Archive for the ‘SEO’ category

Winning Better Keyword Phrases – SEO Case Study

March 4th, 2010

Search Engine Optimization is a game that requires patience and a plan. It’s very unlikely that a new site will rank highly for a sought-after keyword, especially in a highly competitive industry.

Last year I took on a new site that wanted to compete for a page one spot for the phrase ‘Security Guards’. The initial keyword research made it clear this client was not going to compete for that term, and I persuaded the client to try for a lesser term and build up over time.

We developed a year long plan to achieve security guards london. But on the way to achieving it, we’d first go for the easy ‘SIA Licensed Guards’. And then build toward ‘London Security Guards’.

We’ve achieved the first goal, and will soon achieve the second. The search engine credibility required to get this far has put us in a better position to achieve the main objective (currently on page 3).

This approach is useful for the client because it allows him to see a quick win, which lends credibility to the overall plan in his mind.

It’s also useful for the optimiser, because it improves the credibility of the site to the search engines. This provides a platform from which to achieve the next goal.

In this case, we’re on track to achieve our goal in less than a year. But you never know with SEO! Sometimes you take a step forward, and then jump 2 steps back. That’s where a long term SEO plan is essential. It helps keep both the client and the optimiser on track.

How to make the most of your HTML title and meta description tags

November 25th, 2009

There are far too many rumours and myths surrounding search engine optimisation (SEO). It’s time to set the record straight about 2 misunderstood HTML tags, and how best to use them. The 2 tags in question are…

  1. The title tag
  2. The meta description tag

The Title Tag

The HTML title tag contains text that appears in the upper-left-hand corner of your browser. There are 2 nasty ways its misuse can bite you on the bum…

  1. Misunderstanding its importance in SEO
  2. Misunderstanding how to use it

The text in the HTML title tag isn’t usually seen by people visiting your site. After all, it’s tucked right up there in the corner. Who’s going to see it? For this reason, it’s easy to overlook its importance.

Google and other search engines use this tag to help work out what your site is about. For that reason, this tag should include your main (i.e. most important) keyword. And therein lies the trap that leads people to make a major SEO mistake.

A budding SEO newbie learns about the importance of the title tag, and immediately crams as many keywords into the title tag as is humanly possible. Search engines use the text in this tag as your site’s headline in their results pages.

In other words, people who find you in a search engine decide whether or not to visit your site based on the text in the HTML title tag.

This is why it’s crucial that the text in your title tag gives people a compelling reason to click through to your site. You need to think of your HTML title tag as an ad headline, and find a way to insert your main keyword phrase.

The Meta Description Tag

Some people think search engines don’t look at this tag. And they make the mistake of ignoring it, because they think it’s not important. The thing is, the text in this tag is used by Google, Bing and others as the descriptive information in their results pages.

Once again, people are deciding whether or not to visit your site based on this text. So it has to be compelling.

If the text in the meta description isn’t compelling, it will suppress the number of visitors you get from search engines. It’s absolutely essential that your meta description explain to people why they should visit your site.

Search Engine Marketing

The title and meta description tags are an important part of the SEO process, and can’t be overlooked. But they’re also useful search engine marketing tools.

It’s worth taking your time to develop powerful and compelling titles and descriptive text. Each page on your site should have it’s own title and description. And these should persuade people to visit your site.