1 Step to Getting Better Search Rankings
Posted on | January 7, 2010 | No Comments
Ok I don’t have one step for you. But I’d like to cut through the noise here and give you the number one secret to getting better, longer lasting results with your SEO. That is: build what your customers want.
There are so many shortcuts to build your search ranking. Some you pay for and many you don’t. Either requires so much of your time to maintain. But the best way to attract search engines like Google is to build your site in the user-friendliest way possible and not for the purpose of search engine ranking.
Your User Comes First
The mantra for good web usability and design has always been to build it with the user in mind. Google’s first guiding principle is, “Focus on the user and all else will follow.”
There have been many myths and misleading information about Google’s infamous search algorithm. What is true is that even Google employees don’t actually know how it all works. So don’t bother trying to beat them at their game. Especially when they own the rules. If you follow good design best practices and create engaging, relevant content that users are looking for, your search ranking and relevancy will naturally improve.
The Job Of Google
The job of the search engine is to determine the aboutness of your web page so that it can effectively match your content to the needs of the user. They do this by:
- Validating the scent of information to your site. When we talk about the scent of information, it is referring to the clues to what kind of information the user can expect from a search results page. If you take a close look at a search results page you will find such things a page titles, URLs, page descriptions, meta data, images and even thumbnails of video clips. These are used to identity what kind of content has been found that best matches the search query. These clues are what is referred to as scents of information.
- Evaluating various on and off the page criteria such as the design of the home and landing pages, navigation, external linking, content and keyword density, and popularity of your web site.
- Determining how well what you provide meets the goals and expectations of your user. Considering everything about your site, is it relevant to what the user wants? For many web site owners this is very difficult to grasp. Most sites are still designed to satisfy internal business objectives and not the needs of their consumer.
User Goals
The first step in user-centered design methods is to understand the goals of your user. Designers often interview actual users or create personas to help identify and understand what the consumer’s goals are. Below is a simplified list of user goals that can be applied to most sites. If these are satisfied on your web site they can positively impact usability and your search ranking:
- Where can they go: if I click on this link where will you take me? Is this the information I need?
- What can they learn: What are you going to tell me about what I’m looking for? Are you going to answer my question?
- What can they do: How can I buy this? Who do I need to talk to now? Where can I find this item?
3 Elements to Good SEO and Web Site Usability
The following considerations are not only great at improving your search ranking, but they also help improve your web site design to something much more user-friendly. If you follow these tips not only will your site perform better from a search perspective, but also your customers will be much more satisfied. That means, more sales for you. Not such a bad thing.
Content
When I say content I’m referring to any text on any given page a user may see. It is vital that the content on the page quickly appears clear, focused and relevant to the user’s needs. To do so it must contain keywords users are most likely to search for. So it is important you understand and use their language to best serve them.
These keywords are used throughout the web site.
- Page titles and URLs
- Headings
- Navigation and embedded hyperlinks
- All paragraph content
- Alternative or narrative text to images, animations and video content
- Landing or campaign pages
- Site maps or internal search results pages and indexes
Use keyword research tools to help identify what your customers are more likely to search for. There are many free and licensed tools. Try Google’s Keyword tool.
Navigation & Linking
By navigation I mean any organized system or adhoc means to move a user between two web pages. This would include your primary and secondary navigation systems, hyperlinking, index pages and site maps. Whatever means you can provide your user to browse within your web site.
Besides using language or keywords that resonate with the user it is also important to be mindful that some navigation systems are more SEO and user-friendly than others. I’ve put this in order of what I’ve found most effective.
- Text links and menus
- Buttons (with ALT text)
- Image maps
- Drop down menus
- Flash
A great web design may incorporate one or many of these navigation systems. But keep in mind, though Google has improved its capabilities to search Flash, they don’t perform as well as sites not using Flash based navigation. Also Flash is not as accessible as other UI controls and text-based links.
Another best practice is to provide links to related content that maybe useful. This helps user find information they may not be looking for initially and continues their engagement with your web site.
Popularity
Everyone wants to be popular. Well so does your web site. Search engines use a number of attributes to determine your popularity. Each engine may put different weight on each attribute to get better results for their user. They include:
- The number of links pointing to your web site
- The quality or relevance of the links point to your web site
- The number of clicks-thrus to your site from search results pages, directories or other sites
- And the frequency and length of each visit
The longer you can hold your user to your site works to your favour. By providing content that meets their needs search engines will continue to favour you to other users with similar needs and goals.
Tags: Search engines > SEO > Usability > User Centered Design