Website Optimization – How To Compete Online

Did you know that your business’s website is competing for traffic with millions of other websites online? How competitive is your website currently? If you are unsure or if you are looking for proven methods to raise your page rank, a good place to begin is to review your current website optimization.

Evaluate Keywords

Which keywords have you targeted for your business? Keywords should represent your business is one or more words. They should be descriptive, not only capturing the general nature, but the specific nature of your business. While keyword tools can be helpful, most SEO experts recommend beginning with a brainstorm session manually. Once you have considered a variety of keywords for your business, you will want to narrow the list down to a few chosen targets. This is when a keyword tool can be helpful. Keyword tools will help you evaluate the current search volume for a given keyword. Keywords with high search volumes will have more competition. While a little competition never hurt anyone, if your business is looking to stand apart from your competitors, you may want to consider choosing a keyword that is less frequently used.

Website Optimization - Keyword Incorporation

The keywords that you have chosen should be incorporated into your website’s content in a variety of places. First, be sure to use the keyword within each page’s title and meta description. Within the actual page content, search engine optimization specialists recommend that the primary keyword be used at least once in the opening paragraph. Then, the keyword should be used throughout the page’s body content, striving for an approximate density of 1-2%. In addition to the page’s content, it is recommended that the keyword be used where appropriate in paragraph subheadings, often found in bold type.

Once you have optimized the static, or unchanging, pages of your website, it is time to evaluate the dynamic pages. Dynamic pages represent those pages that are updated or changed on a regular basis. Why is it important for website optimization purposes to be concerned with dynamic web pages? Search engines are looking to rank sites that not only have relevant content on their static pages, but for those that remain relevant. The manner in which a website can remain relevant is through updating their content. Articles posted, blogs regularly updated, ebooks, reports and even customer comments can all count for website optimization purposes.

As discussed with the static pages, dynamic pages should also encompass the chosen primary and secondary keywords within their content. The same density of between 1-2% should be targeted for the best overall optimization.

When these website optimization techniques are used within a website’s content, not only will the site receive a higher rank on major search engines, but visitors will be more likely to stay on the pages when they land there. While it can be easy to get wrapped up in the keyword portion of this exercise, it is important for business owners to keep in mind that the end result desired is to increase revenues.