In October, we wrote of a search engine optimisation self-test we thought worth your taking, and suggested it could help sort out some of the issues with your own web site for future planning. This is another effort along those same lines with a slightly different slant – - nonetheless worth considering, though.

We’ve written so many times about basic SEO concepts, and yet it’s still the most common question we get asked everywhere we go. “I’ve got this new web site, take a look, let me know what you think,” are some of the most often spoken words to us.  And, “I rank #1 on Google for our site’s name” is another.

The purpose of this test today, though,  is to see how well you know your own site,  and not what we think of it. So, let’s get to the questions, and we’ll see your degree of self-awareness:

1.  For which keywords have you optimised your web site?

2.  Where does your site rank on Google, Yahoo and Bing for those keywords?

3.  Which search engines are sending visitors to your site and in what numbers?

4.  What searches are your visitors conducting on those search engines that bring them to your site?

Four questions, a pretty easy test.  How did you do?  How many could you answer?  Let’s review the importance of the answers and let you know your grade.

1.  One of the concepts many don’t yet get is that you choose the keywords for which your site will be ranked.  You choose those keywords based upon your product or service and the keyword inventory of how many searches are being conducted for those keywords on search engines now.  You write your home page copy, your page titles, your meta description, to incorporate those keywords in a good density that will insure a good search engine indexing.

In short, you choose, and you optimise based upon your choices.  So, if you don’t know what keywords your web site has been optimised for, you didn’t do your work properly.  For those of you who do know, though, we say “Well Done.”

2.  Assuming you got a “Well Done” on the first question, and your site has been optimised for the right keywords and in the right way, the rank results on Google, Yahoo and Bing should be good.  That will mean your site is easy to find in a search at one of those engines, and perhaps is in the top 20, or even the top 10.  Simply go to one of them and enter one of the keywords for which your site has been optimised – - and then scroll through until you find your site listed.

If you don’t find it in the first two or three results pages, then perhaps you optimised it for the wrong keywords; or, your keyword density is too low for a good rank.  This means you have more work to do on your site.

3.  Your site should have some statistical gathering tool for you to review, whether it be one provided by your hosting company, like Webalizer, or perhaps Google Analytics or Yahoo Web Analytics.  Any one of those will be able to tell you which search engines are sending visitors to your site, and in what number. This data is helpful in determining the success or failure of your optimisation efforts, and should be reviewed at least monthly.  How else will you know whether you are on the right track?

4.  This is the second part of question #3, actually.  Those statistical gathering tools will tell you what searches your visitors actually conducted that lead them to your site.  Once again, the word or phrase used in a search for which your site is a relevant result is called . . . . a keyword.

It’s important to know how visitors are finding your site.  The data tells you whether your efforts in creating optimised content were successful.  The data also tells you what adjustments in your content might help improve your rank position to make it even easier for people to find your site.

So, how did you do?  How many could you answer?  What did your answers tell you?

These are only four questions, four basic questions.  There are many more that should be asked on a regular basis.  Search engine optimisation is not once-off, no matter what anyone else tells you.

When you open a “sticks and bricks” store, you don’t simply open the door and expect to find a queue already.  You hang a sign, place adverts in the local papers, perhaps consider radio spots, neighborhood leaflets.  Even these are not once-off efforts – - they continue from month to month, season to season, and that’s how you grow your business.

On the Internet, it’s the same.  You don’t just launch your site and have a queue form the next day.  SEO is ongoing, or at least it should be if you wish to be successful with your online presence.

If you couldn’t answer those four simple questions, that success is not likely to happen.

Tags: search engine optimisation, SEO

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 7:47 am and is filed under Web Copywriting/SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.