Ireland
We’ve written so often about basic search engine optimisation (SEO) practices, and maybe it’s because they seem so simple that so many overlook them. Page titles, word count/keyword density, headings, paragraphs, as well as the research that precedes the actual writing – - these aren’t the whole of it, but they do matter. Web site owners ignore them at their peril.
Perhaps an example might help. I hesitate to tell the story because I don’t want to create the impression it’s SEO lightning that will strike the same place time and time again. There’s no magic to it, and just taking the time to read the Webmaster Guidelines Google offers will tell you that. And, SEO efforts achieve varying degrees of success at different speeds depending on the web site, its subject matter/products/services, and a site owner’s dedication to engage in ongoing best practices.
With that said, let’s look at Inuit Images. John and Victoria have been operating an Inuit Art Gallery for thirteen years, and their web site was ten years old when they called KISS. The Inuit sculptures, carvings, drawings and master works are beautiful, authentic, and both prehistoric and contemporary.
Yet, even with that tenure on the Internet, the web site did not rank well for keywords associated with their art. We were asked to give their site a face lift and help them be found a bit easily in searches. We performed our due diligence on keyword inventory research, assembled a list of keywords to target, wrote new page titles, meta description and structured copy, helped them find a new look and feel for the site, and launched the new version in early October.
Last week, we reviewed the site’s first month performance and were delighted to find that its rank position for the targeted keywords, which for the old site was not in the top 50 results in any instance, had improved into the top 25: “inuit art” has them ranked #25; “inuit art sculptures” at #8; “inuit sculptures” at #13; “inuit art books” #24; “eskimo art” at #6; and, “inuit art gallery” at #18.
These are keywords for which their site wants to rank well – – they all have to do directly with their gallery offerings and the pieces they present. There’s no mystery here, either. You assemble the list of keywords, craft the copy around it, and review the statistical data periodically to see how the content is performing.
Results are not always this quick, to be honest, and not often as dramatic. We always assume the first month will simply establish a baseline performance for the second month’s stats, and hope for some movement by then. The basics don’t change, though, and the exercise is still the same.
Of course, there is more to the work than these steps. There’s link building strategies, social networking (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), as well as content growth and refreshing, to mention a few. Websites are perpetual works in progress, frankly.
But, that’s where it all begins: compelling content that targets the right keywords; words in all the right places; keywords in the right frequency; page titles; headings; main body text; all coordinated for a solid and strong indexing by the search engines.
It does work.
Tags: search engine optimisation, SEO