Sometimes it’s fun to post a little Q and A to help folks better understand different aspects for search engine optimization.
One particular question that comes up when dealing with “brand” focused sites and particularly with interactive agencies where the prevailing attitude is, “SEO makes our site ugly”.
What do you mean I have to change my site for better natural rankings?
All clients we work with go through some level of education/awareness about SEO so they understand what we’re doing. As your SEO project gets underway, it’s important we reinforce the idea that in order for your site to rank well organically, your site has to be percieved by search engines as the leading authority on topics relevant to your site content. To do that, search engines must be able to understand the content of your site, the internal linking structure and external linking relationships to other web sites.
Relevant content containing keyword phrases must exist on the site as text and within internal links. It is also important to achieve a significant number of inbound links from topically relevant sites over time.
The most common places search engines look for important and relevant keywords with a web page are: Title tag, text high up on the visible page, text within the body copy, image alt text and text within links. There are many other considerations, so this is a short list. However, it is important to point these fundametal optization tactics out since changes to the web site are inevitable if you want to improve traffic.
Implementing SEO on a well-designed site does not mean the design needs to be discarded in favor of abundant text. However, a proper mix of tactics is necessary to create a balance that allows you to maintain your brand identity and user experience and also improve the effectiveness at which search engines can index, score and associate your content with search queries.
Lee Odden is President and Founder of
TopRank Online Marketing, specializing in organic SEO, blog
marketing and online public relations. He’s been cited as a search
marketing expert by publications including U.S. News & World Report and
The Economist and has implemented successful search marketing programs
with top BtoB companies of all sizes. Odden shares his marketing
expertise at Online Marketing Blog offering
daily news, interviews and best practices.
