10 makeover tips for better seo on your website
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Why does your website need SEO? Looking at your online competition and developing a page-by-page strategy. The importance of keywords, title tags, H1tags, and meta descriptions.TRANSCRIPT
10 Makeover Tips forBetter SEO on Your Website
A Guide for ACT! Certified Consultants
Why does your website need SEO?
Nowadays, simply having a web presence is not enough. People are researching products using search engines before they make their purchases. They make decisions based upon their findings on the Internet. It is important now, more than ever, for websites to be fully optimized for web searches.
Think of search engine optimization (SEO) as giving your website the best possible chance to be found in a web search that is related to your business.
Make a Keyword List
Keywords help your website rank well in search engines. Brainstorm keywords that reflect your products and services by listing the words you think people will type in a search engine to find you.
Ask your family and friends what they would type in a search engine if they were looking for information about your services.
There are also keyword suggestion tools available, like the Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool, to also give you ideas to add to your keyword list.
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Google’s free Adword Keyword Suggestion Tool can be found here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Make a Keyword List1For example, when typing in “CRM Software” into the Google Adword Keyword Suggestion Tool, it offered the following suggestions:
• sales crm software• act crm software• crm softwares, crm software• business crm software• crm software systems• crm software system• accounting crm software
After you have created your keyword list, go to Google, Bing, and Yahoo and type those keywords into the search engines.
Which businesses come up?
These businesses are your online competition. Now that you know your competition, take some time and check out their websites. Discover what they offer and what they are doing that you could do better. Find out what sets you apart from your online competition and what makes you unique.
You can also use the information you find to alter your keywords so that they are more specific to you and your business, and finalize your keyword list.
Look at Your Online Competition2
Once your keyword list is set, take a look at each of your pages and decide which keywords each marketable page will target.
Pages can be optimized for approximately 3-5 keywords. Does your content have these keywords in them? If not, you will need to tweak your web copy to include these terms.
Likewise, you can always add new words to your keyword list to best reflect the content on each page. Search engines look at all the text on the pages to ensure that your website is relevant for these terms.
Develop a Page-by-Page Strategy3
The title tags are one of the most important things a search engine looks at. Search Engines look for title tags to get a feel for what a site is about. If you use generic tags like “My Business Name - Home” you are losing an opportunity to inform the search engines on what your site is about.
Use your researched keywords to make up your title tags. Each title tag should include 3-5 targeted keywords per page. They should be unique for all of the pages of your website and have approximately 5-12 words total.
Title tags are listed within the <head> </head> code in the top your websites html code.
Create Unique Title Tags4
Looks like: <title>Sales CRM Software, Business CRM Software, Maine</title>
The h1 tag (header tags) holds a lot of weight with search engines. Google has documented that text within an h1 tag is deemed more important than the rest of the content on the page, so include your keywords in it. This tag can be similar to your title tag for that page.
Due to the importance of h1 tags, they should only be used once per page and be located at the top of the page. They can be designed anyway you want. However, we don't suggest using images or image replacement techniques for this tag.
Optimize H1 Tags5
Looks like: <h1>Maine Business CRM Software, Sales CRM Software</h1>
A meta description tag is a brief summary of your page’s content. Search engines often display it in search results underneath the page’s title tag in the search query.
Meta descriptions don’t carry a lot of weight as far as ranking sites, but they can influence someone to click on the result and visit your website. Think of them as keyword dense mini ads to entice people to take a closer look at your business.
Each page of your website should have a unique meta description, directly relating to the content on that page, while keeping the style of all descriptions consistent.
Establish Unique Meta Descriptions6
Looks like: <meta name="description" content="Business CRM Software & Sales CRM Software - Maine's CRM specialists serving Portland, August, and Freeport.">
The meta keywords tag will include the 3-5 keywords that you are targeting for that page. The meta keywords tag is not as important to some search engines but holds weight in others. Since it is hard to know which search engines are favoring this tag, play it safe by adding it to each page on your site. A good rule of thumb is to use the same keywords in your title tag in the meta keywords tag.
The meta keywords tag is located in the <head></head> section of your html page. It cannot be seen by visitors to your website, but you can locate it in the source code of each web page.
Utilize Keywords Tag7
Looks like: <meta name="keywords" content="sales crm software, business crm software, crm software systems"/>
All the images used on your site must include alternative image attributes, also known as the alt tag. These attributes can include keywords (if they are appropriate to the image). Since spiders cannot read images, it is important to supply each image with a unique alt image attribute to describe the graphic. Text-to-voice software, often used for the visually impaired, relies on this attribute to be able to be able to describe the image. A good rule of thumb is to use the same keywords in the title tag for the main image's alt tag. The keyword order can be different and you can add more description if needed to match the image. Other images on the page can have keywords if they are appropriate or the alt tag can just describe the image.
Apply Alt Image Attributes8
Looks like: <img src="/images/home-img.jpg" alt="Portland, Maine Business CRM Software" /><img src="/images/flying-monkeys.jpg" alt="Flying Monkeys at Portland CRM Trade Show" />
You can also use a strong statement in the footer that will appear on each page of the website and will reinforce the most important keywords for your site overall. Keyword dense footers are visible to visitors and search engines. Think of them as “Goodbye” messages to remind search engines and visitors what your site is about.
If you don't have a keyword dense footer, don't worry. Not having one will not stop search engines from listing your site. They do, however, add another dimension to the search engine optimization puzzle to help strengthen your keyword results.
Include a Keyword Dense Footer9
Looks Like: “CRM4U, Maine's premier CRM provider featuring Business CRM software and other CRM Software Solutions.”
Now that you have implemented these SEO elements, it is imperative to once again check over the copy of each of those pages. The content must include the keywords that you decided to target. You cannot use “ACT! 6 Upgrade” as a targeted keyword in a title and h1 tag if that is not included in the content of your page.
Remember that search engine optimization is not “magic” to trick search engines into listing your site for any keywords you want. SEO techniques must compliment what you are already showcasing on your site. Without this consistency, your SEO efforts will fall flat.
Double Check the KeywordTargets on Each Page10
We hope that these 10 tips will get your on your way to a fully optimized website.For more resources, we recommend you check out:
Blogs• What You Need to Know About SEO
http://www.hallme.com/webinars/what-you-need-to-know-about-seo-44.php • How Search Works
http://www.hallme.com/webinars/how-search-works-41.php • Conversion is Key, SEO is Only Half the Battle
http://www.hallme.com/blog/conversion-is-key-seo-is-only-half-the-battle/• 3 Technical Tips to Help Search Engines See You
http://www.hallme.com/blog/3-technical-tips-to-help-search-engines-see-you/• Why Adding Content to Your Website is Important
http://www.hallme.com/blog/why-adding-content-to-your-website-is-important/• Picking a Domain Name for Your Website
http://www.hallme.com/blog/picking-a-domain-name-for-your-website/• 2010 SEO Predictions
http://www.hallme.com/blog/dec-17-2010-seo-predictions/
Learn More
Webcasts• What You Need to Know About SEO
http://www.hallme.com/webinars/what-you-need-to-know-about-seo-44.php • How Search Works
http://www.hallme.com/webinars/how-search-works-41.php • Google, Bing, Yahoo, What’s the Difference and Why Does it Matter?
http://www.hallme.com/webinars/google-bing-yahoo-whats-the-difference-and-why-does-it-matter-100.php
• Google Knows Best - A Discussion of SEO Best Practices and How to Use Them http://www.hallme.com/webinars/google-knows-best-a-discussion-of-seo-best-practices-and-how-to-use-them-93.php
• SEO, Analytics, and Online PR Strategies for Better Blogging http://www.hallme.com/webinars/seo-analytics-and-online-pr-strategies-for-better-blogging-102.php
• Creating Killer Content for Great Rankings http://www.hallme.com/webinars/creating-killer-content-for-great-rankings-85.php
Learn More (cont.)
Candi HuberLead Designer &Project [email protected]
Jenika ScottChannel Marketing [email protected]
Kasi GajtkowskiOrganic Search [email protected]
Stephanie SpanglerSr Product Marketing Manager, ACT! by [email protected]
Candace FarinaProduct Marketing Manager, ACT! by [email protected]
This guide was written by web design and internet marketing specialists at Hall Web Services, a Sage Preferred Vendor, with support from the ACT! Product Marketing Team.
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