Google Lists Five Website Optimization Mistakes
IX Brand SEO Services Company provides search engine optimization, Internet marketing, and online reputation management services for small businesses in the Houston area, including Katy, Richmond, Rosenberg, Sugar Land, and Webster. Call 281-343-3284 in Sugar Land and Houston and 979-531-8300 in Wharton, Bay City and El Campo to discuss your website, your Google ranking, customer reviews, or any other Web marketing issue.
Google recently released a great video titled, “5 Common Mistakes in SEO,” presented by Maile Ohye, Google’s Developer Programs Tech Lead. Here they are in the order presented by Maile:
No Value Proposition.
In other words, why would a user choose your website in search results? Remember, your website is listed with just a snippet of text and your website title. Is there information in your title and in your page description that would entice a Web searcher to click the link to your website? If not, then you should work on adding a value proposition or a call to action to all of your page descriptions. If you’re not sure what a page description is, please contact us.
Segmented Approach to SEO.
Your website is segmented and not working together. Your pages aren’t linked to each other and the information on any one page is independent of and doesn’t reference your other pages. You should consider the entire visitor experience from initial entry to your website to actual conversion as a customer.
Putting Time and Effort into Workarounds.
You should put your time and effort into new features or simplifying your website to enhance the user experience and to make it easy for Google to index your website. The example that Maile used was the use of rel=”canonical” in paginated content. But the larger issue is to look at your website from your customers’ viewpoint. Look for ways to improve your website to improve your customer experience at your site. Maile also talked about using “Fetch as Google Bot” in Webmaster tools to ask Google to crawl new website content quickly.
Getting Caught in SEO Trends
Unfortunate SEO trends of yesteryear — hunting for the ideal keyword density. As was discussed in the previous Matt Cutts post, there is no ideal keyword density. SEOs should focus on producing keyword rich, compelling and quality webpage content. Maile advises SEOs to avoid getting caught in the latest trends and instead, concentrate on things that will bring lasting value to your website.
Slow Iteration!
Maile makes the point that the “constant in SEO is that it’s constantly evolving.” The faster your team can define metrics for success, implement improvements, measure impact, create new improvements, and prioritize improvements based on market and personnel, the more successful you will be. You have to find what works for your particular business — the combination of website improvements, social media usage and local business listings that will work for your business in your business niche and location. And count on it changing over time!
Some Good Suggestions for SEO
- Do something cool — have a value proposition that separates you from your competitors.
- Include relevant keywords in your copy and do the keyword research to find out what your relevant keywords are.
- Be smart about your title tags and meta description tags and your site architecture.
- Sign up for email forwarding in Webmaster Tools so that you’re notified if there are issues with your websites.
- Attract buzz to bring natural links and votes and attention to your website.
- Stay fresh and relevant. Expand your reach to social media sites and make sure that your site is easy to use and to navigate on smart phones.
Here’s the full video for you to enjoy! If you have any questions or need help with any aspect of your website, online business listings, or search engine optimization, please call 979-531-8300 or use the contact form to send an email.
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