Getting your website popular is more work than you realize. However, there
are some basic tips that you can do to connect your website with people
searching for your products and services locally. Local search is no where near
as competitive as the general, global search market. With these fast, simple and
FREE optimization tips below, you will be able to
out rank your competitors with very little effort. Check back soon for advanced
tips to really blow away your local market.
- Submit to Google Local.
Google is
the most widely used search engine in the U.S and around the world. Over 60% of
all searches in the U.S. are performed by Google.
Google's
Market Share (Nielsen NetRatings)
Creating
a Google Local profile allows you to enter in-depth business information that
will help people find your business in just a few days. Try an example search of
Podiatrist in
Atlanta, Ga and notice the map and local listings created through the Google
Local program.
Google
local business search results
- Add your company name, address and phone number to every
page.
More and more, the search engines are recognizing addresses
from websites and add them to their systems. Using a standard format makes it
even easier for them to pick out your contact information from the rest of your
content. The accepted universal format is:
Your Business Name
123 Main
Street
City, State Zip
(123) 456-7890
Google
enhanced address listing
- Add an analytics program to your site.
Google Analytics is
free. Analytic programs allow you to track the activity on your website. Knowing
about the people who visit your website is vital when deciding how to further
optimize your site. Google Analytics gives you an idea of where your visitors
are from, how they are finding your site, and what they are doing on your site.
Once this is installed, let it run for a few weeks to get a good feel for your
web site's audience.
- Examine all of your page titles.
Search engines use
your page title in order to determine your websites relevance to the search
terms that searchers are looking for. For example, titles like "Home Page" or
"Welcome" do not describe anything useful to the search engines or potential
customers looking for your page. Consider something along the lines of "Atlanta
Area Podiatrist - Foot, Ankle and Toenail Care." Keep the title under 65
characters (spaces included) and use your most important keywords at the
beginning of your title.
- Submit to other FREE search directories.
Also search
around the internet for directories related to your niche. For example,
Podiatrists have a directory at podiatrist.com. Almost every market has a directory of
websites pertaining to their market, a few searches and you should have no
problem finding them.
- Optimize Keywords.
Start off by asking yourself, "If I
was looking for a business that does what I do, what would I search for?" Write
down any search phrase that comes to mind. These should become your sites target
keywords. The most important ones should be added to your title
as mentioned above. Using these keywords through out your site is the most
important part of on-site search engine optimization.
Optimize your page
headings and body text to include these terms. Avoid "stuffing" your text with
these keywords as the search engines are trained to recognize and penalize this
practice. Your on-page text can be keyword rich and user friendly at the same
time. Strive for a good balance.
The way that you link within your site
is also analyzed by search engines. If you have Home, About, and Contact
information on your home page see if you can reword these links. Instead of
"Home Page" try "Atlanta Podiatrist Home" and "About Our Podiatrist
Specialists." This is a bit trickier as space is usually limited however, this
anchor text is highly regarded by the search engines.
- Create Webmaster Tools Accounts.
Google, MSN and Yahoo!
each have their own webmaster tools to help get your site discovered. Create an
account with each of the three and you can see how each search engine sees your
website, any errors that they encounter with your website and you can submit
your website information to them.
- Build a sitemap and submit.
A sitemap is quite simply a
map of your website. For websites that have yet to be found by the search
engines, a sitemap is the easiest way to let them know everything you have on
your website. Sitemaps use a standard XML format and you can build one for free
at XML-Sitemaps.com.
After you have built your sitemap you can submit it to Google, Yahoo!, and MSN via the webmaster tools
mentioned above.
Apart from your XML sitemap, it is a good idea (for
both users and search engines) to have an HTML sitemap available from each of
your pages. An HTML sitemap is a page that breaks down the rest of your website
so a user (and search engine) can view the entire contents of your website from
one place.
eBay's
sitemap in action.
- Validate your HTML.
Having the syntax of the code of
your website validated ensures that your website is structurally correct. This
is important because having broken code increases the chance of a search engine
being able to read your site correctly. Thevalidators also point out common
mistakes that can benefit your on-page search engine optimization such as image
alternate tags. Image alternate tags are another place to add keywords to your
website. The W3C Markup Validation Service can be found here: (http://validator.w3.org/).
- Add META Tags.
META Tags were once the single most
important rating factor among search engines. Their importance has fallen
significantly, but they should still be included on every page of your website.
The META Description tag is still used by search engines as the text shown in
the search results.
The
META description in action on Google.
The META Keyword
tag is for listing keyword relevant to that specific page. This tag holds almost
no weight, if any, for search engines. Some experts believe that it does
slightly help with ranking the relevance of your content but it is a widely
debated topic. There is no harm in including this tag as long as it is relevant
to your page.
These tips are designed to be a starting off point for search engine
optimizing your business website. All the of the options discussed are available
at no cost to you. Most of these tips require very little technical skills and
can be implemented very quickly. Stay tuned for more technical and in depth tips
soon.