Filed under: Ad/PR World
Consider how we use the Internet. Whether looking up a recipe, shopping for car insurance or checking the statistics on your favorite sports team, most Internet activities begin with a search engine like Google or bing. Frequent Internet users breeze through search results and often find whatever they are looking for in the first few hits. This means a website needs to be at the top of that first results page to catch the user’s attention.
It is a PR professional’s job to get their client noticed, which in this case means as close to that top results spot as possible. Understanding the search process (and what makes a website more searchable) is key.
Here are a few things to consider when designing a website with optimal search-ability.
- Content: The more content on a website, the more text search engines have to draw from. The content is what users are searching for, so make sure it is high quality and worth the click-through. Once users land on your page, keep them there.
- Links: Links result in click-through and build relationships with other online destinations. Simply put, more links equals more web traffic.
- On-the-page elements: Keywords and phrases that users might search for should appear on a website as often as possible. Headings and subheadings are a good place for keywords because search engine crawlers can easily identify them.
- Off-the-page elements: Keywords can show up in the technical jargon of your website too. While users might not view the html that stitches web design together, search engines pick up the keywords hidden in the page’s coding.
All of these components arm a website with tools to catch the attention of search engines, and therefore hopefully a searcher. Initial search-ability is invaluable because search engines also take into account how often a website is visited.
High user traffic adds value and bumps sites up in search engine results. Website visits, therefore, grow exponentially, gaining momentum with each new visit. This ability, however, is a double-edged sword.
Take into account this example of both traditional and non-traditional search optimization. Keyword: “United Airlines.”
The first two search engine results link to the actual United Airlines website- exactly what that company wants. The United Airlines website has links from other locations, high keyword appearances and important content for users.
The third result, however, is a YouTube video titled, “United Breaks Guitars,” which bashes United Airlines for poor customer service. Of 20,800,000 search results, this video shows up at number three because it has a massive amount of user visits.
While this YouTube video is a PR nightmare for United Airlines, it is also a great example of how lesser-known companies can use search optimization to get their website noticed. “United Breaks Guitars” may have started small, but because it is entertaining it was no doubt shared millions of times between users.
The moral of this story is that the users themselves ultimately decide what will show up in search results. Understanding the search process allows PR professionals to harness the power of users who make websites popular. Interesting content is successful when tailored to what people search for, where they search for it.
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SEO is a very complicated process for people who have websites that they may have created themselves with little knowledge of Search Engines and this article is very helpful. There are many softwares out there to help see the results of your efforts and find where you need to work harder. One can be found at http://www.mofikiworldwide.com/mofikis_seo_analyzer.php it will check rankings, backlinks, indexed pages, and other information. Good luck.
Comment by Brandon December 11, 2009 @ 4:36 pm