The Dos and Donts of Content Optimization

The Dos and Donts of Content Optimization

In a quite informative session at the Search Engine Strategies Conference, Heather Lloyd-Martin, director of search strategies for WebSourced Inc., and Jill Whalen, owner of HighRankings.com, dealt with one of the most fundamental, but perhaps most important aspect of the search engine industry: producing web copy that it is appealing to your target audience while at the same time being search engine friendly.

WebProNews' Chris Richardson was in attendance, and will be all week, funneling the most up-to-date information to us as the conference progresses.

Effectively writing optimized copy is no easy task, but Jill and Heather assured the audience that it gets easier with practice.

While the goal, as Bob Bly put it, is "creating copy that makes the argument so convincingly the customer can't help but want to buy the product being advertised," the argument many raise is that it’s easier said than done. After all, that’s what we all want to accomplish, right?

Though it’s fairly obvious, it still needs to be said that the first step to creating such compelling content is to delve into the mind of the audience and understand what these eyeballs are searching for.

Point of fact: good copy equals conversions. And by Jill’s estimation good optimized copy with the right balance of keyword content is 1/3 of SEO.

It’s tricky to know where to place and how to place your targeted keywords, so based on Jill and Heather’s presentation, we’ve put together this handy Dos and Don’ts list for effective content optimization.

DOs

DO create a page title that is intriguing and eye catching. This is the window to your shop. Compelling titles entice potential customers to choose your site over others. The higher number of clicks will pull weight the search engines as well, giving your site more relevance. Think of your webpage titles as headlines and, as a guideline, limit your title to 50-75 characters (with spaces).

DO limit your keyword usage to 2 or 3 keywords per page. Otherwise, you could get tagged for keyword spamming. Instead of the same keyword, think of variations. Be creative with keyword choices. Brainstorm all variations of the words by adding “-ing” “-ed,” and any other prefix or suffix combination. Also look for synonyms and include those in your copy (dining, eatery). Even multiple spellings and misspellings can help (web cam, webcam, behavior, behaviour).

DO include the main keyphrase you are targeting on every page, with exception to the index (although the index CAN include a keyword and company name with brief description).

DO emphasize (bold) text to boost keyword positioning with search engines.

Do use keyphrases in hyperlinks—think of it as a persuasion benefit, like pushing a user to take action.

DO a description tag. This is important regardless of search engine weight, although search engines can give credence to well-written ones. A good description is equivalent to a good sales pitch to the reader.

DO use the 80/20 rule when choosing which page to optimize. Optimize first the pages that cover the most important 20% of your products (i.e., top products, or best-selling items). Optimize the remaining 80% incrementally.

DO keep an eye on competitors and how they rank for the same keywords.

DO create supplemental content like FAQ pages, how-to pages, related product articles, manufacturer info pages, and blogs.

DO think like a reporter, asking the five W questions (who, what, when, where, why).

DO highlight your location. This is especially recommended if you are a location sensitive business.

DONTs

DON’T go over 250 words per page.

DON’T wait to implement copy changes for expected seasonal sales. Give yourself a 6-month window when optimizing seasonal content to give the engines time to adjust to your alterations.

DON’T insert keywords into copyrighted material. Look for creative ways to place keywords around these items.

DON’T forget your audience and what they are looking for. This can’t be stressed enough.

DON’T forget title tags.

DON’T rely on graphics. Text is much more important as spiders don’t read graphics, they read actual text. Image alt text is not that effective and be aware that WYSIWYGs can turn pages into graphics. Use flash in small doses as it is also not readable by engines. Other things not readable: comment tags and graphic headlines. PDFs, however, are indexable.