site search query returns too many results. Allow your visitors to filter down the results to increase the relevancy. Common filter criteria are age, product
department, color, and size.
Sorting by Price, Age, & Rating: At times, prioritizing search results is more important than narrowing them down. Many customers will expect to be able to sort by price, the newness of the products, or user submitted ratings.
Handle Misspelled Search Terms: By analyzing searches that return no results, you should be able to identify commonly misspelled search terms. Because search engines such as Google have become sophisticated enough to
suggest corrected spellings of words, your customer may expect the same from your site.
Eliminate Expired Page Errors: There’s nothing worse than hitting the back button on a browser, and getting “This page has expired” error. This preventable error occurs frequently on search pages that submit queries via the “post” method.
Search by Item Number: Make sure your site search can handle item number queries. When a user enters an item number that matches a product in your inventory, take them directly to the product page rather than the search results.
Show Last Search Query in Search Box: After a user performs a search, populate the search form field with the exact query the customer entered. This will allow them to realize if they make a typo when searching, and easily adjust the search query.
Focus on Short Tail Searches: While long tail searches have been the focus of organic SEO for quite some time, you may find it more effective to optimize for more frequently searched keywords. You may find that a small percentage of unique queries make up a large portion of overall queries. In other words, grab some low-hanging fruit by optimizing for the most frequently searched terms on your site.
Author: Justin Palmer
a search returning millions of results, they prioritize the results by showing
you the most relevant page (usually). Compare that to most internal site search
features on eCommerce sites. Not only can they not handle misspellings, they
usually to a poor job of ranking results. Combine a poor site search feature
with a confusing navigation, and you've got a usability nightmare.
Why optimize your internal site search? For one, some research suggests internal site search users convert 3 times better than users who don't use search, assuming their query returns relevant results.
Below I've gathered up 11 ideas for improving your internal site search
feature.
Know What Visitors are Searching For: Optimizing internal site search begins with understanding what visitors are searching for, how often, and why. Do users resort to site search because of poor site navigation? Are certain queries performed over and over? Your website analytics must answer these questions (Google analytics recently launched a site search feature). In addition, track what percentage of search queries return no results. As you improve this feature, you’ll have a metric to benchmark your progress.
Intelligent Search Suggestions: An intelligent site search feature, that suggests common searches as you type, is an excellent usability feature that can prevent website visitors from making queries that return no results
or irrelevant items. Checkout Foodnetwork for a great working example of an AJAX intelligent search feature.
Show Non-Product Results: If you analyze your log files, you’ll likely find that many search queries using your internal site search are not related to products. For example, visitors will commonly search for terms such as “return policy” or “employment.” Make sure your site search can display results from your site content as well as your product database.
Handle SEO Keyword Searches: If you rely on SEO or PPC to drive site traffic, make sure that your internal site search can return results for the keyword phrases you rank for or bid on. For example, if your site ranks for “ipod accessories”, you may find that visitors immediately perform that same query on your internal site search. If the search returns no results, you’ll probably lose your visitor.
Filter by Department, Size, & Color: It can be frustrating when a site search query returns too many results. Allow your visitors to filter down the results to increase the relevancy. Common filter criteria are age, product
department, color, and size.
Sorting by Price, Age, & Rating: At times, prioritizing search results is more important than narrowing them down. Many customers will expect to be able to sort by price, the newness of the products, or user submitted ratings.
Handle Misspelled Search Terms: By analyzing searches that return no results, you should be able to identify commonly misspelled search terms. Because search engines such as Google have become sophisticated enough to
suggest corrected spellings of words, your customer may expect the same from your site.
Eliminate Expired Page Errors: There’s nothing worse than hitting the back button on a browser, and getting “This page has expired” error. This preventable error occurs frequently on search pages that submit queries via the “post” method.
Search by Item Number: Make sure your site search can handle item number queries. When a user enters an item number that matches a product in your inventory, take them directly to the product page rather than the search results.
Show Last Search Query in Search Box: After a user performs a search, populate the search form field with the exact query the customer entered. This will allow them to realize if they make a typo when searching, and easily adjust the search query.
Focus on Short Tail Searches: While long tail searches have been the focus of organic SEO for quite some time, you may find it more effective to optimize for more frequently searched keywords. You may find that a small percentage of unique queries make up a large portion of overall queries. In other words, grab some low-hanging fruit by optimizing for the most frequently searched terms on your site.
Author: Justin Palmer
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