Search Engine Optimization
For our clients we offer a simple self-serve solution for businesses that wish to practice ongoing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Using our content management systems and these basic instructions the client can carry out the most important SEO tasks themselves.
Key terms
Key terms are words or phrases that people use to find what they are looking for when using a search engine.Identify the key terms for your business
if you were an appliance repair company your key terms would most likely be "appliance repair", "appliance repairman" you could also include individual appliance names "refrigerator", "washer", "dryer". there is no magic number but the fewer the key terms you can narrow down for your business the better. Using too many key terms in a website makes it harder for the search engine to assess your relevance to a certain category. For example, if the appliance company wanted to include key terms relevant to appliance retail, the addition of terms like "retail", "appliance sales" will dilute the impact of the other key terms.Use your area (town, province) as a key term if you are targeting local customers
Search engines like Google serve search results based on the location of the searcher. If you are on a computer in Victoria, BC and you search for a plumber, Google will assume your are looking for a local plumber and serve you websites that it can assess as being local to Victoria, BC.How to use key terms on your website
In order of importance:- In the text of the page - In the written work of your website (company history, product/service information etc.). this also includes link text.
- In the title of the web page - Using our content management system
- In the meta keywords field - Using our content management system
- In the "alt" tags of images - Using our content management system
- In the file names - images, PDFs etc.
Use of key terms should appear natural
Only use key terms where it makes sense. Don't compromise readability to inject key terms in your writing. If the occurrence of key terms seems unnatural most search engines will penalize for it.
Adding new original content regularly
Your content management system will allow you to update content and new pages to your website. Search engines favor websites that are regularly updated and continually growing. The total volume of content (text, images, video) is another factor. Larger websites tend to rank better. When adding new content remember to include your key terms where applicable.Content should be original
Search engines like Google are able to determined where content was originally published. Copying content from other websites to update and increase content volume on your website does not help with SEO.
Exchange links with other relevant websites
Create a page on your website and dedicate this to your link exchange program. Ultimately what you want to do is convince other websites to link to you by offering an exchange of links. You link to them they link back to you. Each website that links to you is considered a vote for your website in the eyes of most search engines. The more relevant the linking website is to yours the better.Business directories
One popular approach is to create a business directory page where you can add links to other businesses/websites in exchange for a link back. The business directory can be a simple page with a list of business names, contact info and links to their website. Click here for an example.Internal linking
The practice of internal linking is another popular SEO technique. Internal linking is when you link from one page to another within your website. A simple, popular example is when websites link the phrase "Contact us" to there contact page from within a paragraph of text.The best way to practice SEO when creating internal links is to use key terms as the link text. To give an example, on your services page you could describe your services using your key terms, then create links using the key term text to a relevant page that preferably is devoted to this key term. If this term was "washing machine repair" you would ideally and logically link to a page that covers the subject of "washing machine repair". Just like the use of key terms in other part of your site, only use internal linking with key terms where it makes sense and appears natural.