Keyword optimisation

by Rani Milne

Search engines are the main way that people try to locate information on the internet.

• 75–80% of web traffic comes through search engines. Most people don't look past the first 2 pages of results.
• Ranking number 1 on your company or organisation name doesn't count – you need to rank highly for words your customers/clients might use in a search engine.

What is search engine optimisation (SEO)?

SEO is the principle of relating your web content to the words and phrases people might use to search for it. Your website is only as relevant as its availability. Every page with content for an audience can be optimised for search engines. This means that not just people who know to use your website are receiving the information you have available.

How does it work?

Computer programs (spiders) or people trawl through websites and enter them in a database organised by keywords or phrases. The programs follow site maps and hyperlinks to categorise your site. Essentially, search engines are huge databases which will have varying numbers of entries for searchable keywords and phrases.

There are two components to SEO: keyphrase density (for relevance) and links (for importance).

Links

Links to and from your site increase the importance of your search engine ranking. This tells search engines how important your site is: the more links the more credible.

Internal links also assist to optimise your website: if your pages link to each other, spiders or robot programs find it easier to map your site. This boosts your external search results.

Keyphrase density

Your information will reach a greater audience if you make it accessible via internal and external search engines.

Usability testing shows that users turn to the search function on your website almost immediately. If you are aware of SEO when writing your content, the results of internal searches will be much more meaningful and you will increase user satisfaction.

Why consider SEO?

Your information will reach a greater audience if you make it accessible via internal and external search engines.

Every page with content for an audience can be optimised for search engines. This means that not just people who know to use your website are receiving the information you have available – you are widening your audience.

How is it done?

1. Submit your site to Google immediately. Even if you have no content: the spiders will take a while to get to your site.

To submit your site, visit http://www.google.com.au/addurl/ (external link) and enter your URL and some keywords to describe your site.

2. Identify your key words or phrases – one for each page. This is based on what your target audience would type into a search engine.

There are many web resources that will help you do this: some are free such as Word Tracker (external link), but you can also hire professional SEO marketing organisations for assistance.

Tips for identifying keyphrases:

• Think like your audience – what will people search for? What would you search for?
• Keyphrases are more effective than single words
• Consider what tense will be used in search engines (do not use 'editing' if you think people will search for an 'editor')
• Include a 'generic' and a 'specific' element in your keyphrase (e.g. this is often the market and the location, such as 'computers Melbourne' or 'Hobart rates')
• Use your keywords or phrases more often at the start than at the end of your page.

3. Include your identified keyphrases in your links, headings and at 2% density in your web content. For example, when you want to say computers, say secondhand computers.

Target one keyphrase or word per page – secondary words can be incorporated but not to the sacrifice of sense or readability.

4. Optimise your HTML – this includes meta tags such as title, keywords, description and alt text.

5. Optimise your site structure with multiple keywords, site maps, and link paths.