Ft Lauderdale Web Design Professional

Just picked up on a tasty morsel of search info. Browsing the blogs, and came across the update on Google that they are now including anchor links in organic search results, when the content is relevant. The idea being that they are taking you right to the most relevant content immediately. Personally I am more surprised that it took them this long to realize this.

What a sigh of relief for all the folks who integrate javascript functionality, and often rely on anchor links to interact with the user. For those who dont know what anchor links are, they are basically links within the same web page. In particular on long pages, it allows web developers to link to content further down the page, without forcing the viewer to scroll. Basically the browser jumps to the content that has the a name or Anchor name, that corresponds to the link. Links will contain the # followed by some alphanumeric identifier. Naturally you would want to use a keyword relevant name to increase the relevancy of the page to the targeted keyphrase.

In the comments of the blog, there was a suggestion by a “Google tech” who claims that using the id of a container like a div can duplicate the anchor tag. At the time of this posting, this has not been tested here, on all browsers.

Happy optimization!

For help optimizing your website contact us for Search Engine Optimization Services. We are local to the Fort Lauderdale, Miami area.

Search Engine Optimization

Clearly a lesson I will share with all. SEO is an ongoing process of watching and learning. The diligent are ever aware of shifts in the SERPS…no I dont rap. I have been using a very cool tool..free tool I might add, which nicely delivers the top 200 search results from Google. Free Google Monitor will go through the list of keywords I enter or import from a csv, and look for a specific website among the results which can be reduced to as few as the top 5 results to the top 200 results. I have been comparing its accuracy to actual search from a web page, and the results have pretty much been inline.

Anyway, I digress. The point is that I have become more aware of how and when most importantly, to affect different search optimization techniques.  I have been targeting a pretty competitive keyphrase, keyword combination. I have been able to break into the top 100 using pretty simple search engine optimization techniques. You can check out my website http://www.sgprofl.net for more details about the techniques practiced.

Over a period of lets say a week, I will watch the position of “the website” plummet from 60 ish down to below 100 ish. Not a very nice taste in my mouth as I profess to be an SEO professional. My first approach is to analyze the competition. What do I look for? Well it depends on the niche. After all, every niche has different techniques that work better than others. I blame it on the users really, after all, their words set the trend on what keywords to target after all. What is also evident, is that different niche websites emphasize different elements of search engine optimization, in order to affect a better position in organic SERP.

The keyphrase web design for example, would be very difficult for a new website to jump in and skyrocket to the top, at least in my experience. Web Design is a highly competitive keyphrase, and you will find that the majority of the top listings are websites with high quality inbound links. They obviously employ different techniques, and don’t rely on only one perspective of search engine opimization.

Keywords and keyphrases as it pertains to search, will return different responses from different seo professionals. This is mostly a result of experience. I have the experience to see websites perform well in organic results with both too many keywords, and very few keywords. Some websites make it to the top without using any meta tags whatsoever. I get it when people say that seo is white magic or black magic, depending on your perspective, and your objectives I guess. While there is no one key to success, there are some basic techniques to be observed in order to consider your website optimized.

Definitely always write for the visitors. Overdoing keywords may work in the short term, but using keywords properly in well written copy, will serve you better than spamming keywords in your copy in order to try and catch every possible keyphrase people might use to find your website.  Definitely use sitemaps, both for visitors and for search engines. I find this tool useful for Sitemaps for Search Engine Optimization. Plan out your website structure. Write an outline and plan your link structure carefully.  Definitely watch your server logs and see where your traffic is coming from. If you dont have access to one, you may consider sgpro web services to build a custom Statistics Platform for your website. I have experience with using server logs to dispute pay per click traffic. Dont underestimate the power of server logs, nor should you trust your pay per click reports.

I will cut this short here and add more later. Hope this helps.

Search Engine Optimization

Well another Monday has gone, end of the month, so Google crawl if it hasn’t happened already is now due. Hold on to your stats, another shift in the wind. No I haven’t heard something you haven’t.  I’m just saying, when “The Google” updates the index, there is a chance that page results may get affected, could be good, could be bad.

I have been obsessed with statistics, SERP (Search Engine Result Pages and positions therein), and the infamous Google Crawl. All of the above means nothing, if you can’t convert the thousands of visitors you have pouring through your site every day. I say pouring through because if you are not converting your website traffic, then are they just leaving? Surely you have some information that a search engine believed was relevant to the search phrase.

A good place to start would be to eval the exit pages. If you know not about exit pages…please use your friendly neighborhood search engine, and get some knowledge. Websites with high traffic volumes and low conversion rates, definitely warrant a once over.

First let me define what I mean by conversions, and the rates thereof. A conversion can be defined as getting a website visitor to perform a desired action on your website. The desired action may vary between submitting their email address, to purchasing a product. The idea is that your position on page 1 of SERP’s is sending your website traffic that is interested in what you have to offer. If your visitors are not doing what you hope for, or are not following a particular path to the conversion page, then you may need to re-evaluate your website.

In my experience, the primary reason for lack of conversions, can be one or a combination of several reasons. The basic underlying root cause of a visitor not “converting” is the lack of confidence in the site. Customer confidence goes a long way on the web, especially in the realm of e-commerce. One practical solution is to get a totally objective party to review the website in question,  without knowledge that you are a part of it , and give you an evaluation as to why they would or would not perform the desired conversion.

As a developer, it is often difficult for me to review a project objectively. I often enlist the help of friends and family, to offer some feedback. There are some simple things to offer your customers to improve customer confidence. Make sure that all applicable policies are listed, a privacy policy seems to be helpful in most cases where you ask for an email address. Businesses should list their full street address whenever possible. Including a phone number is always a big plus. These items, in text, not a graphic, will also help to improve your relevancy in local search results.

Bottom line is that conversions is also a game of numbers. It is almost a rule of thumb, that 10% of website traffic will convert in some way. Increase your traffic to improve your rate of conversion, and keep the customers happy! Nothing like return business to keep the wheels turning…