80% of all website traffic comes via the search engines and goes to the companies who are listed in the top half of the first page of results. According to MediaPost, people spend an average of 6.4 seconds on a search results page before clicking on a link, and in that time scan an average of 3.9 results. In those few seconds, the user assimilates an average of 140 words.
A well-optimized website will improve your page rank, which means that more people will find your website, which leads to increased sales and lead generation, and enhanced branding of your company and services/products.
A well-optimized website starts with an optimization blueprint:
- Discovery (who is your audience?)
- Keyword research
- Competitive analysis
- Site architecture/page name review
- Meta data unique to each web page
- Quality content and internal linking
- Meaningful page titles
- Useful headings and sub-headings
- Descriptive link text
- Alt text for images
Meta data, especially the Meta description, helps search engines understand what a page is about. It’s important that these are unique for each page on your website and that they make sense based on the content for the page.
Careful attention should be taken to carefully tweak the keyword density on critical pages of your website so that these pages will rank as high as possible. Keywords within each page should be cohesive and make sense (too much keyword diversity within a page will lower rankings).
Competitive Analysis/Keyword Research
To keep ahead of the curve ball, keep your eye on your competition and what they are up to. Competitor analysis has two primary activities, 1) obtaining information about important competitors, and 2) using that information to predict competitor behavior.
Keyword research lets you peak inside the minds of your visitors and see how they think about your products and services. Aside from helping optimize your site for search engines, keyword research is an excellent tool for improving 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.
