Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Being able to create a website for your organisation or having someone build it for you is only the first step to having a presence on the web. The next step is being found by optimising your web presence to be found by search engines. This is called “Search Engine Optimisation” or “SEO”

There are many companies who offer this as a paid service but sites that do not sell products online can normally optimise their own sites.

Below are some general suggestions with tips and best practices to ensure your website can be found easier in the Internet and have better search rankings in search engines.

It is not an article about maximising income from online adverts or selling products. Nor is this a complete guide on Search Engine Optimisation. A whole book could be written about SEO, so the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of some of the basics that will allow your organisation to gain immediate benefits to your SEO.

1. Why have a website when Facebook and other social media is free and search engine friendly?

There are a number of benefits from your organisation having their own website.

Firstly, you own the information and content on your own website. All information and photos etc. that you add to sites such as Facebook immediately become the property of the site you have submitted the media to.

Then -- as we recently saw with other free Internet services including Yahoo Geocities hosting, domain name shortners and Twitter business services -- they can cease operation with little or no notice resulting in loss of information and inconvenience to the users.

Your own website also gives you a central spot on the Internet that you can base all of your services and online presence from. You also have full ownership and control of your own site.

By using sub domains to your social media and various other online services will also increase your SEO and be in control of your online presences.

2. Google Website Tools

The most powerful and free option for SEO is the Google suite of Web Master tools. It is also the first logical choice to use these tools as Google is currently the major search engine.

(a) Google Analytics

Will allow you to analyse your traffic and where it is coming from including what people are looking at, downloading and where they came from and went to from your site. This information will also allow you to make any changes to your site based on your visitors habits. Maybe you will notice you should move contact information to the page that the most of your visitors leave your site from.

Google Analytics as with all the other Google tools requires a Google Account and is accessible from: http://www.google.com/analytics/

There are a number of online videos and tutorials to explain how to maximise use of Google Analytics including: http://www.google.com/analytics/tour.html.

The interface can look daunting. But all you require is the basic information of who is visiting your site, for how long and what they are looking at.

To install Google Analytics in your site:

1. Log in to Google
2. Select Analytics
3. Complete the form with the web site you want to track (you must have access to the web site and files).
4. Copy the code Google provides
5. Paste the code directly before the </body> tage in all of your web site pages that you want tracked.
6. Go back to your Analytics account and verify that the code was copied correctly and follow the online instructions.

There are a number of advanced options for Google Analytics that will not be covered here. But if you spend some time looking around and experimenting you may find new helpful features for your website.

(b) Google Web Master

After Analytics is correctly installed and working the next step is to use the Goolge Webmaster Tools available at: www.google.com/webmaster/tools/

Webmaster Tools provide you with custom advise, suggestions, Google policy on websites and even errors in your site all of which can affect your Search Engine rankings.

Webmaster Tools offers information about how Google accesses and ranks your website. How to remove your site and a whole array of other useful information that every website owner should at least have access to.

Once you have added your site to Google Webmaster Tools it will analyse your website and make suggestions that will improve both the security and your search results.

Common issues are meta tags and Sitemaps of which detailed tutorials are available in the Webmaster Tools website. The other tools mentioned here should still be used as their focus not just on Google results.

(c) Google Website Optimizer

Optimizer is more suitable for ecommerce and business style websites as opposed to not for profit sites. Optimizer checks the success rate of two similar pages on your site so that you can ascertain which style is more successful.

Google Profile
Can help you be found more easier on the web. A detailed article is here under Google Apps.

3. WordPress

Considering the popularity of WordPress to build and maintain websites we will discuss the available Addons that are freely available to mazimise your search engine optimisation. Some companies could charge you $4000 for the same tools, and best of all, with WordPress they are free-to-install with no technical expertise required.

(a) Permalinks

The most important manual change you need to make is the way that your blog produces links to each of your posts. By default WordPress offers URL links to blogs that are hard to read and to understand. For example:

• Default Setting - http://www.ith2g.org.nz/?p=123
• Day and Name - http://www.ith2g.org.nz/2010/03/18/sample-post/
• Numeric - http://www.ith2g.org.nz/2010/03/sample-post/
• Custom - http://www.ith2g.org.nz/PostName

 

All of the URLs above point to the same place, the difference is the various formats that WordPress offer.

 

To change the structure of your URL’s to a format that is easier to read and remember, use the title of your blog post as the link:

1. Login to the Admin Section
2. Select Settings
3. Select Permalinks
4. Select “Custom”
5. Paste the following code in the Custom area box /%postname%/
6. Save Changes

 

Human-readable URL’s are also more likely to gain higher ranking in search results as the URL contains key words and search terms that people will use to search for information.

 

The next step is to utilise the rich tools that will allow your site to be easily found on the web. Make sure you check and complete all the options associated with each of the Plugins as this will reduce future manual labour and maximise your rankings with Search engines.

(b) Accessing the Search Engine Optimisation Tools

1. Log into the Admin Area
2. Click on Plugins
3. Click on Add New
4. Search and install the following add-ons.

 

All in One SEO Pack

This is an all in one SEO tool to boost your search rankings by offering a user-friendly interface to add meta tags, search engine descriptions and titles to your posts. But this does rely on the content person filling in all of the details when submitting new blog posts.

 

AskApache Google 404

Creates a custom error page when a user types the wrong URL or if you have moved a page in your site. AskApache uses the Google Search engine to offer alternative suggestions to the missing page. You should on check your Google Analytics account for missing pages a regular basis.

 

FD Feedburner Plugin

A plugin that allows your WordPress blog to be directly subscribed to via FeedBurner (see Section below on FeedBurner).

 

Google Analyticator

Automatically installs Goolge Analytics into your WordPress blog. Statistics are viewable from within your Admin area of your blog. The interface is more user friendly than the Google Analytics interface.

 

Google XML Sitemaps

Automatically creates and installs a SiteMap that is readable by search engines and especially Google and increases your sites chances of being fully indexed.

 

(c) Other SEO Tips for WordPress

Use the Categories and Tags options for all of your blog posts. This will ethically allow you to maximise your usage of keywords hence making it easier for Search Engines to find your site.

 

Comment on other blog posts and leave your blog URL if applicable, especially when someone is asking for assistance or information that is available on your WordPress site.

 

4. Feedburner RSS

FeedBurner is a statistical service for Bloggers and Podcasts. It allows you to integrate your RSS subscriptions through its service so that you can view how many subscribers you have.

 

It also allows you to see trends in your RSS subscriptions based on what blogs you have written thus allowing you to write content that your readers prefer to read.

 

Feedburner is a free service and available from either your Google account or by visiting: www.feedburner.com . At the time of writing there is some merging of sites occurring since Google acquired FeedBurner. It is recommended that you have a Google Account to use FeedBurner.

 

5. Bing Webmaster Tools

Like Google, Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine offers a comprehensive set of tools for testing and improving your sites rankings within the Bing Search engine:

http://www.bing.com

 

You should consider optimising your website for both search engines as the search engine market can fluctuate. For those who have been on the Internet for some time will remember when Yahoo was the major search engine and Google was nothing. Then almost immediately Google became the new super power.

 

To access Bing Webmaster Tools you will need a Windows Live ID or hotmail address to login at: http://www.bing.com/webmaster . To sign up for a login visit: http://www.msn.com

 

You should register all of your websites within the Bing Webmaster tools area. You will need to have access to your web server to upload a file generated by Bing then you will need to confirm that Bing can access your site.

 

Many of the Bing Webmaster Tools are similar to the Google Webmaster Tools but in a different user interface that is less cluttered than Goolge.

 

Some of the Bing tools include Robots and Meta checker, keyword relevance and tools to make sure there is nothing blocking your website from the Bing search engine.

 

It is important to be familiar with Bing and all of its search capabilities as it is vastly different than Google. This will also provide new suggestions for you to design your web site and on how to present information.

(6) Yahoo Webmaster Tools

A small effort has been made by Yahoo to provide some Webmaster tools to websites that are not hosted by Yahoo. If you have your site hosted by Yahoo there is a large amount of Webmaster tools in your control panel.

 

For non-Yahoo hosted websites you can login to Yahoo Site Explorer with your Yahoo login details at: https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ . To gain a Yahoo login visit: http://www.yahoo.com

If you have not logged into Yahoo in the past year, you will be required to fill in a set of new security questions.

 

Once logged in you can add your site to the form and submit and as with Bing and Google you will need to verify your site by uploading a file or adding code to your home page.

 

Site Explorer will analyse your website for errors and key search terms.

 

If you use Site Explorer you should also use at least the Goolge Webmaster Tools in addition to maximise your site exposure. It is recommended to use all three tools.

(7) Images

In recent years there was no need to name images on your site as they were not searchable or had no relevance to search engines. But today, the way you name your images is vitally important, as your website images are indexed in search engines and searchable in all the main Search engines.

 

An example of a good naming practice for images:

If you have an image of Mount Taranaki in your page talking about Mount Taranaki then naming the image MountTaranaki will assist your page and image to be found in an image search. It is also likely that if you call the image “1.jpg” the image will still appear in search results as “image1.jpg” and offer no real value to the person searching or to your site.

(8) Local Directories

Listing your organisation with the many local directories has both search engine advantages as well as higher chances of being found by the section of people who prefer to use Local Listings as opposed to a search engine to find local organisations. Local directories are so popular and widely used that by default all of their content is ranked highly in search engines.

 

When search engines recognise that your organisation is listed in a local directory they will therefore list your organisaiton more highly when people in your country and region search.

 

Below are just some of the more mature New Zealand local directories you should begin with. There are also specialist directory listings that your organisation may meet the criteria for:

 

(a) Google Local Listing and Profile

 

With your Google login details go to: www.google.com/local/add and complete the details required. Also visit the Profile option in your Google account and complete the details there as well. This will by default rank your organisation near the top of Google searches on your organisation name.

 

(b) NZS.com

 

New Zealand Search is a New Zealand Search Engine and directory listings portal. Submissions are free. To submit your site visit: http://www.nzs.com

 

(c) FindA

 

FindA is a directory listings of most organisations and companies in New Zealand. To submit your details visit: http://www.finda.co.nz

 

Wikipedia

 

Wikipedia is ranked in search engine results. If your organisation could have a Wikipedia page you should include one to gain maximum exposure to your organisation and for search engine results. Visit: http://www.wikipedia.org

 

 

(9) Manually submit your site to Search Engines

Manually submitting your site to the main search engines is not a priority any more as your site should be noticed if you use the tools described above. But as a caution you should manually submit your site to the main search engines and any specialist search engines that you want to be included within.

 

For New Zealand websites the essential web sites to be listed with are:

Google - http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/index.html

Bing - http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx

Yahoo - http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

NZS - http://www.nzs.com/promote/

Xtra - http://nz.search.yahoo.com/info/submit

 

(10) Automated Checking tools

There are tools freely available on the web that claim to submit your site to hundreds of search engines. These will cause your website and online reputation more harm than good. At worst, your site could be permanently banned from search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing and your domain name added to Spam Blacklists that will prevent your organisation from sending email that will be received by the recipient.

 

There are automated tools that will check your site for issues that will effect your search engine optimisation. It is recommended that you use these two tools regularly and follow the recommendations to rectify any incorrect or missing information.

 

html syntax – http://validator.w3.org/

This will check that all of your html is correct. Advantages are quicker loading pages, no errors for end users and no issues with search engines.

 

Web Site Grader - http://websitegrader.com/

A comprehensive tool that focuses on how compliant your site is for search engines and offers solutions and a grading of your site. You should aim for at least a 85% rate when using this tool.

 

(11) Email lists

Email newsletters are a great way to get your site information in front of your readers. Include relevant and useful information. Don’t use the free email groups such as Google Groups but opt in to one of the free email list servers such as MailChimp http://www.mailchimp.com that offer fully customisable email templates and analytics on your subscribers. The service is free and automated.

(12) Domain Name/hosting considerations

Choosing the right domain name is an important aspect of your search engine presence. There is wide misconception that a domain name should end in the country suffix, ie, .nz for all New Zealand websites and that a website is required to be hosted in the same country that your audience resides in. Google and the other leading Search Engine companies have assured the public that these are myths. Any suitably qualified expert will reaffirm this.

 

A domain name should be easy to remember and easy to type. Try to avoid hyphens and numbers in your domain as these are both hard to remember and to type. An example is www.thisIs-me.com and www.thisIs_me.com. Two different addresses using what is commonly referred to as a dash instead of their correct terms “hyphen” and underscore”.

 

It is also important to ensure that all of your URL’s are human-readable and contain your keywords. Creating a new page about your organisation and calling it page2.html is not as effective as the page being called aboutus.html.

 

For URL’s that have headings of more than one word, using a hyphen is best practice, i.e. a page with a Title “Saturday Fundraising at the Park” could be rendered in URL as “Saturday-Fundraising.html” or by incorporating the whole heading.

(13) General Tips

 

• Use social bookmarks
• If using a blog add as many Social Media add-ons as is practical.
• As new Social Media is introduced update your tools
• Put text links at the bottom of each page
• Keep content updated on a regular basis
• Where possible use Google or other Search Engine Tools as opposed to other tools that do the same task
• Include a default email signature of your website and other details.
• Name all of your files and images with relevant names and keywords for your site.
• Test your site works correctly in all 3 main browsers IE, Mozilla and Chrome
• Remember popular website creation tools can be bias to certain browsers.
• Give each page a unique title and meta description.
• Use Site map files in your website.
• Offer information via RSS and email newsletters.
• Keep your site up to date
• Add as much unique content as possible

 

(14) Social Media

 

• Keep your social media user names the same and inline with your website address
• Use Twitter to provide information, reply to your followers and follow others as Twitter feeds directly into search engines
• Have a FaceBook Fan Page as this is also searchable from search engines
• Use Google Buzz as it is a high ranking feature of Google Search
• Monitor your online brand and topics you can advise on

• Send site updates via Twitter and Social Media including your FanPage

 

(15) Do Not!

Any of the points below could see your site banned from search engines:

 

• Fill your site with keywords that are irrelevant
• Use hidden words
• Use irrelevant words in meta tags
• Use automated tools to continually visit your site to increase popularity
• Add links to irrelevant sites and directories
• Use specialist tools for fancy effects etc. that are not compliant with the three main browsers.

 

(16) Advanced tips

If you are comfortable making small changes in the html of your website and uploading files to the web these are some more advanced tips:

• Keep your Robtos.txt up to date
• Use ALT tabs for images
• Remove unnecessary html
• Ensure that the Meta Tags and unique on each page.
• If a page has moved then use the .htaccess 303 file as search engines recognise this and update their records.
• Use your keywords as anchor text. Anchor text helps tells spiders what the linked-to page is about. Links that say “click here” do nothing for your search engine visibility.
• Use breadcrumbs