Spiders? Crawlers?
There's no need to call the exterminator...“spiders” and “crawlers” are terms used to describe how information is retrieved from the gazillion bits of data available on the World Wide Web by search engine organizations like Google.
Every business wants to maximize the number of ways it can get noticed on the Web - and increase its search engine rankings. When your organization's Web site appears higher in the list of search engine results, it should lead to increased traffic to your Web site.
But how can you increase your chances of appearing higher on that list? The key is search engine optimization (SEO).
JK Design’s organic SEO techniques follow industry standard best practices such as those recommended in the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
Can we guarantee that your Web site will be found on page 1 of Google? The answer comes directly from Google itself: No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
There are several reasons for this. Search engines provide no standards, no SEO firm has an "inside track" with Google, and search engines continually change their ranking algorithms (for example, dropping high-ranking sites out of the top 10 into the lower 30, then back up again...or sometimes not). And you never know what your competitors - or even your partners or distributors - may be doing at the same time, which may send their rankings soaring over yours.
Finally, today's search engines provide personalized results based on your previous browsing history. That means the results you see on your screen may be very different than the results your friends, neighbors and customers are seeing.
So does your site stand a chance? Of course! When JK Design implements SEO techniques consistent with Google's guidelines, your site will have a better chance of maintaining higher visibility on the Web through whatever changes the search engines make. We can also help you increase your site's overall rankings and traffic over time.
JK Design's focus is to increase traffic to your Web site - and turn visitors into customers as demonstrated by your Google Analytics reports. SEO is one way to get there. Other techniques we use for our clients include search engine marketing (SEM), e-mail marketing, direct mail and other advertising techniques.
But remember: content is king. Without unique and valuable content on your site, nobody will want to read it, link to it, or buy anything from it.
How do we do it?
JK Design has put many of our clients on page one or two for specific keywords - just ask us for examples. But achieving this kind of search engine success takes a lot of hard work.
It starts with coding your Web site to be search-engine ready and prepared for indexing by major search engines. These practices include:
- Search-engine-friendly coding techniques: Search engine friendly URLs, searchable text-based menu systems, site maps, and use of H1/H2 headers in content copy.
- Meta tagging options: Availability of meta fields for page titles, page descriptions and keywords.
After your Web site launches, JK Design can also help with these important steps:
- Decide what keywords or phrases you want your Web site to be found on when searching Google. If a keyword or phrase isn't being searched by humans, it isn't worth targeting. If a phrase has too many results, you'll need to change your targeted phrase to something else (ideally with less than 500,000 results - it's better to be found by a few than by none at all!).
- Customize your slug/URL, page title, meta tags, menu link name and headers on each page to target the keywords for that page. You'll also need to make sure the keyword or phrase is repeated once or twice in the content of the page. Only one key phrase should be targeted per page.
- Create original content for these pages that is interesting and newsworthy. Give people a reason to link to you! Keep your content fresh. Change it on a monthly basis. Add new articles. Be creative!
- Encourage other sites to link to you using a keyword or phrase in the anchor text of the link which matches the keywords targeted on your page. Google is like a popularity contest. The more people that link to you and click to your site, the higher your site will rise in the rankings - especially when they link with your keywords.
- Get the word out about the latest news. When you add new content, post new articles, make changes at your organization, or have other timely news to report, write a press release and distribute it through regional and national Web-based public relations and news distribution services and local newspapers.
- Add interactive components to your Web site. These can help make your site more "sticky" to help keep people there - and keep them coming back for more. What tools and unique content can you offer to set your site apart from the crowd?
- Create a social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Include links to your Web site. Keep this content updated. Provide interesting interactive applications on Facebook that encourage members to share information about your company or product.
- Create microsites. These "mini Web sites" can run on different domain names and IP addresses than your primary site. Focus these microsites on specific products and campaigns - and link them back to your primary Web site.
- Don't be a copycat. Avoid duplicating content among your Web presences - this may cause Google to penalize you and send your Web site sliding back down the search engine rankigs.
Want to learn more about our successful search engine techniques? Contact us today for a free consultation.
