My clients often tell me that they can’t find me when searching on Google or other search engines. Why are some websites showing on top of search engines while others are “buried” on the 100-plus position on Google? How can my website improve? I heard there is a medication called “SEO.” Would you recommend it to treat my website condition?
Ivan: This is a typical case of “website invisibilitus.” Many of our business patients suffer from various forms of invisibilitus. While I am afraid that there is not one magic solution, the good news is that there is a simple six-step process that is relatively easy to follow.
Cyri: Yes. As usual, the first step is diagnosis – understanding what really is going on with your website. For this purpose, you may also want to use some of the tools described in our earlier columns (check out www.bizpharmacy.com). Start with checking if your website has ever been indexed by Google. Enter your URL in the Google search box and see if Google has listed your website at all. If not, you may want to go to the google.com/addurl page and submit your site to Google. If Google does know about your site, check your site’s “search engine saturation”; in other words, how many pages of your site have been indexed by search engines (tools.seobook.com/general/sesat/). In addition, check how many sites point toward your site. This is called “link popularity” (www.linkpopularity.com).
Ivan: The above described diagnostic steps will help you understand what happened and where to put a emphasis in the following steps. The second step is the keyword or phrase decision. Learn which keywords people use when searching the Internet by using Google’s own tool: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Decide what would be the most appropriate phrase for your site. Make sure the phrase is targeted. Don’t go too broad. For example, if you’re promoting a hotel, choose “hotel Vancouver” or even “ hotel in Vancouver downtown” rather than just “hotel.”
Cyri: The third step we recommend is SEO (search engine optimization). Having chosen your most important phrase, be sure to put it in relevant places on your home page, including the code. This is how you will tell Google what your website is really about. Repetition is the key here. In other words, use the same or similar phrase in your website URL (if possible), as a page title (“title tag”), in the “description meta tag” and in the “keyword description.” Also, be sure to use the same phrase as part of your copy on the home page, including the headings and sub-headings. You may need help from your designer to alter the code and content of your site as described above.
Ivan: The fourth step is adding the content. Add as much content on your site as possible, as long as it is relevant and related to your business. Then optimize all your other website pages by repeating steps two and three as described above.
Cyri: The fifth step is linking. Make sure your website is “well-connected” with other websites. This is how you get additional traffic and additional points in Google’s ranking. You can add free or paid links to your website by finding appropriate business directories on the Internet. You can just search for them online by entering “business directories” or “free business directories” in Google. Or you can submit your link to the Yahoo directory (ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/) – one of the first and most important directories on the Internet. One additional linking strategy is to ask your business associates or strategic partners to place your website link on their website. This can also be done in a reciprocal way, and it is usually well worth the effort.
Ivan: The sixth step is promotion. Make sure to promote your site by adding sponsored ads on Google, by building your own presence in social media (Facebook, Twitter), by creating your own e-newsletter or by promoting your site off-line (on your vehicles, promotional gifts, etc.).
Cyri: In most cases, these steps should be enough to help you overcome you site’s invisibilitus. If, however, you want to be sure that you’re not missing anything, you might want to hire an SEO professional who will follow this process but also ensure that your website does not have any other problems in its code or programming technology.
Cyri: We recommend to keep adding content and links to your website. Make sure your website content stays relevant and fresh. Keep adding new ways to connect with your customers, such as RSS feeds and tweets.
Cost: Most of these steps are free, unless you hire someone else to do the job for you. The two exceptions are paid (sponsored) links, such as the one in the Yahoo directory (US$ 299) and Google sponsored ads (costs can range from several dollars up to several thousand a day).
Ivan: The generic name is “search engine optimization.” Alternative approaches to SEO include PPC (pay per click) ads, social media marketing, etc.
Cyri: Please allow at least four to eight weeks for SEO medicine to take effect.
