If you ask any web master about their primary focus while working online, you will undoubtedly hear them talk about search engine optimization. Sometimes abbreviated as “SEO”, search engine optimization is the process of taking an ordinary website and making it extraordinary in the eyes of the search engines. The ultimate goal is for your website to come up on the front page when someone searches for a relevant phrase that pertains to your website. By ranking high in search results, you get higher traffic and hopefully, you also enjoy higher profits.
For the rookie web master, SEO will focus mainly on using the appropriate keyword phrases both in the content and in the various tags within the webpage. Once that is mastered, the next step will be making sure the site itself is well optimized with a good site map, fast load times, and no coding errors that would cause the site to be flagged. While these are all important aspects of search engine optimization, none of them should be the primary focus. Instead, you should be looking at the overall quality of your website.
Many people never take time to even consider quality when evaluating a website for the sake of SEO. As long as the content has the appropriate keywords in the right places, we assume that everything is okay. But what if your content is poorly written? At that point, it doesn’t matter how high you rank, no one will stick around to explore your site and buy your products. Ranking high is important, but you have to insure that you have a quality site with quality content to back the ranking or it is all in vain.
So how can you increase the quality of your website? Begin by taking an honest look at the content. Does the wording read well and make sense? Do your keywords fit naturally or do they feel crammed in as an afterthought? Make sure you have created content that is informative and interesting! If it is boring, no one will stick around to read it anyway.
Second, evaluate the look of your website. Navigate from one page to another and think about it from an objective standpoint. Is it easy to locate the information that your visitors would clearly be looking for? Does it take long for the pages to load? Do you have a search button that allows the visitor to look for specific information? Notice everything from the colors to the graphics and even the font size. How can you improve these small details to make the site better?
As you work on your website’s search engine optimization, make sure you also take time to evaluate the overall quality of your website and content. Quality is key when you do business online and if you want to rank above your competition, it will take more than a few strategic SEO methods
