Search Engine Optimization
What does it mean for website content to be search-engine optimized? There are several issues tied up in the content which influence search engine placement?
First of all, consider grammar. Search engines like Google are not programmed to catch every possible grammatical error, but they do scan websites for basic spelling and grammar. As a scanning machine, search engines also seek websites with original content, instead of blotches of "cut and paste" content from other sources.
When Google scans website after website, it gives extra weight to links, specifically the title and first few paragraphs of text, following the writing practice of the inverted pyramid. This information hierarchy affects search engine ranking because Google assigns most weight to website content in first few sentences of the first few paragraphs on a given page. Keyword-rich text is important here as part of search engine optimization, or SEO.
Interestingly, Google’s process runs parallel to the patterns of online readers who tend to scan the first couple of sentences of leading paragraphs, searching for the most useful information. Readers of your website’s content don’t want to spend time and energy getting bogged down in a sea of text.
Search engine optimization, SEO, means your website’s content is planned to maximize the most effective use of titles. Unique titles for each page are more effective than one used over and over again on every page because search engines look for unique headings and variety. It is best to use keywords effectively within the titles and subtitles as search engines see these as important and assign more value to them.
Moreover, for great SEO, the text itself should be keyword-rich, using many varied forms of the root keyword. For example, consider a website about music. The keyword “music” easily lends itself to variations and phrases such as “musician,” “musical,” and “musicians.” A good SEO rule is to use keywords plentifully, following the inverted pyramid, but never so much that the writing sounds forced or artificial.
Hyperlinks are clickable links on a website which lead to additional information, either internally or externally through other websites, and their also also important for great SEO results. Hyperlinks make it so that web users can read in more detail if they wish but are not forced to unnecessarily wade through mountains of extraneous content. External web links push search engine ranking up the most, with internal links doing this to a lesser degree. The reasoning here is that search engines interpret links as evidence that a website is more connected along the electronic highway and thus deserving of a higher ranking.
For more on search engine optimization, SEO, content planning, content creation and other services for search engine strategy ... call us at the Horton group: 615-620-7346!
