Search Engine Optimization

In February of 2011, Google released the Panda update completely changing how Google ranks websites. In previous years, websites with good keyword saturation and usage were given priority. With the Panda update, Google has made keyword stuffing a thing of the past.

A good performing website in the search engines now must be have relevant content, quality back links and an authoritative presence in their business. Websites that rely on duplicate content, mirror websites for affiliate programs, and the like are penalized.  Content, quality and relevant content is king!

Ideas

1. Develop a website with a clear hierarchy and text links. Your website should be easy to navigate from any page and make sense to the user. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.

2. Offer a Site Map to your user with links that point to the importune parts of your site. In conjunction with this on-page site map, a site map should be submitted to Google. This site map tells Google what to look for when it is indexing and crawling your website.

3. Create useful, information-rich content and write pages that clearly define and accurately describe your business. Write for the end user, not the search engines, keeping in mid your keywords. Do not overuse keywords as this will be seen as keyword stuffing and cause your site to be penalized.

4. Think about the words users would type into the search engine finder to find your pages and make sure your site accurately and actually includes those words. Don't just think about one and two word keywords. Think about very specific keyword phrases. For example chocolate vs. dark chocolate almond bars.

5. Make sure your site title tags and alt tags are descriptive and accurate using your researched keywords. Each page should have a different title tag and meta tag description that is pertinent to that particular page with relevant keywords for that page. Meta keywords are given little priority from the search engines since the Panda upgrade.

With these changes and suggestions from Google, websites that relied on getting traffic from less than white hat SEO practices are becoming a thing of the past. Imagine reading a newspaper that was basically gibberish and offered no relevant content. Google has raised the bar by forcing website owners to market to their customers in a more fundamentally professional manner delivering quality information and proving as an authority in their business.

Sound complicated? It is! Let Northern Lights Marketing help.

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Resources:

Want to find out more about SEO? Check out Google's getting started guide.