SEO Demystified: Optimizing Your Pages

Page optimization is probably the easiest step in the SEO process. I don’t mean to minimize its importance. The truth is that you’ll need to have or hire the skills to address several key elements. But so much is written about this aspect of SEO that many people see it as the starting point. If you do plan to tackle SEO internally, resist the tendency to start on this step. If you blast past Keyword Strategy and Site Design & Structure, you will be like the proverbial thug who brought a knife to a gunfight.

A word about vendor selection

Let’s assume that you don’t want to attempt SEO yourself, but would rather farm it out. As you begin thinking about or searching for a vendor to deliver higher search engine ranking, remember this. Many so-called SEO consultants will focus primarily on the technical aspects of page optimization. Often they will rely on you to give them the keywords and many will try to steer you toward “more focused” (meaning obscure) search terms so that they can maintain their claim to get you in the top 10 for your keywords.

I worked with one SEO company that is pretty large. Their entire focus was content. Content is huge; I concur. But in my estimation they did not have a comprehensive approach to SEO. Basically they had the customer choose the keywords and they sent me copy to add to the site. The result? Very poor, to say the least. I only wish I was more vocal with the customer about their choice.

A good SEO consultant will certainly get your input regarding search terms. But they will also do a comprehensive analysis of your competitors as well as what search terms are the money makers – meaning those that are more likely to lead to conversion traffic, not just more traffic. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s talk about what goes into page optimization.

Key components of page optimization

I said this is the easiest of the steps. Perhaps I should have said most straight forward. Let’s take a closer look at each one. They are:

• Good copy writing
• Technical considerations
• Page layout

Don’t skimp on good copy

I used to write quite a bit. Short stories, songs, poetry. You name it, I tried to write it. In fact, there was a time when I fancied the idea of becoming an author. You may have your own aspiring writers on staff. Perhaps you’ll task them with writing your Web copy. If so, keep this in mind. Writing for the Web is different than the high-toned language a university professor may require, or the no-nonsense approach of a project proposal or manual. Successful Web copy is often less formal and more personal. And the balance a writer must strike with SEO copy is to be able to appeal to the reader and search engines simultaneously. That’s not an art that is taught overnight. A good SEO copy writer will not only keep the user first, but will also understand how search engines “see” text. They’ll be able to work awkward search phrases into the copy without it sounding forced. They’ll also be more “thematic” and not just load the page with keywords.

Technical aspects of optimizing

In today’s Web development arena many of the technical aspects of optimization are addressed by most developers. A growing number of content management systems also include SEO-friendly features such as how the URLs are rendered and CSS vs JavaScript menu systems. Be sure your vendor(s) used for SEO and Web development are crossing the “T’s” and dotting the “I’s” in terms of well formed HTML.

Page layout

You must know how and when to strike a balance between what the user sees and what the search engine sees in the area of page layout. Page design can impact how it’s interpreted by a search engine. For example, the most important content should be close to the top of the page. But other page elements such as graphics and use of HTML tables can push that content lower as far as a search engine is concerned. Your vendor will know certain tricks of the trade to help facilitate this while not sacrificing your page’s usability.

Final thoughts for on-page optimization

Make sure your vendor addresses all aspects of on-page optimization: copy, technical and page layout. It will be helpful to introduce the SEO consultant to your Web developers so they can work together to get the results you desire. Avoid the tendency to focus initially on this step and be wary of low-budget consultants who want to steer you to do so.

If you’ve done your homework in the first two steps, this step should be pretty straight forward. In my next post, I’ll address one of the more misunderstood parts of SEO – link building.