Optimize Your Site

Why Make Changes?

Search Engine OptimazationFew, if any, site writers know what it takes to get your site listed toward the top of the search engine listings. If your Web site was written by a Geek with no understanding of marketing (or your son’s best friend), then we can show you where you can make significant gains in your standing with the search engines.  We have one client that was not even listed in the top 100 sites before rewriting the site. After a rewrite, his site consistently ranked high in the search engines.

In rewriting your site, we may have to modify the appearance of your site slightly. Only changes that will result in a higher rating with the search engines will be made unless pre-arranged. In a recent survey, only 20% of the Web pages on the Internet are written to maximize their standing with the search engines.  That means you have an 80% chance of beating your competition by just making a few well coordinated changes to your site.

What Makes The Difference?

Each search engine uses a different algorithm for calculating who gets top listings. Most ‘grade’ the placement of keywords based on these rules:

  1. Prominence of the keyword searched.
  2. Frequency of the keyword searched.
  3. Site popularity.
  4. ‘Weight’ of the keywords.
  5. Proximity of keywords.
  6. Keyword placement.
  7. Keyword density.

How About An Example

You have a bed and breakfast and are the proud owner of a Web site. Unfortunately, the writer was not worried about your standings on the search engines. After a while you notice that ‘no one’ is making reservations for your bed and breakfast through the Internet. You may conduct your own investigation of how well your site was written by looking at the seven rules above. Let’s discuss Prominence. How early in your site’s title or description is the keyword phrase bed and breakfast used? Did your site’s title start with the keyword phrase, or was it the fourth or fifth word? Exactly the same sites, but with keywords as the second or third word in the title will score lower than those with the keyword used first. Prominence also applies to the words within the body of the document, the headings, and other locations.

Most sources suggest that keyword density be in the 3 or 4 percent range. Much more than that and the search engines my perceive your site as trying “something funny” or underhanded. Much less than that and you’re not getting your main theme across to the search engines.