Web Marketing to Improve Search Engine Ranking
Posted by Michael Martinez on June 7, 2007 in Search Engine Optimization
Web marketing
to Improve Search Engine Ranking
We no longer really speak of “web marketing”, even though search engine optimization remains only one type of Web marketing (and not necessarily the primary type). We have become so specialized in search engine optimization that we have forgotten we are supposed to be web marketing experts.
Web marketing is pretty simple and straight-forward: you devise methods of telling people where to find your Web site, why they want to find it, and what benefit they will gain from visiting your site. You don’t really need to do more than that because the site should speak for itself.
In Web marketing the user has to be the primary focus of the campaign. You want to reach the right audience with your Web marketing so you have to be careful about where you improve search engine ranking strategies. When you improve search engine ranking you emphasize the value of your site over other sites.
Improve Search Engine Ranking: Step 1
The most under-utilized method that will improve search engine ranking for you is navigation link anchor text. Every page on your site should include at least two links: a link to your root page (that uses the most important keyword other than your site or company name) and a link to your HTML sitemap (that uses your site or company name along with “sitemap”).
Internal links are usually not very well optimized. Most Web site developers will use “home” to link to the root URL. Most SEOs won’t insist on including keywords in internal link anchor text. Many people refuse to cross-link their pages openly. If you truly intend to improve search engine ranking, then you have to incorporate your Web marketing into your internal anchor text.
improve search engine ranking: Step 2
Repeat your keywords. Let me reiterate that. If you want to improve search engine ranking, you need to repeat your keywords. The more you repeat your keywords, the better. Just make sure you are repeating those keywords for the visitors to your site, not the search engines.
Web marketing is not about repeating keywords. Web marketing is about informing people, providing information, being informative. Show people what your site is about. Tell people what your site is about. If you have 100 pages of content on your site, you should assume t that someone will randomly arrive at every page.
Is each page on your site ready to explain to a new arrival what your site does and how they can get to its most important pages? Your most important keywords should be part of the explanatory process. You can repeat your explanations on every page without generally accruing any bad karma.
Improve search engine ranking: Step 3
Link out to other sites freely. It seems like, the more I tell people to do this, the less they understand why they should. Don’t wait for someone to ask you to exchange links. Don’t ask anyone to reciprocate your outbound links. The links you create add value to your content and they provide your visitors with a resource.
Which kind of resource would you rather give your visitors: one they cannot find elsewhere or one they can find anywhere else?
Which Web marketing resource do you think will provide you with the most vaue?
You don’t improve search engine ranking through your inbound links. You may believe you do, but the odds are pretty good that you are just spinning your wheels. Up to 80% of all links are not passing value in Google’s Web index. Up to 90% of all links may be passing only slight value in Yahoo!’s Web index. Are you still sure you want to improve search engine ranking through links?
Improve search engine ranking: Step 4
Web marketing depends on information, so why not make information part of your Web marketing? You can improve search engine ranking by sharing critical information about your targeted topic. The more unique your presentation is, the more likely it will be noticed (but keep in mind that new data formats tend to be ignored by search engines).
Web marketing excels with sites that offer extensive information if the informatioin is well organized and well orchestrated. Remember what I said about internal navigation links above? Let me revise that Web marketing advice just a little: Every page should include at least three links: one link to your root URL, one link to your HTML sitemap, and one link to any other page on your site. The more links you provide yourself, the easier your site is to crawl, navigate through, and operate.
Think about how you can share information freely and in the most relevant and helpful contexts. You will improve search engine ranking results when you create a site that is easy to crawl, rich with indexable content, and useful enough to attract those vital external, inbound links that really do pass value.
Web marketing tips
Web marketing tips are everywhere. Which Web marketing tips are the best ones, however? That is the question. In Web marketing, just as with any other field of study, anyone who is not well-versed in the techniques and disciplines will not provide very good information. You should always strive to test Web marketing tips to see which ones work best. Some Web marketing tips work better with only a small selection of content.
Some Web marketing tips will help you improve search engine ranking results easily when you apply them to a new site that has not been optimized. Web marketing tips can also hurt you, however, especially if you don’t apply them correctly.
For example, a popular suggestion is to create free articles and distribute them across free ezine directories. However, most of the articles placed in these Web marketing directories are nothing more than tripe. They are pure fluff intended solely to build up wannabe writers’ reputations.
If you are going to distribute free articles, you must follow three rules:
- Your articles must be well-written, both engaging and technically error-free
- Your articles must be unique, offering interesting and helpful information that other articles don’t provide
- Your articles must focus on helping other people, not on your Web marketing
. If all you have to gain from distributing articles is a few links and some recognition, you’re hoping in vain. You earn value by creating value.
Web marketing tips to improve search engine ranking conclusion
You have seen how repetition is important to your Web marketing efforts. You will improve search engine rankings through your Web marketing if you provide your visitors with as much information as possible.
But though I said that repetition is important, I don’t mean you should meaninglessly repeat keywords. Rather, remember the 30% rule. People will remember at most only about 30% of what you tell them, so be sure you tell them everything three times.
That kind of repetition can be tedious, and it’s challenging to write engaging copy while trying to honor the 30% retention rule and repeating everything 3 times. But the more often you can make your critical points for your visitors, the more likely your visitors are to rememebr your critical points.
If you want to improve search engine ranking you have to follow similar rules. Search engines respond to emphasis. By telling the search engines at every opportunity (as opposed to beating the point to death) what your is about, you improve your Web marketing and you improve search engine ranking results.
The more informative you are, the better you generally tend to rank.
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