1) Algorithm

An algorithm is a fancy word for “formula.” In this case, an algorithm is used by search engines to rank your site, by determining how relevant your site is for the people using the search engine. Factors including your web site’s content, keywords, and links pointing towards your site (aka inbound links or backlinks) are all used in the algorithm to calculate your location on the results page of the search. The more relevant the algorithm determines your site to be, the higher your site will be placed on the results page.

2) Page Rank

The value of your site is a calculation made by Google known as Page Rank. To calculate your Page Rank, which is measured on a scale of 0 to 10 with the average being 3 or 4, several factors are used. One of the most important factors in your Page Rank is the amount of one-way links (again, aka inbound links or backlinks) pointing to your site. A high number of links shows that other sites consider your web site to be a quality, relevant resource, and therefore Google should too. You can download the Google Toolbar to see your Page Rank by clicking on the link.

3) Link Popularity

It is not very well known that some types of links can help your search engine placement while others may actually hurt it. For example, a “reciprocal link,” which is when you link to a site and that site links back to you, is frowned upon by search engines. This is because people used to try and cheat the system by adding as many links as possible to improve their ranking. Search engines have become more intelligent, and their algorithms are able to ignore reciprocal links. The best kind of link today is the “one-way link” that I covered above under the Page Rank subheading.

4) Keyword Phrase

You could say “keyword phrases” are the new “keywords.” Because the internet has been around for awhile, most single word “keywords” have been used so much that they lose value. For example, if I wanted to learn how to poach an egg, I would search for the keyword phrase “how to poach an egg” rather than just the keyword “egg.” Searching for “egg” would produce thousands of irrelevant results. By using keyword phrases you can be much more specific about what your pages are about and cater to specific audiences. For more on choosing relevant keywords for your website, please click on the link to see my most recent post.

5) Site Structure

The way your website is organized, such as how the pages are linked together and the way your menu works, is referred to as site structure. Good site structure helps visitors move freely and easily through the pages and effortlessly find relevant and related content. The better your site structure, the higher your search engine ranking.

A few extra comments on Site Structure

Before I build a website, I typically try to outline the site structure. This involves determining what topics will be covered and how, whether there will be subtopics, how my readers will be able to access/view these topics, and what it will all look like upon first glance at my site.

For example, let’s say I want to build a site promoting a rock band. I may want to have a “home" page (or landing page), an “about" page featuring the band’s members, an “upcoming shows” page, a “downloads" page, and perhaps a “contact us” page. These pages may or may not have subheadings, and that is what I try to think about before I actually start working on the site. Then I think about whether the individual pages will link to each other and whether the individual pages will look different than one another. Adding a "blog" page may be another consideration. These are just examples of things to think about when thinking about site structure. After all, getting people to your site using the methods mentioned above is one thing, but getting them to stay is another. You want to make the visiting experience as intuitive as possible if you want great results.

While search engines no longer care as much about keyword meta tags, it is still important to make yours are well-written and relevant – or your site could get penalized. Keyword meta tags are used to quickly and easily identify the relevance of your site. These days, Google's algorithm, which is used to figure out where to rank pages on the search results, is much more complex due to years of dealing with people trying to cheat the system. Google’s algorithm will not respond to outdated tricks such as typing keywords multiple times or using “invisible” keywords (white text on a white background). If you attempt these tricks, your site will not only be frowned upon, but may get banned from Google altogether.

Another big mistake is including keywords that are irrelevant to your site to attract more traffic. By including a hot-topic article on your website that is irrelevant to your subject matter, you will loose your credibility and your audience. Once a visitor to your site realizes your trick; they’ll leave immediately. Why would anyone bother visiting your site if it is filled with incohesive, random content?

Since navigating the internet for quality information is already difficult, it’s important to stand out from the sites that are created for no other reason than to get better rankings. You can do this by providing useful content and keep from making typical mistakes such as trying to trick search engines via the methods mentioned above.

Tips on choosing relevant keywords

So you have determined what your site’s content will be about but now you are at a loss as to what keywords to choose and begin using. A good place to start is Google’s keyword tool. There, you can simply type in the keyword (or search term) that you think the people who you want to visit your site would theoretically be searching for. Then, this useful tool will tell you how many searches people make per month on that particular keyword, what the competition is for that keyword, and will even provide similar keywords which may be more effective and that you hadn’t thought of. For example, say you are trying to make a website all about old outlaw ballads. Well, according to the Google Keyword tool, people rarely search for the keyword “outlaw ballads.” However, it will tell you that the keywords “outlaw songs” and “outlaw music” are far more popular and will show roughly how many others are trying to use those same keywords to market their sites.

For more on how to use the Google keyword tool, I recommend checking out this handy video on how to use articles to build SEO found at IdeaMarketers.com. There is a section of this 20-minute video devoted to the topic of using Google’s keyword tool – I recommend you check it out for more tips on using it and finding the right keywords for your site.

In my consulting practice I regularly work with lawyers, although I see the same issues in many businesses.  Law firms usually contain the name of the partners, i.e. Engulf, Devour, Cheatham & Howe.  A firm like this is likely to choose a URL that reads something like this:  www.edch-law.com.

In my view, a URL like edch-law.com is a poor choice.  Firstly, it is not something that most people will remember and given the many images and impressions foisted upon each of us every day, it is certainly better to choose an easy to remember name.   I have a bankruptcy domain name called "moneylawyer.com" – wouldn't you agree that moneylawyer is much easier to remember and spell than some random series of letters with a dash.

Secondly, I think that it makes sense to include a high traffic keyword phrase in your domain name.   For example, I use the domain name GeorgiaSocialSecurityDisabilityAttorney for one of my Social Security disability law sites and ChildSupportandSocialSecurityDisability for a narrowly focused Social Security disability blog.  It has been my experience that a URL with a keywork in the domain name will more quickly rank higher for that search term than a domain name with random letters.

What should you do if all of the "good" dot com domains are taken?  Here, you have a couple of choices.  You can register a dot net, a dot org or even a dot us.  These top level domains are well enough known that most people will recognize what they are.  Another option is to include dashes or numbers in the domain name, like I did with Atlanta-Bankruptcy-Attorney.com and 4SocialSecurityDisability.net.  Search engine spiders do not "see" dashes or numbers and from a purely search engine perspective, 4divorcelaw.com is the same as divorcelaw.com.

Finally, realize that if someone is searching for you using your name or firm's name in the search query, your site will most likely come up first anyway, especially if you feature your name prominently on the site or if you have a robust "about us" page.

The bottom line: a well researched and selected domain name can help you get to the top of the search engines for a desired keyword phrase faster than a random series of letters.

"Keyword research" in its purest form means that you can discover the actual search terms used by paying customers who are in the market for goods and services similar to what you offer.

Your ability to obtain this information is quite amazing, if you think about it. Television and radio advertisers spend millions of dollars a year on "interruption" marketing, with trial and error as the only means to test the effectiveness of their message and copy.

On the Internet, by contrast, your customers announce their entry into the marketplace by typing in a search term and you can review the terms they are using.

When I was in law school and in subsequent continuing legal education courses, the science of jury selection and jury dynamics was considered a key component of success as a trial lawyer. In fact, most good trial lawyers take the time to interview jurors after the verdict to find out what they did right and what they did wrong. Often the points that the lawyer saw as being key were basically ignored by the jury, while a seemingly minor point led the jury to decide one way or the other.

Keyword research is like having the right to convene a daily meeting during the course of trial to interview the jurors so that trial tactics can be changed during the course of the trial. It is a huge advantage and its results can be applied to any form of advertising.

There are many tools that one can use to conduct keyword research and I would be interested to hear more about the tools that you use. Here is a non-exclusive list:

1. Overture search term tool

2. Wordtracker (paid)

3. Keyword Discovery (paid)

4. Shawn Pringle's tools (free)

5. Google Adwords keyword tool (free)

6. Good Keywords (free)

All of these tools are designed to help you discover the terms that your customers are using on a daily basis. For example, if you sell umbrellas online, Overture reports that there were over 55,000 searches for the term "umbrella" last month. By contrast, there were 6400 searches for "rain gear" and 3650 searches for "parasol." If I was building a web site to sell umbrellas, this data would be helpful in many ways – domain name selection, page optimization ,pay per click choices, etc.

Even more importantly, keyword research keeps you from interjecting your personal preferences into business decisions. You may have grown up in a household where the term "parasol" was used. Does it matter what term you would enter into the search engine? No. It matters what your customers would use.

I remember performing keyword research for a legal site I was building. At that time, the term "Atlanta bankruptcy attorney" had more traffic that did "Atlanta bankruptcy lawyer." Why? I don't know and I don't care. I built my site around the term "Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorney" and after optimizing the site and obtaining quality incoming links, within a few months it was the number one free result in Google.

What tools do you use for keyword research and how has it changed your business?

–Jonathan