Hitwise reports search engine traffic breakdown… Google is Killin’ it!

Google - 67.9%; Yahoo - 20.3%; Microsoft - 6.3%; Ask - 4.2%; Other - 1.4%

Fresh targeted content and links are the two most important components of search engine optimization. Do the following and you will kill two birds with one stone:

1. Write as many tidbits of advice / words of wisdom / how to’s / fun facts etc… as you can think of that are geared towards the topic of your website. They should be no more than a couple sentences each, a small paragraph at most (try to get at least a few hundred to start - this is why you may want to hire a copywriter for this. I recommend LifeTips. Make sure to do your keyword research so you know what keywords to target. I use Keyword Discovery.
2. Create a page on your site called “Daily ____ Tips” ( or “knowledge nuggets” or “how to’s”, etc…)
3. Create an RSS feed that will present your tips as you upload them daily (How to create an RSS feed)

By creating an RSS feed of daily tips related to your website you provide fresh content for the search engine spiders to crawl daily. Having this information in a feed allows others to syndicate this content on their sites, which will always link back to your site. In my opinion this is the best SEO tip in the book. What’s your best SEO tip?

The summer camp I attended as a camper and counselor for many years is redesigning their website and they asked me to give them an SEO Checklist to keep their web designer on track when building the site. Here is the list of on-page optimization tips I came up with. Think I’m missing anything big?

1. Keyword Research

• While much of the language that will populate the pages of Agawam’s site is most likely pre-determined as a result of the rich tradition of the camp, it is important to know the core keywords (i.e. “summer camp”, “sleepover camp”, “boys sleep away camp”) that searchers are using to find out information about summer camps.

• Before any copy is written a list of 10 to 20 core keywords should be designated for use throughout the site’s textual content, and in strategic places that will be highlighted below.

• Each page should focus on 2-3 core keywords.

• Copy should be written for the user, and not appear to be “stuffed” with keywords. This will appear to search engines as spam, and the site will be devalued in the rankings. Synonyms should be used when possible. 3-8% keyword density per page is a good rule of thumb.

2. URL Structure

• The site’s URL structure is one of the first elements to be developed. Each file name should use descriptive text and be keyword focused when possible.

• Words in the sub-directory should be lower case, and separated with dashes (i.e. www.campagawam.org/summer-camp-activities.html)

• Every page should have its own static unique URL, as opposed to pages that are generated dynamically.

• Avoid using parameters in the URL (i.e. ?, &, =).

• Do NOT use session IDs or user IDs in the URL.

• If a URL is ever changed make sure to use a 301 redirect to tell the search engines that the page location has moved permanently.

• When the old Camp Agawam site is taken down be sure to put a 301 redirect on all the old URLs directing them to the new site.

3. Web Page Structure

• Try to avoid the use of JavaScript. Especially do not use it for the site’s navigational links on each page’s menu.

• Do NOT put textual content and links inside images.

• The higher the text appears in a page’s HTML code, the easier it is for the search engine spiders to find and index it. Save space in the HTML code by copying JavaScript and placing it in an external file uploaded to the server. Delete any unnecessary white space in the HTML code.

• Use Flash sparingly, and with a purpose if at all. If Flash animation is used on a page be sure to provide a balance of HTML formatted text.

• If possible, built PDFs into their own HTML pages.

• Build frequently updated content, such as newsletters, using Really Simple Syndication (RSS), an XML feed that is especially conducive to attracting search engine spiders. In addition, visitors can subscribe to the feed and receive an update every time new content is added to the site.

• Incorporating a blog into the site using Wordpress.org is also highly recommended from a search engine perspective.

4. Internal Linking

• Use absolute links instead of relative links.

• Make a decision on www vs. non-www and follow the same convention consistently for all links on the site.

• Create an HTML sitemap page with links to all the pages on the site. Provide a brief description of the page next to each link. A link to the sitemap should appear on every page.

• Where it makes sense hyperlink keyword focused text within the copy to other pages on the site.

5. Tagging

• The title tag is the most important tag. Each page should have a unique title tag that labels the contents of the page in a concise keyword focused way (character limit: 60)

• The meta description should provide a brief sentence or two about the contents of the page (character limit: 150)

• The meta keywords should include the page’s core keywords as well as any secondary keywords (10 keywords max)

• Descriptive ALT tags should be used on every image.

• When naming image filenames use descriptive language and keywords where possible instead of img_1, img_2.

• Use H1, H2 and H3 tags around the different header levels on the page. Try to incorporate keywords into the headers.

• On occasion, bold certain core keywords.

Aggregating content onto a microsite via RSS is becoming an increasingly popular strategy among PR marketers in the digital space.  Government and non-profit clients have loads of informational content that, if repurposed in an user-friendly manner, can become an effective tool for communicating on the Web.  RSS allows marketers to present this information in a “snackable“ fashion that is appealing to internet users constantly being bombarded with information.  Because of this new strategy, PR marketers need to become smart about the search engine optimization implications of RSS.  RSS and SEO are attached at the hip because of the fresh content and frequent linking intrinsic to syndication.  RSS feeds, however, can become significant search engine visibility assets if utilized in the right way.  Entire link building strategies can and should be built around the submitting of RSS feeds to RSS directories, as well as creating opportunities for your feed to be aggregated on third party sites.  Stephan Spencer gave a great lecture at last years Search Engine Strategies, called RSS and SEO: Implications for Search Marketers.  This is a great place to start learning… 

The information provided by Google Webmaster Tools once you verify ownership of your website (or client’s website) is extremely valuable.  Any self-respecting SEO should know the ins and outs of what Google Webmaster Tools have to offer.  Here is an abbreviated breakdown of the information provided, and what you can do with it to improve your search engine rankings:

• Web Crawl Erros - Make sure your internal linking is being optimized via PageRank scultping
  • HTTP errors
  • 404 Not found
  • URLs not followed
  • URLs restricted by robots.txt
  • URLs timed out
  • Unreachable URLs
• Content Analysis
  • Title tag issues - Google webmaster tools reports your pages that are missing title tags.  This can be extremely useful when conducting site audits for clients that frequently drop tags.
  • Meta description issues
    •  Duplicate meta descriptions
    • Long meta descriptions
    • Short meta descriptions
• Links
  • Pages with external links
  • Pages with internal links - find out which of your pages have a lot of links pointing to them, and which have few links pointing to them.  Then, in a way that makes sense to the user, anchor text link relevant keywords from high linked pages to low linked pages in order to steer your PageRank in the right directions.
• Tools
  • Analyze robots.txt
  • Set geographic targeting
  • Enable enhanced image search
  • Set crawl rate
  • Set preferred domain
  • Remove URLs

Once you have launched a new website your very first SEO related tasks should be to upload the Google Webmaster tag, verify that you own the site. Then create an XML sitemap to sit on your site like so, yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.  You will then submit this URL to Google Webmaster Tools in order for Google to crawl your entire site faster than it normally would without the submission. Happy SEOing!

If it hasn’t already started it will in the very near future.  That is, college kids asking their career centers, “How Do I Get into SEO?”  Search has become such an integral part of our everyday life, that the profession of search engine optimization is becoming far more visible to the average Internet user trying to discover their career path.  Due to the ever increasing role of computers in the lives of kids these days, college graduates now have the tools to become an SEO even if they don’t know it.  I myself went from a liberal arts degree (major in psychology), fairly typical frat guy, to Organic Search Specialist in just a year and a half out of college.  I am highly considering compiling a How To Become an SEO Out of College, providing my story in detail, but I would like to first gauge public interest in such a story.  Please reply to this post if interested in how I got into search engine optimization.  Thanks!