Basics of an SEO Action Plan
August 25, 2011 | Optimization, SEO by Paul Baumgarthuber |
One of the great luxuries having multiple revenue streams affords a company is the ability pick and choose what projects to take on. With our company we try to only take on projects where the outcome is win win. Recently, we took on a client that had just redesigned their website and wanted to focus heavily on the optimization of it. They were referred to us by a former colleague of mine at the advertising agency I use to work for. At the time of the referral they were already working with an “SEO expert” in their local area and looking to work with someone else. After a short talk with owner and a consultant they were working with I was amazed at what they were put through with their current SEO company. Without getting into too much detail, they were basically being offered ZERO transparency as to the SEO practices as well as threats if they were to work with anyone else. After our discussion we decided to work with them on one condition, that they get involved in every aspect with the end goal of learning and being able to perform the majority of their SEO needs internally.
The very first thing I had them do was change all their passwords to ensure that the previous SEO company could not sabotage their site in anyway. After that I had them setup the basics to be able to quantify their advancements.
Basic Tools:
- Google Analytics
- Google Webmaster Tools
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- FeedBurner (for the blog)
On-page Optimization:
After getting the different tools in place the next thing to do is analyze the website and make necessary adjustment to the title tags and the different html tags on the page. The goal when optimizing a page is to create a theme that centers around the intent of the page. Title tags are one of the most important elements in on-page optimization but in my opinion one of the easiest.
When creating the title tags it is important that the target keywords reflect the theme of the particular page and that they are as concise as possible. Keywords at the beginning are weighed more heavily than the ones at the end. Also, longer the title tags and having more keywords present will take away from the amount of weight placed on the important ones at the beginning. As long as the page is described in a short concise way and the target keywords are placed toward the front, they should turn out fine. It is also important to make sure that each page targets a different keywords. The reason being, if the same keyword is targeted for multiple pages it becomes more difficult for the search engines to determine the most appropriate page for that particular keyword.
A good resource to understand the basics is SEOMoz.org’s article, “Title Tag SEO Best Practices“. The hardest part is not the on-page optimization, but what is done off-page.
Off-page Optimization:
Backlinking Action Plan
After we completed the on-page optimization we decided to create a generic action plan that would provide some transparency as to how links are built. It was meant as a basic strategy to provide our client with an understanding that they could then build on.
There are many ways to get links and we will want to use many different techniques to ensure that your link profile is diverse. It is important that we focus on getting quality relevant links. A great way to start out is with some high quality directories like:
Directories:
Also, some other great links to get that also instill confidence in the user are:
Starting out with these different links will definitely help with rankings as well as providing some additional traffic.
When building links it is important that it is done in a manner that shows integrity. With the search engines moving more towards value driven, user focused result we want to make sure that the strategies are transparent and value driven.
Content Opportunities:
Great content breeds great links. People love useful information and love to share it. Also, creating it shows Google and the other search engines that you have fresh content and you are providing value. The more value you provide the better your rankings. I recommend creating a resource section where articles and how to guides can be created as well as an FAQ section. The articles and guides should really provide value to the target user. In addition make sure to consistently update the blog. A stagnant blog can do as much harm as good.
Another way to rank for desired keywords is to create magnet pages. These are specific pages that are created and revolve around a keyword to facilitate ranking for that keyword. An example of this would be: Say you would like to rank for “Phoenix Real Estate” but you don’t want to jeopardize your rankings for “Arizona Real Estate” by making changes to your homepage, a specific page can be created that has content that focuses on “phoenix real estate”. This strategy has been successful in the past with clients looking to acquire leads in a particular geographic region.
Social Media
Social media is another avenue that can be leveraged for both traffic and links. This is a great way to promote the value driven content to your users. Social media is something that takes a lot of work and expertise. It should be seen and used as a way to interact with your users. Social media is another entity/strategy itself. Social media requires its own action plan and set of strategies.
Competitive Analysis
Another great way to find link opportunities is to look at who is ranking ahead of your site for a desired keyword and analyze their backlink profiles. There are tools that can automate this process as well as look for overlapping links. The overlapping links are typically the ones that can easily be acquired. Unfortunately the more advanced tools typically cost money to access. But there are free tools like Yahoo Site Explorer or Google search queries like “ link:competitorsite.tld -site:competitorsit.tld“. The query will show all the links a competitor has excluding any internal links.
Final Thoughts
The mindset that should be taken when working on a website is “what would be valuable to my user?”. The search engines main goal is to provide the most relevant, valuable website for a particular query. Also, it is important to look at your website like a growing entity that requires constant updating and care. Hopefully this post has provided a bit of transparency to the sometimes cloudy world of SEO. Any other helpful tips or strategies are more than welcome.
