Softrim offers search engine optimization services for clients with existing sites, and of course designs/develops new sites compliant with SEO techniques. To read a detailed description request the Softrim White Paper on Search Engine Optimization
To read a detailed description request the Softrim White Paper on Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a dynamic set of best practices to maintain high rankings for a website and its pages. The objective is to have your website appear in the top 10-15 search engine result positions (SERPs) in response to a search based on specific keywords or a keyword phrase. Of course, just appearing in the top results is not enough by itself, your website must be designed to motivate a User to stay on and browse pertinent pages and take the desired actions. This paper by Softrim Corporation discusses factors to produce the desired actions. Softrim refers to the whole process of SEO as IRTE:
Indexing: Causing search engines to read, parse and store all pages on your website on a continuous basis so that all data is current.
Ranking: Making sure that each page has a high ranking so as to appear close to the top of the first search results page.
Traffic: Getting Users to click on your website, stay on it and navigate to all the pertinent pages.
Execution: Inducing Users to submit ‘contact us’ pages, purchase on e-commerce sites or become more familiar with the company behind the website.
Search engines are searchable indexes of websites and their pages. When you type in a search phrase or keyword, the search engine does not really search the World Wide Web directly, but rather its databases of the full text of pages stored on its servers. It is only when you click on the links provided on the search results that the current version of the page is retrieved. There are two types of search engines: Human Indexed engines that are really search directories in which information is gathered manually, and the more common Spider Indexed search engines that build databases and index websites automatically using complex automated programs called Spiders (also called bots).
The common misconception is that Spiders go out and crawl the web searching and indexing websites. The reality is that they actually stay in one place and find web pages for possible inclusion in their indexes by following the links on other pages that are already in their databases. That is why linking is very important. As Spiders copy and absorb content from one page, they create record links found on that page and send other bots to make copies of content on those linked documents and this process goes on and on. Spiders read website content line by line starting at the top left hand corner. In case of columns, Spiders read the left hand column before moving to central and right hand columns. They attempt to read and record the whole site to the very last word.
Without any links, the only way to get into search engines' databases is by submitting the website’s URL to each engine. After being Spidered, web pages are passed onto the search engine’s indexing algorithm. All texts, links and other content on a page are identified and stored in the search engine’s database. Users search this database to locate a page based on the match between their search criteria (keywords and/or key phrases) and the stored content of the page.
Different search engines have their own Spiders and rank websites and pages based on a variety of factors using proprietary technologies and criteria. These factors are not common across the major engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Live Search. However a consolidation of the SEO techniques discussed in this paper result in higher rankings across the search engine spectra. Softrim emphasizes optimization based on Google criteria as will be seen in many of the discussions below.
The first step in SEO begins at the initial design phase. Softrim developers use SEO techniques such as on-page optimization starting at the initial storyboard and continue throughout the design. After the initial design, SEO techniques are needed on an ongoing basis. These techniques include off-page optimization, continuous updates, adding links and much more. Even the best designed websites will result in a poor page rank (PR) without a continuous SEO process.
The following bullets are general considerations in a well designed and optimized website:
§ Domain Name: The name of your website should contain keywords that the target audience would search for rather than the name of your company. Of course, every page can list the name of the company but it will be beneficial to use search friendly keywords to maximize viewership. The exceptions would be a local company with a strong brand name in the community or a nationally known brand. Names can be up to 63 characters long, but shorter names with no more than 3–5 syllables are recommended. Hyphens should be used if the name is more than 3 words to keep it readable and recognizable. The extension .com is highly recommended and all common extensions (.net, .us, .biz, .org, etc) should be bought to protect from copycats.
§ Keeping Users on the website: Your website must give a great first impression to the targeted audience in terms of being relevant, current, easy to read and easy to navigate. The imagery should be consistent with sales brochures.
· Making Users Comfortable: Your site must feel trustworthy and honest (no wild claims, loud sales pitches, etc) and include a well documented “About Us” page. The “About Us” page should describe what your business does, contain a physical address, have at least 2-3 keywords and anchor text (described later). In addition to the Homepage and About Us page, two other pages are critical: a Contact Us page and a Site Map. The contact us page is self-evident and the site map is discussed in detail below.
· Improving Page Rank: Your site should be interactive as much as possible by including such items as blogs, ‘in the news’, comments or feedback sections.
· Protecting Users’ Security: If secure data such as credit card information is part of the website, you must use SSL encryption and keep the SSL certificate up to date.