Fairfield County's Search Engine Optimization Blog: How to Increase Website Performance and Page Rank Pt.1

1. Website Content is King!

The first priority in search engine optimization and improving your website performance as well as page ranking is to add rich, engaging content to your website. Content that is relevant to your industry and that gives the reader an opportunity to learn about you and your expertise. This is one of the keys to search engine optimization and driving traffic to your website. Rather then attempting to discuss everything you have to offer all in one page focus on one key aspect of your business and write it to be page specific.

Think of it this way, pretend each page is like the front page of a news-paper. Looking at a traditional news-paper we see a headline and then article underneath it reflecting content to that particular headline. Writing for your website to improve search engine optimization and page ranking is very similar. The “headline” in this case, is your page title and the content on that page should have in depth information regarding that page title. If your page title is “Why I love Green eggs and Ham”, then your content needs to contain those specific terms. Beware that as you write your content you don’t just want to copy these terms over and over again, because this could actually hurt your search engine optimization, website performance and page ranking. What I suggest as a goal is to use those words a minimum 3% to a maximum of 8% of the total content in the article. Otherwise you can be banned from the search engines. You want to keep your readers engaged so be sure to get your point across and be concise in your writing. One way to do this is to utilize bullets in your content. Most users won’t read every word you are writing, but can easily see the bullets or other call to action items on your page. The way your prospective reader will find your site is because Google, Yahoo, and BING willcrawl your site and index all the content, making it available in the search results. The more content you have on this particular topic, the more likely you are to be found so be sure to add content often to your site.

In summary:

• Add Rich and Engaging content
• Demonstrate Your Expertise
• Don’t Write About Everything You Offer On One Page
• Make Your Content Page Specific
• Your Page Title is Your Headline- Make it Good!
• Match The Content of the Page to the Page Title
• Focus on a Keyword Density of 3% to 8%
• The More Content On This Particular Topic- The More Likely It Will Be Found.
• Add Content On A Regular Basis

2. Edit Your Existing Website Content

You can edit your existing content to improve search engine optimization as well. Once you know where you rank and where your competition ranks then you can formulate a plan. Review your competitor’s website to determine what they might be doing to be ranked well on a particular search engine. Read their content, look over their site. Never copy their content that is against the law. However success leaves clues and you can create your own content by learning what they have done. Simply begin editing the content on your site to reflect more of what you have learned from your competitors. Don’t be afraid to learn new things from other sites, and don’t be afraid to try things on your site. Consider including some call to action on the page. Ask yourself, once the have the person on your site; what would you like them to do? Some ideas are an opt-in for a news-letter, a special offer for signing up, etc... But be sure to have an end goal.

I would like to know what your biggest challenges are when it comes to writing content for your site?