How to Review your Website? - Top 10 Tips for Search Engine Optimization "SEO"
Search Engine Optimization "SEO" is the optimization of content within the website
Better SEO Means Higher Ranking in Google Searches
- Google PageRank - PageRank is Google's view of the importance of the page. It's generally true the higher the PageRank the higher the page will show in Search Engine Results. You can download Google’s free toolbar from this site, http://www.google.com/toolbar. Here is a good article on how to understand what PageRank means to your website, http://www.site-ninja.com/my-google-pagerank. Look at the PageRank of your competitor’s websites to see how much better or worse they are from your website. This will give you an indication how much effort and resources you will need to spend to compete with websites ranking higher than yours.
- http://validator.w3.org - This webpage allows you to test the pages of your website to see if the site meets current Html standards. Meeting the standards has a positive influence on the SEO of the site. Less than 5 errors on a page is acceptable. More than 5 errors generally means the tool used to create your website does not meet current standards. You may need to migrate your content and images to a publishing tool that does meet current standards, like www.site-ninja.com.
- http://websitegrader.com - Receive an overall grade 0-100. This site will read the pages of your site and give you several tips for improvement.
- Page Title - is the #1 keyword area of the page. The Page Title should be unique for each page, and be keyword rich for the content on that page. The Page Title is not in the body of the page, but generally in the Browser window bar, or in the menu tab. Every Page Title should be unique and promote the content of the page.
- Meta Description - “Meta” means “behind”. The Meta Description is behind your page. It is not visible to the public. Every page should have a unique Meta Description. Try to limit its length to 25-30 words. Google will cut off anything more than 155(roughly) characters. NOTE: Meta Keywords are no longer used by Google so don’t spend time adding them to your site.
- Perma-links - Perma-links are keywords in the website address “URL” of the page. Keywords in the URL are very important in the SEO of each page. These keywords so be similar to the Page Title and H1 Heading formatting described below.
- H1, H2, H3 Tags - “H” tags or “Heading” tags are pre-formatted text, that includes Font, Size and Color. You can apply Heading formatting to heading titles on the page. There should only be one H1 tag on each page. Try to organize the content of your page by using Heading Titles. Here is more information on Heading Tags, http://www.site-ninja.com/format-a-page-using-heading-and-paragraph-formats
- "Alt" text on your images - Alt Text is needed to meet Web Standards, and for good SEO. Hover your mouse over images on your website. If you don't see a small text box displaying text, the image does not have Alt text. If you are using a Content Management System, like www.site-ninja.com, adding Alt Text is required when you add images to your site. If you do not have a good content management system you will need to have your Webmaster add the Alt Text to your images.
- "Wiki-izing" - When you have a keyword phrase, on one page, that can be linked to another page, you improve the SEO for the page you are linking too. It is important, the page you are linking to is optimized for that phrase that linked to it. For example, if you were a hair stylist in Dallas, TX, you might have a page called “Best Hair Stylist in Dallas”. To”Wiki-ize” your site, on other pages, you would mention the phrase “Best Hair Stylist in Dallas” and link these words to the page titled “Best Hair Stylist in Dallas”.
- Videos - Google likes to refer traffic to "Content Rich" pages. Embedded videos help the page to become Content Rich. We recommend videos from YouTube.com or Vimeo.com. Make sure to put keyword phrases in the title or meta description of you videos. You should also know that Google owns YouTube so start embedding videos in your website.
You do not need to create your own video to add videos to your website. About 90% of the videos on Youtube can be used on your website, just click the SHARE then EMBED buttons under the video. Copy the script to your website to embed the video. To find videos you can use from Youtube, use the seach box on Youtube and enter the keyword phrases you think people will use to find your website. You will be suprised that someone has probably created an educational video about the products or services you offer. You are free to use their video on your website.
- Social Networking Icons - This is great for SEO and lets visitors see comments from people other than the owner of the website.
- Outgoing Links - Too many outgoing links on your website will lower your Google PageRank
- Flash Websites - 100% flash websites traditionally have extremely poor SEO. Their content cannot be indexed by Search Engines. Avoid 100% flash websites, and navigation made from flash.
- META Keywords - There is no need to add META Keywords to your website. Google stopped using META Keywords years ago. Please read this article, http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html
- How to choose the keywords to optimize - How to increase traffice to your website, using Google Keyword Tool.
WEBSITE DESIGN REVIEW:
- Homepage layout - Make sure only important information is on the homepage. This is an index page to content within the site, so don't try to education visitor, just quickly get them to their area of interested. Keep design simple, not cluttered. The more content you need to display the less graphical design you need on the page.
- Use of homepage slideshow - takes advantage of multiple messages in a very short period of time.
- Use of images - good for visitors and SEO. Try to use images on all pages of the site.
- Use of videos - very good for the SEO of the website. It's OK to use other peoples videos from youtube.com or vimeo.com, as long as you stand behind the message of the video. Your website visitor is more interested in learning what you stand for .vs you having to be the person in the video.
CONTENT MANAGEMENT REVIEW:
- Homepage "call to action" - You must tell your visitors what you want them to do, if you expect them to take action.
- Secondary page "call to action" -
- Simple Navigation - Keeping all menus at the top of the page is the easiest for visitors to navigate. Try to use sub-menus that stay visible when you are in that section of the site. If you have a need for many menus, you can use drop down menus.
- Html website - Html websites are more difficult to maintain because you must go to your Webmaster to post content. A good Content Management System "CMS" like www.site-ninja.com, allows you to easily add and optimize content.
- Crumb Menus - usually under the top level menu. Used to show the visitor where they are in the site; (i.e. Home --> Services --> Service #1). Crumb menus should be hyper-linked. Putting keywords in menus helps with SEO.
- Landing Pages - Every Product and Service should have it's own page, which is optimized.
- Testimonials - Testimonials let your visitors hear other people promote you. It is very important in the visitors decision to buy from you. Text Testimonials are good. Audio Testimonial are even better.
- Blog - For good SEO results, you should have a blog within the domain of your website. Product and Service pages are generally static. It's the blog where search engines look for new content.
- Opt In Emails - Find ways to collect Emails from your visitors. Offer them something if they will Opt Into your Email list. Make sure they know they can Opt Out at anytime. If the visitor sees you are an authority in an area that benefits them, they will be interested in receiving occasional Emails from you.
- http://futurenowinc.com/wewe.htm - Simple utility to see if you talk about yourself more than you customers
- http://gobbledygook.grader.com - Utility to see if you abuse certain words
- Content Rich pages - Google considers a page Content Rich if it has 300 words or more.
- Footer Content - Google likes to see the following in the footer of all pages of your website, 1) Terms 2) Privacy 3) Sitemap
