NeoRanking

Why are SEO friendly URLs important for my site?

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:18:00 +0000

When it comes to SEO, there are many aspects of a website that are important to consider when it comes to SEO benefit. From appearance and ease of navigation through to content placement, considering how your site is designed and made accessible is important. However, another aspect that is equally important is the way the URLs are structured. The URLs of pages are an important aspect when it comes to SEO. They are an excellent way to incorporate keywords into URLs, and can help Google to easily identify what the pages within the site are about. However, a dynamic site (like a shopping cart website) tends to have URLs that consists of numbers, symbols and letters. These types of URLs bring very little benefit to SEO, as they tell the search engines nothing about what may be on the page. To get the SEO benefits, the trick is to modify URLs so that they become SEO friendly and contain some of the keywords you are targeting that are relevant to the page. This is easy enough to do for a static website where you simply have to change page names, but a lot of websites these days are dynamic. These are websites that can change each time they are loaded, and in most cases have unique content. An ID usually associated with each page, but this can lead to a URL that is made up of complex numbers, letters and symbols. Fortunately, there is a solution when it comes to getting SEO benefit from URLs in dynamic websites. Most dynamic websites are built using content management systems, and these will generally have the option of utilising software that allows these URLs to be re-written into search friendly versions. This gives you a better chance of ranking, and helps to build relevancy between your keywords and the content on the page. Making use of keyword infused URLs help to increase your site’s visibility in search results. If someone searches for keywords that are found in your URLs, that part of the URL will be bolded, making it more eye catching for the potential customer. Because these terms are bolded, they inspire users to click on your URL and visit your site. The use of keywords makes it immediately obvious what your page is about, so be sure to choose keywords that are relevant to what is contained on the page and don’t mislead the user.

Why is SEO a long term strategy instead of something short term?

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:16:30 +0000

With online marketing steadily growing in popularity, there are several forms of marketing that can be utilised to bring your business online success. Adwords and SEO are two of the most popular forms of online marketing, and both can be successful at increasing the number of visitors to your site. SEO is a longer term strategy than Adwords, and this fact is something that can often cause some confusion for clients initially. SEO takes time because it requires being found by Google, and your website being assigned a ranking in the search results for keywords. When deciding between SEO and Adwords, it’s important to know your business inside and out, so that the online marketing company you’ve decided to go with can determine if Adwords or SEO, or sometimes even both, will be the best for your campaign. One of the most important aspects to consider is the timeframe in which you would like to see results. SEO is a longer term strategy, whereas Adwords can start to bring qualified traffic to your site almost right away. If you make the decision to go with SEO, then you need to be aware that your campaign can take three to four months to start being successful, and your site is experiencing a good level of qualified traffic. Given the time frame it takes to achieve SEO success, having a well set-up campaign means that the rewards can be reaped when the initial three to four months have passed. Below are some things to consider when your SEO company is forming a long-term SEO strategy: Keyword selections. Most SEO strategies will start off with longer tail keywords, so that your campaign can start getting known as an expert or authority. A longer term strategy will have an understanding of the direction the account should move in, and how the keyword strategy could be altered or built upon to bring continued, and increased SEO success. Maintain a blog. A blog is an excellent way to keep your site fresh, and constantly add new information around your company. As an ongoing strategy, search engines will constantly return to see what is new on the site, and constantly re-assess the rankings given to your site. Link building strategy. While the effectiveness of link building is constantly under debate, there are link building strategies that can benefit most businesses. Links from trusted sites such as governing bodies and industry specialists can do wonders for your business, as these are seen by the search engines to have authority. Links should be built steadily, so they come across as a natural process. Above all, your SEO company should have a long term vision for your SEO strategy. If they don’t, it may be a good idea to enquire about this, and find out what they aim to achieve for your site.

Can a new business benefit from SEO?

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:26:54 +0000

SEO can be an excellent form of online marketing, but a new business needs to consider if such a marketing plan is suitable for their business, at least in the early days. SEO is a long term investment, and a new business may not have the funds to continue with this form of marketing long enough to see results. The cost of SEO tends to be the first issue that most new businesses face, and the costs can vary from SEO company to company. Most SEO companies will charge an upfront fee, and this can take out a large proportion of savings or money you have invested in your business. It’s not uncommon for SEO companies to charge an initial set up fee that is at least a $1000, to cover the administration required in setting up your account, and the initial work performed by the allocated account manager. In addition to the set up fee, there is a monthly component that is charged, which even at the lower end of the scale can be around $300 to $400 a month. For a new business that isn’t bringing in a steady profit, this can be a large amount of money to pay for something that takes a few months, if not longer, to start being effective. The key element of any SEO campaign is a business having a website. If you’re in the process of creating your website or re-doing an existing site, then this would be an excellent time to start with SEO. If you’re able to afford the costs involved with SEO, then the creation of a new site is an excellent time to start with SEO. A lot of SEO is now focused on conversion rate, and an SEO company is well placed to advise when it comes to site design and layout, thereby giving your business the best chance of online success. This can even help to build your exposure and your brand quicker on the search engines, which makes SEO a good choice for marketing. The product or service your business offers is also an important factor to consider when deciding to sign up for SEO. If your area of business is relatively unknown, then it may not bring in a great amount of traffic. Some industries can be a bit of a catch22 situation, with no one knowing that it exists so they don’t search for it, but because no one searches for it, very little search volume is assigned to the keywords. This can be both a blessing and a curse. By being one of the first businesses to market for a particular keywords gives your business a greater chance of success, and when competitors come along, your established site will have a greater chance of retaining rankings due to the fact that your site has been around for a while, and had a chance to establish itself as an authority with Google. This is an excellent advantage when it comes to SEO, as the age of a site is important when it comes to being listed higher in the search rankings. Your site will be the one to beat when it comes to newer competitors. Most businesses will benefit from SEO, but patience is required, as is a sufficient amount of money. The best thing to do is weigh up all your options when it comes to marketing, determine your budget, and work out which form of marketing you find sustainable and can give you the best chance of success initially.