Optimize site before launch, not afterward
Miki Dzugan,
Rapport Online Inc.:
651.224.8709
mdzugan@roi-web.com
www.roi-web.com
AFTER ALMOST 14 YEARS providing Internet marketing services, especially in the area of search engine marketing, I can’t believe that Web site owners are still coming to us with newly developed, or worse, redeveloped Web sites that they now want to have optimized to rank better in search results.
Do they take their new car back to the dealer to get a sunroof and air conditioning installed? Sure it’s possible, but isn’t it a lot more efficient to have all the features that you want built into the vehicle in the first place?
Plumbing, not frosting
People seem to think of search engine optimization the way they think about frosting on the cake, or about accessories to their evening attire, when they should be thinking of SEO the way they think about plumbing.
Web site redevelopments are the most challenging. A business decides it needs to upgrade its old, ugly site to something more state-of-the-art, with great graphics and maybe some videos.
That’s a great idea. After all, the Web site is important to the corporate image. They find a developer who creates a stunning new site and they watch their search engine ranking plummet. Then they start looking for an SEO professional to wave the magic wand and bring the site right up to the top of search results. Let the retrofitting begin!
SEO needs to be a consideration from the definition of the project right through to launching the new site and beyond.
It is not too early to begin thinking about the search engine aspects of the site while the requirements of the new site are being defined.
For example, Church Underwriters Inc. provides insurance for houses of worship through independent insurance agents. Insurance is regulated on a state-by-state basis, so searchers are likely to seek insurance in their state. With that in mind, part of the site requirement was to include pages for each state in which they are licensed to do business.
Sure enough, their site comes up at the top of a Google search for “church insurance state” for every state they serve and near the top for “church insurance” with no state mentioned.
At design phase
Before the design begins, have a good idea of the primary search terms people are most likely to use when looking for the products, services and information that your site offers.
Make sure that a proven SEO expert is involved in this phase to help make decisions regarding use of images vs. text for headers, links and copy, so that you don’t end up with a design that will need to be compromised later for search considerations.
If the project is the redesign of an existing site, the SEO professional should be concerned about how the information on the old site will map onto the new site, especially if there are popular features on the old site that will be removed or replaced on the new site.
As the pages are fleshed out, the SEO professional should be concerned with use of the keywords in all aspects of the pages, from page titles, headers and copy to links and even URLs.
The URLs are particularly important in the redesign of a site that has “deep links” into content from referring sites. Older referring links can be very helpful to the value that a search engine places on the page. Breaking those links can diminish the authority conferred on your site by those links.
For example, the site redevelopment for Powder Technology Inc., a Burnsville company that provides test dust worldwide, includes a “History of Test Dust” that is referenced by several other sites. In the redevelopment special care was taken to preserve the old link even though it did not really fit within the new site’s file schema so that inbound links would not be broken.
Upon launching
At this point the search optimization of the site is done. Now the work of site promotion begins with an eye to its effect on the position of the new site in search results. A new site map is created and introduced to the search engines; press releases and other announcements may be made; and inbound links may be developed or updated.
For a new site, it is often worthwhile to do paid search advertising at least until the site gains position in search results.
While the optimization of the site has been done, it is a good idea to track the position of the new site in search results for at least six months following site launch to observe how well it is rising in search results and to make little tweaks to the SEO that may be needed to help the pages compete better.
In many very competitive industries, search optimization is an ongoing process in order to maintain position or improve position for more search terms. Search engines continuously change their algorithms to improve the quality of search results and competitors are continuously trying to improve their positions.
Best practice for maintenance is to regularly monitor the position of your pages, taking immediate action if position slips in search results.
The frequency of monitoring depends upon the competitiveness of the search terms. In most cases, monthly monitoring is plenty, but in some cases more frequent attention may be required.
