Google is typically the top search engine optimization priority for Web site owners. Here are four best practices for optimizing your Web site for improved organic rankings with Google:
1. Make your Web site indexable. A Web site first must be indexable in Google’s search results. Technologies such as JavaScript and Flash can impede Google from indexing a Web site. Pages behind forms also are typically not indexed because Google cannot fill out forms on a Web site.
If you want to include Flash or JavaScript content and make it indexable, add the key components of that content into the <noscript> tag on that page, as Google can read the information contained in that tag. If you have content behind forms that needs to be indexed, provide ways for Google to reach the same content without filling out the form — perhaps a link from your site map directly to the content.
2. Select appropriate keywords. Another important element to Google is how often a keyword appears in the Web page’s content. Choose keywords that reflect what your site is about and have ample search volume. A good tool for finding keywords is Google’s keyword tool.
3. Include these keywords in site content. How often a keyword appears in Web site content is fundamental to the way Google ranks a Web site. After all, how does Google know what subject a Web site is about if the words contained within the site don't communicate that message?
The eight main areas of Web site pages where targeted keywords should appear include the following:
- file name;
- title tag;
- meta keyword;
- meta description;
- heading tags (H1, H2, etc.);
- bold text;
- link text; and
- overall body copy.
Each area of a Web page carries a different ranking weight in the Google algorithm. For instance, it’s widely believed that Google highly values keywords appearing in title tags, perhaps more than keywords appearing in meta keyword tags.
4. Build inbound links to your Web site, with links containing your keywords in the anchor text. An inbound link is a hyperlink from one domain to another. The quantity and anchor text of inbound links have great bearing on organic rankings in many search engines. Google highly values inbound links as part of its ranking algorithm, perhaps more than any other algorithm ranking factor. The Google PageRank overview explains, “in essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.”
Even a Web site with the most inbound links may not rank at the top position for its target keyword searches in Google. While the quantity of inbound links is important to Google, it’s the total number of inbound links with specific anchor text that has the greatest effect on Google rankings. The more inbound links that contain a given targeted keyword, the more likely the Web site will rank high with Google for that keyword term.
Janet Driscoll Miller is president, CEO and lead search strategist of Search Mojo, a Charlottesville, Va.-based search engine marketing firm specializing in SEO and pay-per-click ad management. Reach Janet at her company blog or Twitter (@janetdmiller).
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