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Search Engine Ranking
Designing Your Site to Achieve Top Rankings
Los Angeles Web Design can help you get a top search engine ranking with a site that is designed well and is easily spiderable. Designing a search-engine-friendly web site isn't difficult; you just have to keep a few basic concepts in mind.
Search engines like to spider and rank sites that appeal to users. This can be a challenge for web site developers - to create an aesthetic, user-friendly web site that has not been created mainly for spiders yet still captures high ranking in the search engines.
This means that the main rule of search engine friendly design is the same as the rule for web design in general: Make it user-friendly!
Our design guidelines summarize the most important factors:
- Design for Users
As with content, search engines encourage you to make your users your main priority. Generally, if a site is designed to be user-friendly, it will probably meet search engine requirements as well. - Make your Site Fast
Both search engine spiders and your visitors prefer pages that load quickly. We avoid using heavy and unnecessary graphics on your web site. If we are using Flash, we may recommend creating a Flash-free alternative for users who prefer not to wait for it to load. - Make Your Site Readable
Content is king and making it easy to read for your visitors should be a top priority. Usually, dark text against a light background works best. We choose your fonts carefully. For web design, sans serif fonts are usually recommended: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, Verdana, etc. - Validate your HTML
Search engine spiders don't like broken HTML, so we make sure your site's code is clean. - Check your Spelling
Just like search engines don't like to see broken HTML, users do not like poorly written copy. Before publishing your site, we make sure it doesn't have any spelling errors. - Use ALT tags for your Images
ALT tags describe your images to users using text browsers and to the search engine spiders. We recommend using ALT tags for all of your important images, especially those that contain text and appear at the top of your web pages. - Perfectly functional
At Los Angeles Web Design we make sure your site is functional; neither search engines nor visitors want to encounter error messages. It is our goal that all links, registration forms, password-protected sections and cookies are working properly.
Flash Web Sites and SEO
Flash content has been historically hard to read and rank for the search engines. Times are changing, however. Flash is now easier to index and rank than ever before.
The myth that Flash files cannot be indexed is still around, however, in 2004, Macromedia released its Software Development Kit (SDK), making it possible for the major search engines to index content inside Flash files. Search engines can now convert the Flash files to HTML and can even follow links embedded in Flash.
This may suggest that you can just treat your Flash files as HTML, but we find that this doesn't work well. When converting Flash files into HTML, search engines will use the first words on the page for their search result titles instead of your HTML title. (Flash recently added title and description fields, but not all search engines support them). In addition we do not recommend that entire sites be contained in a single Flash file as this makes them harder to index and rank.
If you're just starting to build your site, we recommend using Flash sparingly. Search engines are simply too important for traffic and using Flash creates unnecessary obstacles. Can your site do well without Flash or just use Flash embedded in HTML files? Few sites absolutely need to be created in Flash.
There are, however, instances when the site needs to be Flash. For some web designers and photographers, using Flash is part of offering their users the experience they expect and prefer. If you're in this situation, there are still ways you can optimize your Flash site:
- Use Flash files within HTML pages
This will help because you can optimize the HTML title, meta tags and other content placed on the page. - Use multiple Flash files
Instead of using a single Flash file to create your entire site, use multiple files, as you would with HTML. A single Flash file gives you the advantage of quicker load times, but spiders will have a harder time indexing the entire thing. - Use new Flash features
The latest version of Flash allows us to input meta data and a title right into the Flash file. Although search engines may not fully support this yet, chances are they will eventually. We recommend using this technique to add keyword-rich information about your site for optimal ranking. - Use Flash tools to see your text
Macromedia’s Flash Developer Kit allows us to output text from SWF files to see how it will be viewed by the search engines (the tool is called swf2html).
Even though Flash files can be optimized, it's clearly easier to create an HTML alternative. Having a Flash-free version will benefit not only search engines, but your users as well. If your resources and business permit, we recommend creating an HTML version to complement your Flash site.
Improving Navigation
Along with HTML titles and content optimization, building search-engine-friendly navigation for your site is one of the best ways to increase your positioning in the search results.
Every major search engine, from Google to Yahoo to MSN, prefers that you create a site to appeal to your users, not their spiders. After all, even if you get increased traffic to your site, it's what users do once they get to your pages that matters most.
- Using web logs
We recommend using web log analysis to determine what your users are looking for on your site. This can be done using one of many site statistics tools, such as Google Analytics or Web Trends.
Look at trends that can help you optimize your web site navigation, such as the referring keywords (terms people searched for to get to your site) or the most popular pages in terms of user visits and amount of time spent. If you notice that most of your visitors look at the same pages over and over, it may be a good idea to make these pages more visible.
Most site stat analysis software also offers you a chance to analyze your navigation by showing you which pages the user followed to purchase your product or fill out a form. Pay close attention to this "funnel navigation." If your visitors tend to follow the same path to take some action, restructure your site so it makes this path more prominent and intuitive. - Using keyword research
Keyword research is great for many reasons. It lets you peak inside the minds of your visitors and see how they think about your products and services. Aside from helping you optimize your site for search engines, keyword research is an excellent tool for improving your navigation.
Analyzing how people search for your products or services can help you organize your site to better meet their needs. You can also use the actual terms you find during the keyword research stage in your navigation. This is beneficial for both users and search engines.
Many sites today have their navigation hidden inside images to make their site more aesthetically pleasing and appealing to users. This is absolutely fine - users are always the main priority. However, Google, Yahoo and MSN prefer textual navigation. You can solve this problem by creating alternative text navigation for search engines and users using text browsers.
The text navigation can be placed at the top or bottom of the page or anywhere else on your pages, as long as it's unobtrusive - and preferably helpful - for users. When writing your text navigation, remember the keywords you found during keyword research and try using them as necessary.
Google, Yahoo and MSN prefer flat navigation rather than deep hierarchies. At Los Angeles Web Design we try to design your site so that most pages are accessible within 2-3 clicks from the main page.
Search-engine-friendly URLs
Every major search engine - Google, Yahoo and MSN - warn against using over-complicated dynamic URLs. The reason for this is that it's harder for search engines to spider dynamic content, especially if the URL contains a question mark (?) or other punctuation.
Search engines do, however, spider dynamic content. Google, for example, can even spider the potentially problematic URLs that contain question marks. Yahoo and MSN are also adding more functionality to index dynamic content.
The main reason to optimize URLs is to ensure maximum crawlability. Even if a search engine has the capacity to index dynamic content, less of your site can be spidered if all of your URLs are dynamic and long. To give your site the best chance to rank with the search engines, you can use various technologies to "rewrite" your URLs.
URLs and KeywordsBefore you convert your dynamic URLs into static ones, consider keywords and rankings. Keywords inside the URL can make a tangible difference in your rankings. If you are just starting your web site, consider registering a domain name that incorporates one or two of your most important keywords.
However, you should never sacrifice the usability of your domain for keywords. There's no point in getting a long, dashed domain that includes your terms when your users are unlikely to remember it. Getting a brandable and easy-to-remember domain is much more important.
Link to Internet Marketing page
Search Engine Optimization (back to top)Los Angeles Web Design Works With You Using Search Engine Guidelines to Increase Your Rankings
What we do to make your site more Search Engine friendly -
Yahoo, Google and MSN may differ in their requirements for web sites, but there are some things all three search engines have in common. These are the most fundamental elements of a search-engine-friendly site:
- Links
All major crawlers would like to see other relevant sites link to yours. At the same time, all three discourage the use of link farms and irrelevant link exchange programs. - Information and content
Search engines would like to see content-rich sites that are created for people, not search engines. This means no doorway pages, cloaking, stuffing text with irrelevant terms and so on. Instead, create a site that your users and potential clients will find valuable. Search engines will follow. - Dynamic pages
Don’t use over-complicated URL structures. Long URLs with different parameters are harder for search engines to index. In case of Google, they may be buried in the supplemental index (backup database). - Static text links
Search engines follow more pages by crawling your web site. To make this process easier, make sure that all pages are connected with a static text link. You can achieve this by employing a good navigational structure and creating a site map. - Keywords
Use descriptive, relevant keywords throughout your web site (without over-doing it). Search engines differ in what tags they index, so we recommend an approach that addresses every potential tag. Use your keywords in the text of your web site, in the HTML title, meta description and keyword tags and in the ALT tags. - Robots.txt
Google, MSN and Yahoo encourage all webmasters to make use of the robots.txt file. This helps search engines know which parts of your web site should or should not be indexed and which search engines have the permission to do so. - HTML
To make it easier for the crawlers and for your users, use well-formed HTML on your pages. - Spam
Not surprisingly, search engines don’t want the sites in their index to use any spam optimization techniques. Examples of “black hat SEO” include using irrelevant keywords on your pages, creating doorway pages, cloaking, participating in link farms and so on.
The process of trying to get your site ranked better in search engine results has become known as "natural" or "organic" search engine optimization (SEO).
Since search engines are extremely popular with users and bring in pre-qualified traffic, many sites want to know how they can improve their rankings in non-paid search results. Anyone can launch a pay-per-click campaign on Google, but only a few sites rise to the top of search results.
Before you can understand how each search engine scores web sites, you need to understand the various factors they consider. These factors can be divided into two categories, on-page and off-site.
On-page factors are concerned with keywords and their placement in the HTML:
Keyword frequency, weight, prominence and proximity
Choosing the right keywords is the first step to better search engine positioning. Analyze your business carefully and think of all the words that relate to your company or product.
Let's say you sell cabinetry. What words would you search for when looking for the same product? Ask your colleagues and friends to think about the same question. This is perhaps the most important stage in your war for a spot in search engines' top 20.
As you think about keywords, consider the following:
- Who needs your products?
Think about who will use your products, then target them with keywords. For example, if you know that people in the construction industry need cabinetry, add words like "custom cabinetry construction" and "builders cabinets" to your list.
- Include variations of your keywords
People will search for your site using all sorts of keywords. Making your site easy to find means including misspelled, capitalized and plural keywords. Always include the longer forms of keywords too.
- Avoid wrong keywords
Do not use "stop words" -- particles like "and" and "the" and common words like "industry." Remember, the more specific your keywords are, the better the chance that people who find your site through search engines will actually benefit from its content.
- Look at your competition
If you have any competitors that are doing well online, look at what terms they're advertising and for which they are ranking. You can get ideas for your own terms by doing competitive research.
- Use suggestion tools
Numerous suggestion tools are available to help you pick keywords and research keyword alternatives. Check out Digital Point's Keyword Suggestion Tool, which has results from both Overture and WordTracker, Google's Keyword Tool is also very useful.
Format, placement and content of the title tag
An HTML Title describes the contents of your web page in one sentence. It's likely to appear in search engines' results and in bookmarks. It's also the first thing a search engine's spider sees on your page. Since your title will be seen by both readers and search engines, it's particularly important.
Your title is the most important part of your page as far as search engines are concerned. Google, Yahoo and MSN also support the title tag and place a lot of importance on keywords that appear inside it.
Here are a few tips on how we make you title tag more appealing to both search engines and people.
Don't just make your title the name of your company. It's far more important for a title to contain plenty of targeted keywords. Although you may include your company's name, including keywords should be your top priority.
So, instead of "Ace Incorporated," try "Custom Cabinetry from Certified Kitchen Designers - Ace Inc."
While it is important to include keywords, we try to include them in a sentence that markets your services. Be specific and avoid using common words that search engines are likely to ignore, such as “Internet,” “web,” “best,” etc.
Although all engines allow up to 150 characters, they will only display 80 characters or so in their results listings. To make sure that browsers and search engines display the titles of your pages correctly, we usually limit your title to about 80 characters.
Titles and directoriesSince they're composed by human editors rather than robots, directories such as Yahoo! and DMOZ don't care about your HTML title. They do, however, care about the title you specify in their submission forms. Each directory should let you know how long your title should be on its form. We suggest a shorter, alternative title for directories that allow a maximum of 40 characters.
Your title's appearanceAll CAPS in your title are inappropriate. Search engines hate it and it's difficult for users to read.
Back to basics marketingAside from containing keywords, your HTML title needs to interest your reader in the material on your site. If you have no previous marketing experience, you might want to let the marketing team at Los Angeles Web Design help in this area.
Use of the meta tags
A meta tag is an HTML element hidden in a document's source that contains information about the document. Some search engines use meta tags as a part of their search algorithms. Two common meta tags are the meta description tag and the meta keyword tag.
Meta tags -- the inside story
They're not the (only) answer
Contrary to popular belief, meta tags alone can't guarantee you high search engine rankings. Based on past experience many believe that altering meta data will suddenly increase a site's rankings. That may have been true in 1997 and even in 1999, but today meta tags have lost much of their power.
When they were founded, AltaVista, Lycos and other search engines used meta tags to gather information about web sites. Webmasters could include these special tags in their sites to indicate what each page was about and for which keywords it should rank highly.
As with any system, the meta tag system soon led to abuses. Some webmasters used the tags to garner high rankings for keywords that were irrelevant to their sites.
Search engines have always tried to provide their visitors with the most relevant results. As far as they're concerned, every user searching for the word "mp3" should be provided with links to sites offering MP3s or selling music, not irrelevant sites that managed to rank high by improperly using meta data.
Currently, there are only three major spidering search engines left - Google, Yahoo and MSN. Two out of these three - Yahoo and MSN - use meta tags for rankings. Yahoo even recommends that webmasters optimize their meta description tags in their webmaster guidelines.
Though concentrating all your efforts on meta tag optimization would be a waste of time, it does make sense to create a relevant meta description and keywords tags.
Use of header tags
Rank High with Optimized Header Tags
Search engines and Headings
Search engines make the logical assumption that the text inside a site's header tags has special importance. Because web designers use headings to sum up previous ideas or introduce new ones, text within these tags often contains the most significant information on the page.
All three major search engines - Google, Yahoo and MSN - give extra weight to key terms placed in header tags.
Header tags are HTML design elements that emphasize text by making it bigger and bolder. These tags can signify a new topic or an important point. They come in six sizes, numbered 1-6, with 1 being the largest:
To make your header tags more effective we recommend following these guidelines:
- Use the most important keywords
- Make room at the top
If your design permits, place the text inside the header tags as close to the top of the page as possible. This text doesn't have to be huge; you can use smaller headings. There's no proof that a heading's size effects rankings. - Keywords first
Place your keywords at the beginning of the sentence enclosed in the header tags. - Be logical
The text you put inside your heading tags should be arranged in a sentence. Remember, users will see this text when they look at your page. Also, search engines may use header text to describe your site in their results. - Use headers when possible
Whenever possible, use header tags to emphasize your text instead of using a larger font or the bold tag.
Don't repeat the same keyword many times in a row in your heading tags. Search engines consider this practice spam and can ban your site for this behavior.
Use of ALT tags
ALT tags are tags attached to images on web pages to describe them to site visitors with text browsers or visual impairments. When a optimizing a site, webmasters try to include relevant keywords in ALT tags.
Simply stuffing your ALT tags with multiple keywords is considered spam and is not recommended. We do, however, recommend writing descriptive text in your ALT tags that includes keywords. First, however, make sure that you adequately describe the images to those using text readers or text browsers.
How do I use ALT tags?
Use an ALT tag to describe every single image on your site. If you use text in an image, you can use the same text in the tag.
Try to include important keywords in your ALT text. That way, when a search engine spiders your site, it may give you a higher ranking for those keywords. At the very least, use ALT tags for the top images on your page, since the top of the page is particularly significant to search engines.
ALT tag text should be in the form of a sentence rather than a list. There are all sorts of situations in which users see them -- and not just the ones who use text-only browser settings. Readers see ALT text when they mouse over images and while images are loading.
The limits of ALT tags
ALT tags are an excellent way to deal with images, but they're not the solution. Search engines still prefer text to ALT tags and images. That's why we recommend creating an alternative textual navigation for your web site.
If you have a site that uses graphics heavily, consider creating an all-text version. Also, if you have a graphic with a link, always provide a description of the link below. You will gain a broader audience and make your site easier for search engines' spiders to index.
Search engines are very well aware of repetitive, irrelevant keywords in ALT text. ALT text should be optimized, but like text on your site, it should be created for users first, with search engine considerations being secondary.
Off-site factors are not related to the content of your HTML, but rather to the overall quality of your site, search engines perceive it.
The major off-site factor is Link popularity and everything related to it, such as the following:
- Number of incoming links
- Anchor text
- Quality of the linking sites
- Directory links, etc
Link popularity has been a major concept in search engine marketing since Google’s PageRank made headlines back in 2000. Since then, Google has become a search giant – undoubtedly, the most important search engine for online marketing.
Link popularity has grown in importance at the same time. Google uses the quantity and quality of links each site has as one of its main ranking factors.
To rank well on Google, sites need numerous high-quality links.
- Links from sites with a high PageRank
Links from sites with a low PageRank add quantity, but little quality. They may potentially increase your site’s rankings but it’s the sites with a higher PageRank that you should be seeking links from. - Relevant link description text
How other sites describe your web site is important. If you sell widgets, ask other sites that link to you to describe you by mentioning your company name and the word “widgets.” Search engines' spiders figure that any words used in link text are particularly relevant. So if lots of sites linking to you use keywords in their link text, search engines will boost your ranking for those keywords. - Links from relevant web sites
If all the sites linking to you are about accounting, then search engine spiders will assume that your site is somehow related to this theme. To maximize the quality of incoming links to your web site, seek links mainly from other sites in your industry. - Good internal linking structure
If you’d like good rankings for pages other that your main one, create a good linking structure a spider can follow. Some search engine experts believe that Google counts internal links as backlinks. This means that creating a good internal linking scheme can potentially increase your rankings. - One-way links
For many years, webmasters have tried to increase their sites’ link popularity by swapping links or participating in link exchange programs. Google’s PageRank gives preference to one-way links because they are more likely to be genuine, rather than a result of a link popularity campaign. - Avoiding “bad” links
Ever since link popularity became an important ranking factor, webmasters and search engine marketers have looked for ways to increase it for their sites. Search engines understand that a site can artificially build up its link popularity, so they try to discount links that were created purely for this purpose. “Free-For-All” web sites, link farms and link exchange programs are no longer useful since Google and other web spiders can easily lessen the effect of links acquired through these techniques.
We recommend against using software that finds similar web sites for link exchange or buying text links from content networks. You may increase the quantity of incoming links to your site, but you are more likely to hurt your rankings in the long run if your inbound links look “fake”.
How can you then increase the number and the quality of inbound links to your web site?
Achieve resultsYou can improve most of the above factors to achieve higher rankings. We recommend that you work on both on-page and off-site factors at the same time. This is especially important for sites targeting general and highly competitive terms. The search engine marketing landscape is simply too competitive right now to ignore either page-related factors or link popularity.
Lead Generation (back to top)The marketing team at Los Angeles Web Design is proficient at generating leads, prospective consumer interest or inquiry for your business' products or services. Often lead generation is associated with marketing activity targeted at generating sales opportunities for a company's sales force.
How Lead Generation WorksThe nature of lead generation depends entirely on the decision process of the buyer.
For complex products and services requiring a complex decision process, the keys are identifying the most likely prospects and then educating and qualifying them before deploying more expensive sales resources. The education benefits the buyer; qualification benefits the seller. This gradual lead cultivation process can go on for months and involve several individuals involved in evaluating a solution.
For commodity products, the rendezvous dilemma is one where two parties are seeking each other, but are obscured by time, distance, or attention. In essence there is a set of well-matched candidates for product purchase within a larger set of poorly matched candidates. Those well-matched candidates are what one is seeking to attract or identify in effective lead generation.
Although there are several methodologies and implementations, each involves one of two primary rendezvous strategies: Broadcast or Concentration.
- Broadcast involves communicating to a broad set of candidates with the expectation of a statistical response back to the marketer. Advertising is a classic example of broadcast marketing rendezvous.
- Concentration involves identifying and creating situations that concentrate well-matched candidates into a broadcast-effective set. Market segmentation and trade shows are classic examples of concentration-marketing rendezvous strategies.
- Broadcast Advertising
- Direct Mail
- Event or Trade Show marketing
- Seminar or Training
- Publicity and Public Relations
- Whitepapers or Product Literature
- Email marketing
- Web marketing (Search Engine Optimization or other Internet Media buying)
Lead Acquisition is one of the most critical activities within the lead generation process. Identifying or attracting a prospective candidate is an expensive and complex task, which becomes even more so if you do not have mechanisms to capture that information for action. The lead acquisition process can take several forms:
Email Marketing (back to top)Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:
- Sending emails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
- Sending emails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing old customers to buy something immediately.
- Adding advertisements in emails sent by other companies to their customers.
Researchers estimate that US firms alone spent $400 million on email marketing in 2006.
AdvantagesEmail marketing (on the Internet) is popular with companies because:
- The advantage of a mailing list is clearly the ability to distribute information to a wide range of specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.
- Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters, it is less expensive.
- An exact Return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven to be high when done properly. Email marketing is often reported as second only to search marketing as the most effective online marketing tactic.
- It is instant, as opposed to a mailed advertisement; an email arrives in a few seconds or minutes.
- It lets the advertiser "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to a website that waits for customers to come in.
- It is easy to track. An advertiser can track users via web bugs, bounce messages, un-subscribes, read-receipts, click-throughs, etc. These can be used to measure open rates, positive or negative responses, correlate sales with marketing.
- Advertisers can generate repeat business affordably and automatically
- Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of email subscribers who have opted in (consented) to receive email communications on subjects of interest to them
- Over half of Internet users check or send email on a typical day.
- Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger other messages to be automatically delivered.
- Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger other events such as updating the profile of the recipient to indicate a specific interest category.
- Green - email marketing is paper-free
Many companies use email marketing to communicate with existing customers, but many other companies send unsolicited bulk email, also known as spam.
Illicit email marketing antedates legitimate email marketing. At Los Angeles Web Design we recommend developing your own opt-in or permission based email lists for optimal marketing success.
Opt-in email advertising or permission marketing is a method of advertising by electronic mail wherein the recipient of the advertisement has consented to receive it. It is one of several ways Los Angeles Web Design marketers eliminate the disadvantages of email marketing.
Email has become a very popular mode of communication across the world. It has also become extremely popular to advertise through. Some of the many advantages of advertising through email are the direct contact with the consumer and is “inexpensive, flexible, and simple to implement”. There are also disadvantages attached to email advertising such as, alienating the consumer because of overload to messages or the advertisement getting deleted without getting read.
Permission email marketing may evolve into a technology that uses a handshake protocol between sender and receiver. This system is intended to eventually result in a high degree of satisfaction between consumers and marketers. If opt-in email advertising is used, the material that is emailed to consumers will be “anticipated.” It is assumed that the consumer wants to receive it, which makes it unlike unsolicited advertisements sent to the consumer (often referred to as spam). We create opt-in email advertisements that are more personal and relevant to your consumer than untargeted advertisements.
A common example of permission marketing is a newsletter sent to a firm’s customers. Newsletters like this are a way to let customers know about upcoming events or promotions, or new products. In this type of advertising, a company that wants to send a newsletter to their customers may ask them at the point of purchase if they would like to receive this newsletter.
With a foundation of opted-in contact information stored in a database, the marketing team at Los Angeles Web Design can automatically send out promotional materials and also segment your promotions to specific market segments.
