How to Move Up the Google Ranks! What Works and Why...

It seems like more and more of my clients are asking about search engine optimization (SEO) for their website, but really have no idea what that means beyond 'something on the Internet.' I decided to put this article together to help explain the SEO goals and process in non-geek-speak.

The first step in SEO, similar to planning any other marketing campaign, is to set goals. You need to ask questions like, what value do you deliver to your visitors on your website? Is there another segment of visitors you'd like to capture? What keywords would you like to rank high for? Answers to these questions will help us choose the best target keywords.

A target keyword is a phrase (or a few phrases) that your most qualified leads are typing into search engines. If you provide a product or service, you'll probably want to target phrases that are specific, and funneled to your most qualified buyers. To use my business as an example, a phrase that gets a lot of traffic is 'web design,' but because the phrase is so broad - it could mean a someone is looking for help with code or styling, or maybe web design techniques or schools or a number of other things that aren't related to my web design services. On the other hand, a key phrase like "Professional Web Designer Portland" is very much a phrase we would do well to rank high for.

The second part of choosing the right keyword(s) is analyzing the competition. If the competition is strong for a given keyword, it will take a considerable amount of time and effort (which can be a considerable investment) to move your website into the top spots on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Weigh the costs vs. benefits of being on the top of the first SERP for a keyword. If it's a good value, pursue it!

Now that you've found the keywords that would benefit you the most, let's explore the process of getting that top ranking by first looking at how a search engine chooses which link to display first. Every search engine has its own super-secret formula, but in general, websites with the highest credibility and relevancy to the search phrase are displayed first. This means that to be the first site on the SERP, you have to be the most relevant and credible site in the entire Internet! This might be instantly disheartening, but fear not! It's just a function of applied effort and time.

The first step to achieving this spot is to increase your page's relevance to the search term you're targeting. You can do this by optimizing your page title, description, internally linked pages, and text on the page. Sprinkle your targeted keywords around important areas on your site, and you'll see a little improvement, but the much bigger factor is what other people think - your credibility.

On the Internet, credibility is everything. In a very short amount of time, just about anyone can build a website (not necessarily an effective one) that is 'more relevant' to a certain keyword, so imagine how much garbage the SERP would have if webmasters could control what ranking they received just by adding a few key words. No one would use a search engine that just returned pages of garbage sites. That said, deciding which sites are better than others is a very important task left to the search engines.

The search engines are most concerned about the number of sites linking you, what they say about you, and what their credibility is (which turns into a never-ending computation). You get to the top of the SERP by getting a combination of more links, higher credibility links, and keyword-rich anchor text. Anchor text is the geek-speak for the underlined words that make a link. By having another site link to your website using the phrase "Car Repair," the search engines see you as having more credibility for the phrase "car repair," which can be very useful if you're trying to get to the top spot for that keyword.

As you can see, building the number of links to your website with keyword-rich anchor text is the time-consuming and usually daunting if you're unfamiliar with the process. Start building your online credibility one day at a time, and you'll slowly but surely move up the ranks!

About the Author:

Tony Kau is co-founder of Vanivo Business Solutions, a web design company in Portland, specializing in Internet marketing and search engine optimization. Vanivo is currently seeking 3 new long-term clients that want to grow their business using the web. You can contact them using the form on their website. Ask for a free website analysis when you call.

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